Conveyancers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A team of legal practitioners focused on handling the processes involved in transferring property titles to new owners
2. Professionals specializing in preparing and managing the legal documents required for property ownership changes
3. Experts who facilitate the official procedures and paperwork involved in transferring real estate titles between parties

Etymology: Conveyancers are lawyers who handle the legal paperwork when land or buildings change hands, and the name points back to an older sense of "conveyance" that meant the transfer of property itself. The word is formed from "conveyance" with the agent suffix "-er", so a conveyancer is literally one who does conveyance. "Conveyance" in turn comes from the verb "convey", which carried the sense of carrying or transporting something from one place to another, and this physical sense of moving goods was later extended to moving legal ownership from one person to another. The suffix has a longer pedigree than the word itself. The "-er" ending descends from Latin "-arius", which passed through Old French "-ier" and reached Middle English as "-er", while the same Latin suffix also gave Old English "-ere" by a separate route. English has used this ending for centuries to name people by their trade or activity, so "conveyancer" joins a large family of words like "baker" and "lawyer" built the same way.

Synonyms: lawyers, attorneys, solicitors, notaries, agents

Antonyms: clients, principals, owners, mortgagors, borrowers