15 Feb Simple Guide To Property Conveyancing
Selling A Property
Once you have received an offer that you are happy with for your house/flat and choose to accept it, then your acting solicitor will put together a legal information pack to send to the buyer’s solicitor. This should contain:
A Fixtures fitting contents form: First of all you will need to fill this out to show the buyer what items at the property you are intending to leave behind and what you are taking with you e.g kitchen appliances, curtains, wardrobes and shelving.
Property information form: This is something you must fill out prior to letting the buyer know all about your property e.g if you have had any works done, what guarantees you have, if you have any disputes with your neighbours, boundaries, building consents or planning. There is also a second form for leasehold properties which will ask you about services charges, ground rent and who the freeholder is.
Your title documents: If you own your property outright you will have deeds which you will hold. If you don’t own your property outright the mortgage company will have these.
Contract of sale: This states the sale price and address of the property and both the names of the buyers and the sellers.
Your solicitors will deal with any questions from your buyers’ solicitors, they will preliminarily agree a completion date. This date is not set in stone at this point and often changes. A final completion date happens once you have exchanged contracts.
Exchange Of Contracts
For you to exchange contract the solicitor needs to receive the buyer’s deposit.
This is usually 10% of the purchase price and at this point, the completion date will be set in stone.
An up to date settlement figure on your remaining mortgage amount will be requested if you have one and this is called your redemption statement.
The contracts will be sent to your buyers’ solicitor to be signed and sent back to your solicitor. Once this has taken place you are unable to back out of the sale, unless you want to pay a large financial penalty.
A transfer deed will be sent for you to sign and will be held by your solicitor until completion takes place. The deed is also signed so your buyers can register their names on the title.
Completion
On the date of completion, your buyer’s solicitors will send the balance to your solicitor, who will, in turn, pay off what you owe on the mortgage.
Your estate agents will be paid also out of this and any other fees incurred during the course of the sale. Whatever money is left over will be sent to you, unless you are using it for you your onward purchase.
The deeds will be sent across to your buyer’s solicitors for them to register the title and to remove any charges or restrictions on the title.
Buying A Property
First of all you will need to get an offer the your house purchase accepted.
The seller will send over their property information form, go through this with a fine tooth comb making sure they haven’t missed anything off. Your solicitor will need to check that there haven’t been any neighbour disputes, boundaries have been marked and any building works have consent. If you have any queries ask your solicitor to ask these questions on your behalf.
Once you receive the contract of sale make sure the price is correct and your name and address are too. This will have a preliminary completion date on, make sure you are happy with the date before you sign.
The next step is to apply for local authority searches which can cost up to £500 and your solicitor will ask you for the money before they apply for them.
The local authority searches consist of any issues with planning or building regulations or tree preservation orders. It will also identify if any council activities are going to affect your property in the future.
If you are applying for a mortgage you will be asked by the lender to arrange a survey to be taken place on the property. This will give your lender peace of mind that the property they are lending on is structurally sound and that the value of the property is correct at the level you are purchasing the property at.
Exchange of contracts
Your solicitor will carry out a Land Registry search to make sure all mortgages or any other charges are known about and to ensure that the seller will remove them on completion.
Transfer and mortgage deed will be prepared for you to sign.
You will then have to send your deposit monies to the solicitors to exchange contracts (this is usually 10% of the purchase price).
A completion date will be set and you will not be able to change your mind on the purchase unless you are willing to pay a financial penalty which is usually the number of your deposit monies.
Completion
The day before completion you will be asked to send monies for stamp duty and any other disbursements that are owed within the process. Your solicitor will contact your lender to draw down the money to complete the purchase.
On the day of completion, your solicitor will send the money to your buyers’ solicitor, these funds will be held to order until they are ready to complete. Once all the legal work is ready, the authority will be given to complete the purchase.
The documents will be sent to your solicitor in order to register the property in your name and to register any mortgage charge if any.
Tips
- You sometimes need to organise buildings insurance on your new property from the day you exchange contracts. We will advise you if this is the case.
- Remember to advise all your utility and service suppliers, as well as the council, of your moving date.
- You may need to arrange a mail forwarding service at the post office.