A Solicitor's Guide to Selling Your Property
Tim Bishop
The sale or purchase of any property is often the biggest financial deal anyone ever makes. It makes sense to get specialist conveyancing solicitors who can help you with your sale. What actually happens when the property is sold? This article sets out the basic steps involved in any sale of property.
Step 1
If you have had an offer accepted on your home then you must seek legal assistance in order to sell your property. When you instruct a solicitor the will proceed to deduce the title for the property, this can be achieved by looking at the deeds. These deeds will either be held by yourself, or more likely they will have to be requested from your mortgage lender.
Step 2
Your solicitor will put together a Home Information Pack (if one has not previously been produced). More importantly they will put together a purchase schedule for the buyer indicating what fixtures and fittings the purchase price will include.
Step 3
Your solicitor will prepare a draft contract for the sale. This will reflect any agreements you wish to be made prior to the purchase of the property. This will then be sent across to the buyer's solicitor for approval.
Step 4
The buyer will send your solicitor a list of pre-contract enquiries that will need to be answered. These queries will either be standard (i.e. made with every purchase) or they may be more specific to the property (i.e. as a result of survey and search findings). The underlying principal in purchasing land is still caveat emptor (buyer beware) but you should attempt to answer the queries as honestly as possible. Your solicitor will send your answers back to the buyer's solicitor.
Step 5
Once the draft contract has been agreed by the other side and returned with any amendments, your solicitor will meet with you to ensure that you are happy with it's content. If everything is satisfactory, then you can sign the contract making it ready for exchange. At this point your solicitor will want to check and agree the mortgage redemption amount and decide on an anticipated completion date. Please note, you must be ready to vacate the property and hand over the keys by completion.
Step 6
The contract of sale will be exchanged with the other side, this process is done between the two solicitors. Upon exchange the buyer will pay his/her deposit money across to your solicitor.
Step 7
The buyer's solicitor will prepare a draft purchase deed or transfer form as it is also known, this will then be sent to your solicitor. Your solicitor will check the details and will either send back an amended version or obtain your signature for an agreed version. As it is a deed then it will have to be executed accordingly (i.e. signed in the presence of an independent witness). The buyer's will also want to know information such as where to collect keys, so you should provide your solicitor with this information to pass on.
Step 8
Your solicitor will forward you a completion statement indicating how much money you owe before the sale can be completed. The financial statement will detail the following; legal costs accrued by the solicitor, any disbursements paid, a deduction for any deposit money received and an addition for money needed to redeem the current mortgage. You will then have a set period of time to pay the outstanding costs in order for completion to take place.
Step 9
Completion takes place between the solicitors and the keys are handed over. The buyer's solicitor undertakes to send across the funds needed to complete the purchase and your solicitor undertakes to discharge any outstanding mortgage owed on the property with the completion money.
Step 10
Your solicitor will redeem any outstanding mortgage monies and the DS1 (discharge form) will be sent across to the buyer's solicitor. The outstanding money from the sale will be returned to you and this is the end of the completion.
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About The Author
Tim Bishop is senior partner at Bonallack & Bishop, a firm of specialist property solicitors specialising in conveyancing. He is responsible for all major strategic decisions, seeing himself as a businessman who owns a law firm. Tim has expanded the firm by 1000% in 12 years and has plans for its continued development.
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