Buying a garage, how much legal help do I need?

[DoTheWrongThing]

My DH and I are in the process of buying a garage from an elderly lady that lives on our street. She is lovely and owns the garage, and therefore the deeds, outright for years. The garage is not attached to our house, it is a little down the road from us.

We have agreed on a price and I've been told it's simply a matter of her signing the deeds over to us and us paying her. Is this right and do I need a lot of legal help for this please? I have contacted a couple of local solicitors and am just waiting to hear back from them with a price but I just want to make sure I am not being charged way over the odds for something that is quite simple. I've bought a house in the past and of course that had a much more complex legal process but I know nothing of buying something like this.

Many thanks for any help given.

It's fairly simple, but you need someone who knows what they're doing to draw up the paperwork. The buyer normally draws up the transfer deed. You need to register your ownership at the land registry. If you're not confident doing either, pay for some professional help.

The process is not too dissimilar to buying a house although the degree to which a solicitor is likely to complete searches etc will be diminished and presumably no lender is involved?

If the garage is in England & Wales and registered then completing the land registration aspect can be quite straightforward. There is paperwork to complete and all parties would be required to supply evidence of identity - take a look at our online guidance on how to transfer your property www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/faqs/how-do-i-transfer-my-registered-landproperty this will give you some idea of what is involved from a registration angle

Note - if the garage forms part of the owner's larger title i.e. is registered along with the house then it would be a Transfer of Part (TP1). If it is registered separately then a TR1 would be required.

The online guidance will give both you and the owner some idea with regards how to transfer ownership but we would always encourage people to seek legal advice. Completing forms and making an application can be fairly straightforward but other issues can arise which need to be considered.

www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/faqs/how-do-i-transfer-my-registered-landproperty

Thank you both very much for such helpful information. I think I will bite the bullet and pay for legal help, it seems like false economy not to. I have had one quote for about £500 and I am waiting to hear back from a couple more solicitors before I choose who to go with.

Hi £500 is competitive for this type of thing. I bought loads of bits of land recently for a Client in Gloucestershire using various solicitors and this was around what they were charging for each transaction. Hope this helps....

Many thanks Elansofar. I have been lucky though and received a lower quote of £350 from a very reputable solicitor, so I took that one. Everything seems to be going smoothly so far. :)