> BUYING & SELLING PROPERTY
TIPS AND ADVICE

Buying or selling your home in East London? The conveyancing team at Cunningtons’ Hornchurch branch, part of a law firm with offices across the region, handles the legal side of residential sales, purchases, remortgages and transfers of equity for clients across Hornchurch, Ilford, Romford, Upminster and the wider London Borough of Havering. Based at 135 High Street, we offer fixed-fee conveyancing and a free initial quotation, face-to-face if you wish, with no jargon and no pressure. With Cunningtons in Hornchurch you know exactly where you stand, who you’re working with, and how much it all costs before you instruct us.

What areas does the Hornchurch branch cover?

Centrally located on Hornchurch High Street, our office allows us to serve clients throughout Greater London and Essex, including:

Hornchurch Ilford Romford Stratford Chingford Havering Dagenham Walthamstow Upminster Barking Chigwell South Ockendon Gidea Park East Ham Buckhurst Hill Woodford Wanstead Loughton Emerson Park Rainham Harold Wood

We also deal with property transactions across England and Wales, made easier through our specialist residential conveyancing solicitors in other branches in our network.

★★★★★

“This is our 6th transaction with Cunningtons. Highly recommended. […] I shall happily use their service again.”

Sree L · Hornchurch client

Meet your Hornchurch conveyancing team

Nneoma Egemonye: Conveyancing Solicitor

Working in our Hornchurch office and residential conveyancing

Nneoma Egemonye, conveyancing solicitor at Cunningtons Hornchurch

Nneoma handles residential sales, purchases, buy-to-let, transfers of equity, probate sales and auction properties at our Hornchurch branch. She holds an LL.B (Hons) from Kingston University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from The College of Law. She qualified as a solicitor in 2023 after more than seven years working in law.

Contact Nneoma by phone: 01708 202 745
Or by email: nneoma.egemonye@cunningtons.co.uk

Read Nneoma’s profile here >>

Salma Hussain: Conveyancing Solicitor

Key part of the conveyancing team in our Hornchurch branch

Salma Hussain, Conveyancing Solicitor at Cunningtons Solicitors, Hornchurch branch

Salma Hussain specialises in residential conveyancing at our Hornchurch branch, and is fluent in Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. This helps her support clients from across our diverse local community with confidence, as they can have stress-free communication in their mother tongues. She joined Cunningtons as a paralegal, began her training contract in 2022 and qualified as a solicitor in April 2024. She is dedicated to providing a professional, approachable and efficient service, keeping every transaction running smoothly with clear communication from instruction through to completion.

Contact Salma by phone: 01708 202 744
Or email: salma.hussain@cunningtons.co.uk

Read Salma’s profile here >>

Our conveyancing team provides clients with a personal service and face-to-face support, with direct access to your dedicated case manager throughout your property transaction.

★★★★★

“[Cunningtons Hornchurch] provided exceptional service. I had a strict deadline for my remortgage and [they] delivered. Thank you.”

Rafik L · Hornchurch client

What we help with

Our Hornchurch conveyancing team are all experienced property solicitors, specialising in the legal side of buying and selling homes across Hornchurch and the rest of East London. We keep up to date with every aspect of property law, handling freehold and leasehold properties, flats and houses, for clients at every stage, whether you’re a first-time buyer, downsizing, or moving up to a larger family home.

Our property law services include:

Property law often bleeds into other areas of the law, and we’ve got that covered too, with our colleagues at other branches of Cunningtons:

  • If you’re in a dispute over a boundary, a neighbour, or a right of way, our civil litigation specialists at our Braintree head office can help.
  • If you’re dealing with probate, our Wills and probate solicitor, Rachael Fleet, can guide you through selling a property as part of an estate.
  • And if divorce or separation means working out what happens to a shared home, our family law team is on hand too.

Why choose a local conveyancing solicitor?

Illustration of one hand passing a house key to another hand in front of a front door

Direct Access

One named solicitor on the phone or by email, not just a queue at a call centre.

Local Knowledge

We actually know Hornchurch and Havering, not just as a postcode on a file.

No Price Premium

Fixed fees, in line with the online firms, but with local people you can talk to.

★★★★★

“We are very happy with the service provided by … Cunningtons’ team for our recent purchase of a lease hold property. Very knowledgeable, proactive, very professional and very prompt response throughout the conveyancing process.”

P Gurusamy · Hornchurch client

Read more reviews from Hornchurch clients.

A local solicitor matters most when something doesn’t go to plan. Searches can throw up surprises, chains can wobble, and having a named solicitor who is personally involved in your case makes those moments far less stressful. You’ll also have access to the rest of the firm’s expertise, including Wills and probate, family law and civil litigation, should the need ever arise.

In practice, local and online firms tend to quote similarly on legal costs. The real difference is what you get for your money: a dedicated conveyancer, a local office you can visit, and the certainty that nearly three centuries of legal expertise gives you.

Order your fixed-fee conveyancing quote from our Hornchurch team today.

Housing in Hornchurch: what buyers and sellers should know

Moving home in Hornchurch often costs more than in surrounding postcodes, though prices move up and down. You can check current ‘sold’ prices for Hornchurch directly via Rightmove’s house price tool.

If you’re selling, it’s worth having a realistic, up-to-date conversation with your estate agent about suggested pricing. If you’re buying, this is a market where a fixed-fee, no-surprises conveyancing service matters even more, since every pound counts.

Whichever side of the transaction you’re on, get in touch with our Hornchurch team for a clear, fixed-fee quotation before you instruct us.

What happens during the conveyancing process?

Buying a home Once you’ve accepted our fixed-fee quote, we contact the seller’s solicitors to check the title deeds, carry out the necessary searches, and liaise with your mortgage lender to confirm your funding is in place. After you exchange contracts, we make sure your deposit goes to the right place, prepare the paperwork needed for completion, and confirm all search results have been received. On completion day, we check the money has reached the seller’s solicitors, settle our fees with you, pay your Stamp Duty Land Tax, and register you as the new owner with the Land Registry.

Selling a home We request your title deeds and mortgage statement from your lender, respond to the buyer’s solicitor’s enquiries, and prepare the sale contract with you, leading to exchange of contracts. Once the buyer’s deposit has been received, we collect what’s owed to your estate agent and keep you updated throughout the process on the Cunningtons LLP app. After completion, we transfer the proceeds of the sale to your bank, your estate agent and your mortgage lender, coordinate the handover of keys, and send you a clear statement of your conveyancing fees once everything’s settled.

Remortgaging Even if you’re not moving, your home still needs to be conveyanced when you remortgage. Once you’ve accepted your quote, we request your title deeds and run the necessary searches, then liaise with your lender over the mortgage offer and your title deed. After completion, we register the new mortgage with the Land Registry and give you a clear invoice for our fees.

How we work, and how we charge

Ready to move? Ordering your free quote is easy:

4-Step Quote Process

Conveyancing quote process for the Hornchurch branch of Cunningtons solicitors: contact, describe, quote, instruction

📞 Call us on 0800 977 7887 (free) for a fast telephone quote

📧 Email quotes@cunningtons.co.uk for a written quotation,

🚶‍♀️ Visit our offices on Hornchurch High Street, or just

💻 Complete our form below.

Our fixed-fee residential conveyancing starts at £1153 + VAT.

Get Your Fixed-fee Property Quote Today

GET IN TOUCH

To contact us about any of our legal services including Family Law, Litigation or Wills and Probate,
just complete this form so we can get back to you.

Cunningtons Solicitors in Hornchurch

First Floor, 135 High Street,
Hornchurch, Greater London
RM11 3YD
United Kingdom

Tel: 01708 984 999

Frequently Asked Questions

What documents does my solicitor need for my property conveyancing?

After you have gone through the quotation system and signed the instruction form, if you’re selling you’ll need to let us have any deeds you hold and guarantees and other certificates. Providing your ID documents at an early stage always helps, and if you’re buying, evidence of the source of your funds.

How much will my conveyancing fees be?

Our fixed-fee residential conveyancing starts at £1153 + VAT. The price of the conveyancing process depends on the value of the houses being bought or sold. You can contact our dedicated free phone quote line (0800 977 7887) to get an accurate quotation, or submit an enquiry via the Cunningtons website.

What does ‘exchange’ mean?

There are two key events in the sale of a property in the UK – ‘exchange’ and ‘completion’. The ‘exchange of contracts’ happens when both parties sign a legal contract and their legal representatives agree the terms and date the Contract that makes all aspects of the purchase legally binding and enforceable. ‘Completion’ is the final stage in the sale of a property, when property legally changes ownership and keys are handed over.

What is a local search?

This is a request to the Local Authority to provide any information that they may have relating to the property being bought; this includes any planning entries, financial charges and local road schemes, but does not cover any neighbouring land.

Are conveyancing searches necessary?

The information from a property search is vital to a buyer. You need to know, for example, if the area is about to be extensively developed as that would be highly disruptive in terms of resulting traffic and noise levels.

What happens in the conveyancing process?

Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring property, and it happens whenever UK property is bought, sold or remortgaged.

The conveyancing process for each transaction is different, and generally involves liaising between buyers, sellers, mortgage companies, local councils and the Land Registry.

If you are buying property:
We contact the seller’s solicitors to check the title deeds and contract, then conduct a variety of searches depending on the location, check the formal mortgage offer, collect together documents that require signing, organise the handing over the deposit, ensure all monies are in the right accounts, arrange completion of sale, ensure the correct stamp duty is paid, instruct the land registry of the change in ownership, then send the deeds to either the buyer or the mortgage lender.

If you are selling property:
We obtain the title deeds and up-to-date information from the Land Registry, arrange the contracts that outline the sale, liaise with the buyer’s solicitors, find out the balance on your mortgage if necessary, send deeds for signing, arrange for estate agents’ fees to be paid, collect all funds due to the seller, submit statements and send deeds and keys to the new owner.

If you are remortgaging:
We obtain the title deeds and up-to-date title copy from Land Registry, deal with any searches, receive mortgage offer, ask you to sign mortgage deed, arrange for the delivery of the new loan, get up-to-date statement from current lender, run searches at the Land Registry, receive the loan and repay existing mortgage, and register the new mortgage with the Land Registry.

In brief, conveyancing has a number of stages and differs according to the purpose of the transaction, the finances of the buyer/seller/remortgager, the geographical location of the property, and the number of other transactions in the chain.

Talk to your property solicitor throughout the process and they’ll keep you up to date with this important process.

What searches does a conveyancer do?

The standard searches your conveyancing solicitor undertakes are:
– local authority,
– water/drainage, and
– environmental.

There are a number of other searches to undertake depending on the locality of the property. For example, in mining areas a mining search is also always obtained. There may also be searches for gypsum in areas where gypsum mining has taken place, likewise lead Mining, china clay, and limestone.

Check with your property solicitor to find out which searches they are intending to undertake.

How long does conveyancing take?

There’s no simple answer to this common question. Conveyancing depends on many factors outside of our control, and the longer the chain, the less predictable the timescale. A straightforward sale or purchase with no chain can complete in as little as six to eight weeks, whereas a transaction with a chain of buyers and sellers more often takes a lot longer. Your conveyancing solicitor will keep you updated at every stage, so you always know where you stand, but delays are common and often not any one person’s fault.

Do you offer free conveyancing quotations?

Yes. We offer a free, no-obligation initial quotation for all residential conveyancing work, so you know exactly what you’ll pay before you instruct us. Call us, email us, or complete our online form to get started.

Do you still work with clients from Ilford?

Yes, we do. Since our branch relocated from Ilford to Hornchurch in 2022, we’ve carried on serving our existing Ilford clients while growing our customer base across East London and Havering.