What is a conveyancer?

A conveyancer is the legal professional who handles the transfer of property ownership from one person to another. When you buy, sell or remortgage a home in England or Wales, they do the work that turns an agreed price into a completed, legally registered move. The job is part legal advice, part detective work, and part careful handling of large sums of money. If you want the wider view of the whole process, our guide to what conveyancing is sets the scene.

1 What a conveyancer actually does

Day to day, a conveyancer checks that a property can be sold safely and that you end up as the legal owner with nothing nasty attached. They read the legal title, spot problems, ask questions, and only let the deal go ahead once those questions are answered. Much of their work happens quietly in the background, but it is the reason a sale holds together.

The main tasks usually include:

• Checking the title. They confirm who legally owns the property and whether anything restricts it, such as a right of way, a covenant or a lender's charge.
• Ordering property searches. These reveal things the property itself will not tell you, like planning history, flood risk or whether the council maintains the road. Our guide to property searches explains each one.
• Raising and answering enquiries. The buyer's side asks questions and the seller's side replies. This back and forth is where most delays, and most discoveries, happen.
• Handling the contract. They draft, review and agree the contract terms, then manage exchange and completion, the two points where the deal becomes binding and then final.
• Dealing with the money. They hold and transfer the deposit and purchase funds through a regulated client account, and account for any tax due, such as Stamp Duty on a purchase.
• Registering the change. After completion they register the new owner and any mortgage with HM Land Registry, which makes the ownership official.

2 Solicitor or licensed conveyancer: what is the difference?

Both can legally handle your move, and for a standard sale or purchase the experience is usually much the same. The difference is mainly in their qualification and the range of law they cover. A property solicitor is a qualified lawyer who can advise across many areas of law, then specialises in property. A licensed conveyancer is a specialist trained specifically in property law and conveyancing, which is the work they focus on.

In practice, a licensed conveyancer often suits a straightforward transaction, while a solicitor can help where the matter is tangled up with other legal issues, for example a divorce, a probate sale or a dispute. Neither is automatically better. What matters more is that the firm is responsive, experienced with your type of property, and clear on price. Our guide to choosing a conveyancer goes into how to compare them.

3 Who regulates conveyancers, and why it matters

Regulation is what makes it safe to hand a stranger hundreds of thousands of pounds. Both solicitors and licensed conveyancers must hold professional indemnity insurance, keep your money in a protected client account separate from their own, and follow rules on competence and conduct. If something goes wrong, there are routes to complain and, in many cases, to be compensated.

It is worth confirming a firm's regulation before you instruct them. You can check a solicitor against the SRA register and a licensed conveyancer against the CLC register. Every firm MoveGuide compares is an SRA-regulated solicitor or a licensed conveyancer regulated by the CLC, so the basics are covered.

4 What they handle for buyers and for sellers

A conveyancer's role shifts depending on which side of the deal you are on, and in a remortgage there is no other party at all. The core duties overlap, but the focus is different.

When you are buying

The buyer's conveyancer is the one doing the investigating. They check the title, run the searches, review the seller's answers, report any risks to you, and make sure your mortgage conditions are met before you commit. They also calculate and submit any Stamp Duty and register your ownership afterwards. There is more in our guide to conveyancing when you are buying.

When you are selling

The seller's conveyancer prepares the contract pack, gathers the title and the property information forms, answers the buyer's enquiries, and at completion clears any existing mortgage from the sale proceeds before sending you the balance. Being well prepared here keeps a sale moving, which is one of the simplest ways to speed things up.

5 How a typical job runs, start to finish

For a typical freehold sale or purchase this runs around 8 to 12 weeks, though a long chain, a leasehold flat or a slow reply can push it out. See how long conveyancing takes for what affects the timeline.

6 You choose your own conveyancer, and what it costs

This is the part many people miss: the choice is yours. An estate agent or lender may suggest a firm, sometimes because they earn a referral fee, but you are never obliged to use it. You can compare firms on price, service and reviews, then pick the one that suits you. That often saves money and gives you a conveyancer you can actually reach.

Most firms charge a fixed legal fee for their work, plus disbursements, the costs they pay to third parties on your behalf such as searches and Land Registry fees. Fees vary by firm and by the type and value of the property, and disbursements depend on the specific transaction, so the only reliable figure is a quote for your actual move. Our guides to conveyancing costs and disbursements break down what you are paying for.

This is general guidance, not legal advice, and the rules differ in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which run conveyancing under their own systems. For your own move, get a quote or check current rates and your firm's terms directly.