Conveyance occurs when ownership of a property gets legally transferred from the owner to another person. The property can be land or other immovable property. There are lawyers who specialize in conveyancing and conduct the process. Seeking a professional help becomes imperative if the mortgage aspect is involved.

While choosing a conveyancer compare the quotes and avoid the ones recommended by your estate agent because they cost more money depending on the commission. Now, the first and foremost function of a conveyance lawyer is to draw a contract based on the terms of agreement between the parties. This is the first step in the conveyancing process. The solicitor of the buyer writes to the lawyer of the seller and asks for a contract draft and other standard forms including the property title. The buyer must go through the contract and raise questions to clarify any doubts. You need to check about the tenure of ownership during this time. There can be 2 types of ownerships- leasehold and freehold. If it is leasehold for less than 80 years, then it is a problem and is best avoided.

Next in the process are the searches conducted by the conveyance to find out more about the property. There are a number of searches done for information. They are:

• Checking flood risk- this is conducted at the Land Registry and costs €12
• Local authority searches- this entails searching about the environment and costs between €70 and €400. This takes between 1 month to 1 and a half months.
• Water authority searches- this entails finding out the channels for water supply and whether the public drains will affect the property in future ventures like extension.
• Checking the ‘title plan', ‘title register' at the Land Registry- this check costs €8 and €4. These are the documents proving the ownership of the seller.
• Chancel repair search- this search is conducted to ensure that there exists no medieval liability ruins on the property. The cost is €18.

In case there is mortgage involved in conveyance, then you must have financing available for mortgage deposit. Your conveyance lawyer will have to look through a copy of the offer and check the conditions. This is followed by mortgage valuation. Now, before the contracts are exchanged you have to get Building Insurance for your new property. After this is done, the contract will be signed. Before signing, the solicitor will check whether all the documents have been returned. A date of completion must be mentioned and you must transfer the deposit in the lawyer's account.

Once the contracts with a date for moving are exchanged, the conveyance process is over.