- Communicating with clients to receive instructions and give advice, via telephone, email, and letter.
- Researching details about the property being bought, sold or transferred, including but not limited to, finding out who the legal owner is/ensuring this corresponds with the instructions received, what covenants/rights (if any) the property is subject to and what works have been carried out to date.
- Receive and review mortgage instructions from lenders, undertake specific tasks as required and ensure all special conditions are satisfied.
- Drafting official documents, such as contracts, transfers, undertakings, declarations of trust, declarations of solvencies and financial statements.
- Review contract and title documentation on behalf of your client(s), agree terms, and raise any necessary enquiries with the conveyancer acting for the other party to the transaction.
- Reporting to your client(s) on all aspects which affect their matter.
- Working and building relationships with estate agents, solicitors, brokers, developers, management companies, Land Registry & HMRC.
- Conducting official office copies.
- Preparation of draft contract packs and issuing to buyer’s conveyancer.
- Conducting and reviewing property searches to ensure there are no adverse matters which affect the property.
- Calculating stamp duty land taxes, preparing HMRC forms, submitting stamp duty application online and ensuring the appropriate payment is made within the required timeframe.
- Enquiring all contract documentation has been signed/witnessed correctly and is in registerable format.
- Ensure all post completion documents received from the conveyancer acting on the other side of the transaction are correct, and attending to the registration (if required) with The Land Registry.
- Review identity documents, source of funds, source of wealth and proof of address, to ensure that correct compliance procedures have been carried out.
- Exchanging contracts and following the matter through to legal completion.
- Support the development of your assistant through training and performance management.
- An eye for detail: You will be dealing with many legal and official documents so the ability to be accurate with your research is essential.
- Mathematical skill: Many of your responsibilities will involve dealing with money.
- Communication skills: You will need to be able to communicate your advice to clients and work with estate agents and solicitors.
- Problem solving skills: This is important for ensuring that your clients are not at risk of any fraud or issues with the property.
- IT skills: As records are increasingly being kept on computerised systems you will need a good level of computer literacy.
- Negotiation skills: Important for getting the best deal for your clients and protecting their best interests.
- Written communication skills: There will be a great deal of reporting and drafting of official documents so good writing skills are important.
- Research skills: To ensure that you have a thorough understanding of each case.