Can you do your own conveyancing? What it involves and where it goes wrong

Is it allowed?

Yes. In England and Wales there is no rule that you must use a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to buy, sell or transfer your own property, and HM Land Registry confirms this in its post on solicitor or DIY conveyancing.

In practice, most people cannot do it alone. If you are buying with a mortgage, the lender will almost certainly insist that a solicitor or licensed conveyancer acts for it, and that firm usually acts for you too. If you are selling a home with a mortgage, the buyer's conveyancer will normally expect your mortgage to be paid off on the promise of a regulated firm, which you cannot give yourself.

When it is most often considered

Doing it yourself comes up most often where no lender is involved and the people know each other: a cash purchase from a relative, giving a home or a share of one to family, adding a partner to an unmortgaged home, or removing a name after a separation where nothing is owed. Even then the steps below still apply, and the tax and legal points are the same as with a conveyancer.

What the work involves

A conveyancer's work on a purchase includes:

• Checking the title at HM Land Registry: who owns it, the boundaries, rights of way, restrictive covenants and any charges
• Ordering searches from the local authority, the water company and others, and reading the results
• Raising enquiries with the seller and reviewing their property information forms
• Agreeing the contract, and for a flat, checking the lease and the management information
• Exchanging contracts and arranging the money safely for completion
• Filing a Stamp Duty Land Tax return within 14 days of completion, even where no tax is due on many purchases
• Registering the new owner at HM Land Registry

Each step has its own forms, deadlines and judgement calls. A missed right of way or an unnoticed restriction can cost far more later than the legal fee would have.

Proving who you are to HM Land Registry

If you send an application to HM Land Registry without a conveyancer, each person in the transaction who is not represented must usually prove their identity on form ID1. It must be verified by a conveyancer, a Chartered Legal Executive or another approved verifier, so even a do-it-yourself transfer usually involves a professional for this step. It is not needed where the property is worth £6,000 or less.

Where it goes wrong

• Missed problems: a covenant that stops an extension, an unregistered right of way or a short lease, found only when you sell
• Late or wrong tax returns: HMRC charges penalties for late returns, and the buyer is responsible for getting the figure right
• Money sent to fraudsters: criminals target property transactions with fake bank details, and regulated firms have checks and insurance against this
• No insurance: if something goes wrong, you normally have no cover, whereas regulated firms must carry professional insurance
• A slower sale: the other side's conveyancer may need extra checks and documents when dealing with someone unrepresented

What a conveyancer adds

Solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and licensed conveyancers by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. Both must carry insurance, keep client money safe and give you a way to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. A firm on your lender's panel can act for the lender too, so one firm handles everything.

For a straightforward transfer between family members with no mortgage, the legal fee is usually modest compared with the value of the property, and it buys someone to check the title, the tax and the paperwork. Our guide to what conveyancing costs explains the usual fees, and our guide to choosing a conveyancer what to look for.

Next steps

Get an instant, itemised quote for your transaction, showing the legal fee, VAT and disbursements before you decide. If you go ahead, you are introduced to a law firm that confirms its fees in writing before you instruct it, and that deals with you directly from then on.