The moment you decide to buy or sell your property and go as far as to place an offer, the first thing your estate agent asks for is the details of your conveyancer so they can pass it on to the seller's conveyance or vice versa so it is always important to contact a conveyancer as soon as you think of buying or selling your property to avoid making the decision in a rush.

Conveyancing is the legal process of buying and selling property and a conveyancer is the term given to a conveyancing solicitor. All legitimate conveyancing solicitors are registered with the Law Society in England and Wales; there are separate societies in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

A conveyancer takes care of all the legal aspects of your moving house which include

- Local search

- Land searches

- Land registry

- Stamp duty

- Home information packs

The secret to cheap conveyancing is research, if research is not done one runs the risk of making the decision of a in a hurry which will lead to hiring the first one you come across. This might lead to hiring a costly conveyancer or an incompetent one which will lead to problems later on down the line.

One of the best ways of getting cheap coveyancing is by word of mouth, you could ask family and friends to recommend conveyancers they have used in the past or you could ask for references from your estate agent or mortgage broker. You could also do research using internet search engines as they are thousands of conveyance companies offering cheap conveyancing services on line. Once you have gathered all relevant information it is a good idea to get about three or more quotes from different companies before making a decision. Also make sure the quotes you get state clearly what is included. Normally you will have to pay for the conveyancers ‘time, his phone calls, letters, faxes as well as his indemnity fee. The quote usually states any unforeseeable problems warrants an extra charge.

Another way of making your conveyancing costs even cheaper is to get your conveyancer to act for the lender. The main task they would have to do on behalf of the lender will be to draw up a mortgage deed which will set the conditions of your loan, the lender then holds the title deeds of the property until the loan is paid in full.

You should also be aware that most conveyancers will require you to pay for land registry and local authority search fees upfront and then the balance will be due after you've completed on your home. Also depending on whether the property is freehold or lease hold you will have to pay a bit more as leasehold properties require additional work checking the lease.