Plan how to transfer the required money to your conveyancer
Updated: 7th May, 2024
Author: Charlotte Burton
Transferring all the money you need for your home purchase can be more complicated than it sounds. We encourage you to make sure you've planned ahead, we have some advice for what to consider below.
đź“… Ask your conveyancer what you will need to transfer & by when
- Before exchange, you will need to transfer at least your deposit to your conveyancer.
- However, your conveyancer may ask you to transfer all the money you owe for the whole purchase before exchange - your deposit, any stamp duty, their fees and any other outstanding costs.
- Make sure you ask them what money you need to transfer to them and by when before you agree the exchange date.
⌛ Withdrawing money is not always instant
- It can take up to 1-2 weeks to get money out of lifetime ISAs, shares, and premium bonds. Start withdrawing this money with plenty of time before exchange.
🏦 Plan for daily transfer limits
- Your bank will limit how much money you can transfer out of your account per day. It may be as little as ÂŁ10,000.
- Look up your account’s daily transfer limit, and plan which of the 3 methods below you want to use to transfer money to your conveyancer. Each has pros & cons.
- Pros: Requires no contact with your bank.
- Cons: Some conveyancers charge a fee every time you transfer them money, as they need to check if it has arrived. This option may also not be practical if you have a small daily transfer limit and a large amount of money to transfer.
- Pros: No fees, and no need to go to your bank in person.
- Cons: Not all banks offer this service. Those that do will only increase your daily transfer limit for a short period of time, such as 24 hours. Some banks will require you to arrange this at least 1 day in advance.
- Pros: No need to contact your bank in advance.
- Cons: You will likely need to go into your bank in person to set this up, and pay a fee of ÂŁ25-50. Some banks are only open 10am-4pm on weekdays, and may have long queues, so this option may be difficult if you work on weekdays.
🕵️‍♀️ Plan how to avoid fraudsters
Transferring a huge sum of money to your conveyancer can be scary. It is rare for things to go wrong, but there are horror stories out there of people sending hundreds of thousands of pounds to hackers who have hijacked a conveyancer’s email.
Here are some tips to avoid sending your deposit to the wrong place.
- Triple-check that you’ve entered the correct account details.
- Before sending the full amount, send a small amount of money (e.g. £1) to your conveyancer. Then ask them to confirm that they’ve received it, and the amount they’ve been sent, ideally by phone.
- If possible, you could go to your conveyancer’s office and talk to them in person to make sure you have the correct bank details.
