The property chain – introduction You may have seen in the estate agents’ windows while looking for your first home ‘No onward chain’; you may have heard of a ‘chain’ or that ‘the chain is not ready’.  You know it is something to do with the conveyancing process, but what exactly is it?   At its simplest, a property chain is a series of linked property transactions. Looked at another way, they arise where a purchaser of a property is relying on the sale proceeds from another

As your conveyancing process nears its end, it is quite natural to consider booking in removals.  After all, you’re finally ready to move from the house being sold, into the new one you’ve spent weeks, if not months, waiting for.  You’ve been told by the agents that the chain is ready, so you pay the deposit on removals for the proposed completion date.  Only after this, do you let your conveyancer know what has been done. This hopefully works out fine, but you could receive

Amidst the vast architecture of land law stand three foundational principles of registered land: the mirror, the curtain, and the indemnity principles.  Together, they attempt to reconcile certainty in conveyancing with fairness in equity.  Their interaction is not seamless, rather a deliberately constructed tension.   The mirror principle aspires to completeness: the register should reflect the estates and interests affecting the land.  A purchaser ought to be able to look a

After months of scanning estate agents’ windows, walking through strangers’ kitchens, and mentally arranging your own furniture in someone else’s sitting room, you finally make an offer. It is accepted.  That acceptance feels decisive. It is not. It creates expectation, not obligation. At this stage there is no binding contract, no enforceable promise to buy or sell, and no guarantee that the matter will ever reach completion. The accepted offer is simply the factual starting