Why choose SAM Conveyancing Solicitors in Essex?
Whether you're buying, selling, remortgaging, dealing with a lease, staircasing shared ownership, or paying off your Help to Buy loan, you'll need a conveyancing specialist to handle the legal side of things. With SAM, you benefit from a dedicated conveyancing executive who will guide you through the process, from start to finish, at no extra cost. Available Monday to Saturday to answer all your questions, we'll bridge the gap between you and your solicitor, with regular updates in plain English.
We have hand-selected some of the best conveyancing solicitors Essex has to offer, which are backed by a no-sale-no-fee guarantee, and the fixed-fee we quote is broken down so you can see exactly what your quote includes. No unpleasant surprises.
You'll also benefit from our state-of-the-art Online Conveyancing Process to track your progress and next steps along the way.
We're first-time-buyer friendly
86% of our purchase clients are First-Time Buyers, so we are hyper-attuned to what you need when buying your first home.
- We take the time to explain the process
- We offer tips on timescales
- We keep it real, never overpromising
Our Conveyancing Services
We can help with all of your conveyancing needs; simple to complex, and always affordable.
- Purchase
- Sale
- Transfer
- Remortgage
- Help to Buy Repayment
- Help to Buy Sale or Transfer
- Auction Sale or Purchase
- Shared Ownership Sale & Purchase
- Shared Ownership Staircasing
- Lease Extension
- Purchase of Freehold
- New Builds & Off-plan Purchases
- First Time Buyers
- Second Homes
- Buy to Let landlords
Fixed quote for our legal costs plus a budget-friendly breakdown of third-party disbursements.
Your sale or purchase is protected by our no sale, no fee guarantee.
Our panel solicitors are pre-approved to work with 99% of mortgage lenders in England & Wales.
Panel solicitors accredited by the Conveyancing Quality Scheme; regulated by the SRA.
Residential Conveyancing Solicitors in and around Essex
Our Essex conveyancing solicitors can help you with your conveyance locally or in any of the surrounding areas, including Chelmsford, Colchester, Writtle, Billericay, Brentwood, Maldon and Braintree.
We have many offices throughout England and Wales, so you can find a solicitor near you.
- Carlton Court, Craven Gardens, Barkingside, Essex IG6 1LT
- 46 Cranstone Park Avenue, Upminster, Essex, RM14 3UT
- 196 Willowfield, Harlow, Essex, CM18 6RZ
- 11 Featherstone Court, 287 - 295 High Road, Chadwell Heath, Essex, RM6 6DJ
- 55 Bentry Road, Dagenham, Essex, RM8 3PA
- Park View (house) – Park Lane, Chigwell, Essex.
Marketed by Douglas Allen.
Essex Property Prices
| Average property price in Essex | £417,416 |
| Population of Essex | 1,729,200 (2014) |
Broomfield Hospital, Court Rd, Chelmsford, CM1 7ET
Chelmsford & Essex Hospital, New London Rd, Chelmsford, CM2 0QH
St Michael's Hospital, Rayne Rd, Braintree, CM7 2QU
By road, the M4 and M5 are close by, the former giving access to London and Wales and the latter linking Exeter and Birmingham. Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station has fast services to London and services to many other conurbations, including Birmingham, Liverpool and Exeter.
Distance to Airports from Essex (Chelmsford)
| Airport | Miles by car |
| Stansted | 17.9 miles |
| Luton | 48.1 miles |
| Heathrow | 57 miles |
King Edward VI Grammar School, Broomfield Rd, Chelmsford, CM1 3SX
Mayfield Grammar School Gravesend, Pelham Rd, Gravesend, DA11 0JE
Colchester Royal Grammar School, 6 Lexden Rd, Colchester CO3 3ND
Local conveyancing solicitor
Are local, licensed conveyancing solicitors near me more expensive?
Local or high street property lawyers' costs can often be more than those of online conveyancing solicitors. They may handle less cases or be working on a referral arrangement with a local estate agent.
We provide local services, nationally, online, so you get the best of both.
Affordable Housing Schemes
Several affordable housing schemes in Essex help make buying a property more achievable. The work is more complex, and we have specialist conveyancing solicitors to handle the following:
- Shared Ownership Solicitors
- Right to Buy Solicitors - speak to Essex County Council to find out if you are eligible
- Discount Market Sale - check with Essex County Council if they are running a DMS scheme
Essex conveyancing solicitors
You can rest assured that you're in good hands with us. We hand select our panel for skill and experience, from a simple purchase to complex transactions with specialist ownership structures and deeds of trust.
Is the property over 5 storeys (11m)?
Many leasehold properties in Essex are in large buildings which now require an EWS1 certificate to confirm if the cladding is fire safe. Thankfully 2022's leaseholder protections mean that most leaseholders are not burdened with the cost of remediation of any defective cladding, but you will need to see the seller's Deed of Certificate to prove that the lease doesn't come with a nasty (and expensive) surprise.
Be particularly wary of purchasing a share of freehold as the freeholders may become liable for the cost of remedying defective cladding. Our specialist leasehold solicitors Essex are well experienced with handling all of these added complications, so you will be in safe hands with SAM. Property Challenges Solved.
Look no further for your residential conveyancing solicitor in Essex
Whatever your property challenge, we can solve it.
Selling a property
Your expert conveyancing solicitor's role when selling a property will include:
- Draft contracts – Your conveyancing solicitor drafts the initial legal contract to be sent to the buyer's solicitor.
- Responding to enquiries – your solicitor responds to any questions the buyer's solicitor may have (this is where you'll find out if you are missing documents, which can cause delays to your sale).
- Investigating issues – your solicitor may need to complete further investigation to try and satisfy them.
- Exchange contracts – once the buyer's solicitor has satisfied their enquiries, contracts are finalised and exchanged
- On the day of completion – your solicitor receives the money for the sale, discharges the mortgage (if required), pays the estate agent, deducts their fee and then sends the net sale proceeds to you.
- Post completion – your solicitor receives the DS1 discharge documents and, when leasehold, settles your liabilities for ground rent and service charges.
Our conveyancing solicitors' cost for selling a property starts from £723 INC VAT.
Buying a home
- Draft contracts – Your solicitor reviews the draft contract sent by the seller's solicitor.
- Raising enquiries – your solicitor will ask the seller's solicitor questions based on the contract, title, and property documents to protect you from any nasty surprises.
- Exchange contracts – once your solicitor is satisfied with their enquiries, they agree with the seller to finalise and exchange contracts
- Day of completion – on the day of completion, your solicitor transfers the money for the sale.
- Post completion – following completion, your solicitor makes an application to HM Land Registry to register you as the new owner.
Our Essex conveyancing solicitors' cost for buying a property starts from £723 INC VAT.
Add or remove someone from a property title
With a Transfer of Equity, you can buy someone out of a shared property and remove them from the title, or add someone to the title to transfer ownership of a share of the property, making them a joint owner. This service includes:
- Property solicitors' fees, including ID checks, office copies
- HM Land Registration fees
- (if party being removed) ID1 Form verification fee
- (if mortgage) Change of mortgage fee
- (if leasehold) Notice fee to freeholder
Our Essex conveyancing solicitors' cost for a Transfer of Equity starts at £399 INC VAT.
If someone is giving up their share of the property for less than market value, they may be required to get independent legal advice, which will be an additional expense.
Switch your mortgage deal in Essex
Your remortgage solicitor will perform all the necessary checks, review your new mortgage offer, and update HM Land Registry post-completion. The process is similar to when you purchase but should take less time, as the solicitor doesn't need to raise any legal enquiries.
If you own a leasehold property, your solicitor must carry out extra work to investigate the lease terms. Our conveyancing solicitors' cost for a remortgage in Essex starts at £363 INC VAT INC VAT.
Purchase the next chunk of your equity
When you're ready to buy the next chunk of the equity in your shared ownership property, a conveyancer will be required to handle:
- The bank transfer;
- obtaining a mortgage redemption statement from your existing lender;
- receiving your new mortgage offer and confirming the lender terms;
- receiving the memorandum of staircasing;
- handling completion;
- filing SDLT form (if required); and
- registration at the Land Registry.
Our conveyancing solicitors' cost for shared ownership staircasing in Essex starts at £649 INC VAT.
If you need to add someone to the legal title, you will need to pay an additional fee for a transfer of equity.
Paying off your Help to Buy equity loan
You'll need a solicitor to:
- Receive redemption letter;
- review title for ownership and restrictions;
- obtain Authority to Complete;
- draft a deed of postponement for your current lender;
- handling completion;
- bank transfer; and
- if repaid in full, removal of the loan restriction at the Land Registry.
Our conveyancing solicitors' cost for Help to Buy loan redemption in Essex starts at £333 INC VAT.
Price based on a freehold with the loan being repaid in full using savings.
Islamic finance solicitors
Specialists in Sharia-compliant conveyancing for Islamic mortgages.
- Can review, advise and negotiate with all Sharia Mortgage Lenders.
- Terms of the contract fully explained with confirmation of Sharia compliance and UK legal compliance.
- We can help with Ijara (Lease), Diminishing Musharaka (Reducing Partnership), and Murabaha (Cost-Plus Financing).
Conveyancing FAQs
The average conveyancing cost in London can be slightly higher than in the rest of the country. Depending on the property's price and the transaction's complexity, you could pay several hundred to a couple of thousand pounds. Our conveyancing fees in Essex are based on the purchase price, and start at £723 INC VAT.
Fill in our easy online form for a fixed quote tailored to your requirements.
Fees vary between online conveyancing solicitors, high street licensed conveyancers or housing solicitors introduced by your estate agent.
It's unnecessary to have a local property solicitor as the conveyancing process is the same throughout England and Wales. You should prioritise service and efficiency over proximity to Essex, when choosing a good conveyancing solicitor for any property transaction.
Many factors can delay conveyancing in Essex. A simple property transaction can be completed in less than two months, but the average is closer to 12-16 weeks.
Online conveyancing is just as safe as you protect your data on the internet as you would in any other transaction. Online conveyancing means speedier turnaround times on documents, more convenient meetings and lower running costs for the firm. We pass our savings on to you.
East of England Property Market Reports
- June 2025: South Norfolk Breaks House Price Record
- May 2024: Are House Prices in Hertfordshire Falling?
- January 2024: Should I Buy a House in Essex?
Our panel of solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and conveyancing work is accredited with the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme.
No Sale No Fee applies to any sale or purchase quote except auction, right to buy, discount market sales, or purchase of land. The No Sale No fee only protects the main solicitor's fee. All Additional Fixed Fees are payable in full. Read our No Sale No Fee Policy.
What are the conveyancing costs?
Fees vary between online conveyancing solicitors, high street conveyancers or housing solicitors introduced by your estate agent.
The actual conveyancing costs, outside of the legal work, should be fixed, including:
For buyers: stamp duty, land registration, property searches, ID searches and leasehold charges (if buying a leasehold property).
For sellers: office copies, title plan and management information (if selling a leasehold property).
Make sure to budget for all of the above conveyancing costs and to get a fixed fee conveyancing quote from several firms, to compare value.
Making the right choice of solicitor is key to the whole process:
- Cheap Conveyancing
- Fast Conveyancing
- Best Conveyancing Service
Is it better if your solicitor is local?
Regardless of whether you are buying or selling, there is nothing particular to be gained by your solicitor being 'local' to you.
As a buyer, your solicitor has to examine property searches, look at your home buyers survey (if you've had one done), ensure your mortgage is in place, make enquiries about the title and protect your legal interests when buying.
As a seller, your solicitor has to prepare your contract of sale and pass on all necessary documentation tied to the sale and generally look after your interests as a seller.
None of those mentioned above jobs require your solicitor to be local, and the checking of your ID, which happens at the start of the process, can be carried out electronically highly efficiently.
If you were to visit your solicitor in person to prove your ID, for example, you might, in theory, have to pay for this by the hour (and pay for travel, taking time off work, etc.).
In contrast, if as a buyer you choose to book a home buyers survey, it is essential to employ a RICS surveyor who knows the locale as they will have seen possibly hundreds of properties in and around the area and will benefit from knowledge of things like the type and style of housing, and possible defects to look for.
