Conveyancing in Sheffield

Who you'll be dealing with

Our conveyancers work on moves across the country, not just in Sheffield, so you get the same team wherever your chain leads. You get a named conveyancer from day one. We're regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, and you can meet the team before you instruct us.

You don't need to come into the office. Everything can be done online, by phone or on WhatsApp, and you get updates as each stage moves on. If you'd rather pop in, we're a short walk from the station.

Searches for Sheffield homes

If you're buying in Sheffield, your local authority search goes to Sheffield City Council. Elsewhere in South Yorkshire it goes to Barnsley, Doncaster or Rotherham council, depending on where the property is.

Much of South Yorkshire sits on old coalfield, so a coal mining search is often part of buying here. It tells you whether there are old mine workings near the property and whether there have been subsidence claims nearby. Our guide to conveyancing searches explains each search and what it can turn up.

Leasehold houses and chief rents

In most places, a leasehold home means a flat. In Sheffield, plenty of houses are leasehold too, and it's one of the things that surprises buyers most often. Many older Sheffield houses were sold on very long leases with a small fixed ground rent, so in day-to-day life they feel just like freehold.

We still check the length left on the lease, the ground rent and who collects it, and whether there are any restrictions in the lease that would stop you extending or altering the house. Some freehold homes here pay a chief rent instead, an old annual charge on the land, and we check whether one applies and whether it can be bought out. Our leasehold vs freehold guide explains the difference.

Other things we look out for

• Older terraces and stone-built homes. Plenty of Sheffield's houses are well over a hundred years old, so we check for shared passageways, rights of way across back yards, and building regulations sign-off for later extensions and loft conversions.
• City centre flats. Flats are almost always leasehold, so we read the lease and the management pack closely, including service charges and any plans for major works.
• Hillside plots. Sheffield is famously hilly, so boundaries, retaining walls and who's responsible for them come up more than you might expect.
• Homes by the rivers. The Don, the Sheaf and the Porter run through the city, and parts of the Don valley flooded badly in 2007. Your environmental search shows the flood risk, and we flag it before you commit.

How long will it take?

Most moves take 8 to 12 weeks. Every move is different, and our guide to how long conveyancing takes breaks down each stage.

Moving out of the city?

Lots of Sheffield chains run out to the towns around it. We've written up what we look out for in Rotherham, Barnsley, Dronfield and Chesterfield, and one conveyancer can handle both your sale and your purchase.