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Guide to Selling a Property |
Selling a home can be a daunting prospect, especially if you want to sell quickly, or are involved in a chain of transactions.
Your solicitor or conveyancer is there to help make the process as smooth as possible and to protect your interests at every step.
Through these pages we will give you a guide to what you can expect from your solicitor or conveyancer when you are selling.
What your solicitor or conveyancer will need from you
We will require you to complete various forms which you will find on our Forms Page.
We will also need to verify your identity and at the outset you should provide us with some personal identification which must include a photographic ID.
We also need to know from you any particular dates that you are aiming towards or wish to avoid.
We need to know where the title documents to your property (i.e. the Land/Charge Certificate, Lease etc. are)
We may also need some money from you at the outset if we have to apply to a Managing Agent or Freeholder for information.
Contacting the Buyer's Solicitor
Once we have received the necessary information from you and the Estate Agents Memorandum of Sale, we will contact the buyer's solicitor to make sure that they have been instructed. We will enquire whether your buyer has a property to sell, and whether they are applying for a mortgage and what time scale they are aiming toward.
We will then forward to your buyer's solicitor's a draft Contract and supporting documents to enable them to review the paperwork and apply for the necessary searches. They may raise enquiries arising out of those documents, which we may need to refer to you.
Exchanging Contracts
Once the buyer and their solicitor have reviewed all the paperwork, applied for the necessary searches, carried out their survey and received their mortgage offer Exchange of Contracts can take place.
This is the crucial moment when the date is agreed for legal completion and when you must move out of your property. This is also when matters become legally binding. Neither party is able to withdraw after exchange of Contracts without severe financial implications.
Pre-Completion
Between exchange and completion we will apply to your Mortgage Company for a final figure to enable repayment of your mortgage. We will ask your Estate Agents to supply us with their commission account and prepare your financial statement which will show the balance due to you on the day of completion.
You will also need to sign the Transfer document which will be prepared by the buyer's solicitors.
Completion
This is the final stage in the conveyancing process when your solicitor will receive the money from your buyer's solicitors and will make the necessary payments to all parties. They will confirm to you that legal completion has taken place and release the keys to the property.
You need to ensure that you vacate the property between 12 and 2pm (depending on what the Contract states) otherwise legal completion may not take place. You must ensure that all items that were not included in the Fixtures and Fittings Form or otherwise agreed between you and the buyer are removed from the property including any rubbish.
Once you have moved out of the property the final balance will be sent to you.