Conveyancing For Sellers
Before you decide to place your house on the market you will need to consider what is involved, such as the process and timelines as well as whether you intend to purchase your next property or rent until you find your dream home.
What To Consider
What are the things you may need to consider when selling your house?
- Review and consider your financial situation
- Decide whether you want to purchase another property or rent
- Decided which selling agent will market your property
- Obtain a valuation
- Get an Energy Performance Certificate
- Ensure your house has been cleaned, decluttered, and has that curb appeal ready for marketing
- Accept an offer on your sale
- Speak with and instruct a property lawyer
Now that you have instructed your property lawyer the legal process can now commence.
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What We Do For You
You are now ready to commence the legal process by instructing your conveyancer who will handle the sale on your behalf by carrying out the following:
- Client onboarding process: Your property lawyer will send you the initial papers for signing and return and will also request proof of your ID. You will be expected to sign and return these papers along with your payment to cover initial expenses.
- The Contract pack: This will contain the contract with the agreed sale price names of the parties and addresses. Contained within the pack will also be the Fittings and Contents Form. This is a list of all the items included in the sale and those which are for sale and the price. The Property Information Form Allows the vendor to provide as much information about the property such as details about the boundaries, planning proposal as well as documentation, neighbour disputes whether there are any adult occupiers etc. Legal Title or the Deeds which shows the current legal owners of the property, whether there are any mortgages attached to the property along with restrictive covenants and any other issues to be aware of.
- Pre-Exchange: Only when the buyer’s property lawyer has received the results of their searches and all enquiries have been addressed will the property lawyer then report to their client on all the searches, enquiries raised etc. The report will contain the contract papers for signing and return and request of 10% deposit. You will be sent the contract papers for signing on your sale and return and it is only once the chain is ready and dates agreed will exchange of contracts take place.
- Exchange and Completion: An exchange of contracts will take place once all matters have been satisfied and the chain has a pre-agreed completion date. Once contracts have been exchanged you are legally bound to sell your house to the buyer and your buyer is legally bound to buy. Completion is the date when monies are received from the buyer’s property lawyer for your property. You will be instructed by us to drop of the keys to the estate agents for the buyer to collect. We will then deal with your mortgage redemption where applicable and return the balance of the sale proceeds to you.
The above is a basic conveyancing guide of the sale process and we are more than happy to discuss the transaction with you in greater detail. Please feel free to contact our offices to speak with one of our property lawyers on 01527 910505.
The conveyancing process takes around 12 – 16 weeks from an offer being accepted to completion.
There are several factors that can have a significant impact on how long the conveyancing process takes:
- Returning initial papers, identification and transferring funds to your conveyancer
- Waiting for the mortgage valuation and/or a survey to be completed
- Obtaining leasehold packs from third-party managing agents
- Providing incorrect information on mortgage application forms
- Not declaring gifted deposits or necessary source and origin of funds information at the outset
- Mortgage offer expiring before exchange of contracts
- The seller not supplying complete or adequate replies to the enquiries that the buyer’s conveyancer raises
- Receiving responses and legal documents from others in the chain
- Others in the chain not being ready to exchange or having different time scales
- Not signing required legal documents on time
In all instances we endeavour to work with all parties involved to expedite this process and avoid unnecessary delays, however, our overriding principle is to act in the best interest of the client and protect your interest throughout each step of the process.