Services: Residential Conveyancing
Selling a property, as we appreciate, can be both confusing and stressful. We have therefore devised this detailed step by step process to explain the transaction in simple terms.
 The Offer
Having decided that you wish to accept an offer on your home via the agent, your sale is now agreed, "Subject to contract".
This means that neither you nor the buyer are legally committed and both parties can change their minds at any time, but you have both indicated your intention to proceed.
Sale Agreed
1. Having accepted an offer from the buyer via the estate agent, you will instruct a solicitor to proceed with the sale. TIP: If you instruct your solicitor when you first put your property on the market he/she can prepare some of the preliminary documentation in advance saving time later.
2. Through the estate agents the seller and the buyer exchange solicitors’ details.
3. Your solicitor will then obtain your title deeds and land registry copies of the deeds. You will be asked to fill in a Property Information Questionnaire and a Fixtures Fittings and Contents schedule. As part of the Property information questionnaire you will need to provide any important papers not held with the title deeds e.g. damp and timber reports, planning consents for alterations and extensions, etc.
4. Your solicitor will prepare a contract and send it to the buyers’ solicitors, which will contain: - The agreed terms for the sale of the property.
- The list of the fixtures fittings and contents to be included in the sale.
- The general questionnaire form completed by the seller.
- A copy of the legal title.
- Copies of any necessary guarantees.
- Copies of any planning documents.
5. From acceptance of the offer the buyer should now be arranging finance and organising a survey. The survey may reveal further checks that need to be made or raise the issue of renegotiation of the price i.e. it is too high or that the property needs unforseen work carrying out. This will in turn affect the finance. Only when the lender is happy with the survey will it issue a mortgage offer.
6. The buyers’ solicitor will investigate the legal title of the property, lodging a local authority search which gives information about the planning history of the property, and whether there are any proposals and schemes that may affect the property. Search results normally take between 5 to 20 days depending how quickly the local authority works. The buyers’ solicitor will also check the draft contract to make sure no legal problems have been revealed, and will advise the purchaser of any legal restrictions, rights or easements that affect the property.
7. Your solicitor then answers, in conjunction with you, any queries the buyer’s solicitor may have with regard to the above.
8. When the search results have been received and the buyer’s solicitor is satisfied with the replies to the enquiries and the lender has issued a satisfactory mortgage offer, the buyer will be ready to exchange contracts.
Exchange of Contracts
1. Once the draft Contract is agreed you will then be asked to sign the final contract document in readiness for exchange. Even signing the contract does not commit you to the sale. It is only once contracts are exchanged that both parties are legally bound to each other.
2. Exchange of contracts takes place between the solicitors, and the deposit (usually 10% of the agreed price) will be sent over by cheque from the buyer’s solicitor.
3. The sale now becomes legally binding. If the buyer withdraws he/she will lose their deposit.
4. Your solicitor will approve the transfer deed and ask you to sign it and will also apply for the mortgage redemption figure and prepare final accounts.
Completion
1. On the day of completion your solicitor will receive the balance of the sale price, in return for which the title deeds will be handed over and authority given for the keys of the property to be given to the buyer.
2. Your solicitor will redeem any mortgage, pay your estate agents and send any left over money to you, unless you are using it for an onward purchase.
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