Seller's Guide

Stage 1 : Preparation

Appoint your solicitor/property lawyer.

Once appointed, it their job is to make the legal side of your sale proceed as smoothly as possible.

Your appointed solicitor will write to you confirming their terms of business. They will also ask you to complete their client and property information forms which will provide them with important information about you and your sale.
In order for your conveyancing to begin you will need to provide the following information to your solicitor :
- Identification eg copy of passport & recent utility bill
- Any guarantees eg NHBC, windows, damp etc
- Any installation certificates eg boiler, electrical, windows etc
- Any relevant planning permissions
- Any relevant building regulations
- Any covenant consent
- Any third party notices
- Full account details of any mortgages or secured loans
- Any probate or power of attorney, if relevant
- An EPC (included in the Sale Ready Service)
If your property is leasehold, you will also need to provide :
- Full contact details of Landlord and/or Management Company
- Share or membership certificate, if applicable
- Latest service charge and ground rent receipts
- Up to date buildings insurance

You will also need to complete the following forms which will be sent to you by your solicitor once appointed :
- Client information form
- Property Information form
- Fixtures and Fittings form
Please note without your completed forms the solicitor will not be able to begin work on your sale.
Once these items have been returned your solicitor will then :
- Request land registry documents
- Prepare the draft contract

Stage 2 : Upon acceptance of offer

Summary

Once Stage 1 is complete your solicitor will carry out the following :

Issue the relevant contract papers as below.
If you have a mortgage secured on your property your solicitors are required to give a legal undertaking to the buyer’s lawyer to ensure the mortgage is repaid on completion.
Where possible your solicitor will respond to enquiries, but they may refer to where they do not have the necessary knowledge on your property.

Detail :

Contract papers & enquiries

Your solicitor will :

Obtain and check the Land Registry documents to the property, or if unregistered the original deeds.
Prepare the Contract and Transfer and send this to the buyer’s lawyer along with your property information forms and any other relevant information.
Send you a contract report with the Contract and Transfer to sign together with a property plan so that you can confirm the boundaries are correct.
Note : your buyer is likely to arrange for a survey to be carried out prior to exchange of contracts.

Mortgages

If you have a mortgage secured on your property your solicitors are required to give a legal undertaking to the buyer’s lawyer to ensure the mortgage is repaid on completion.

Your solicitor will :

Request an initial redemption statement from your lender which shows the amount owing
Prepare a draft completion statement for you to check together with a copy of the lender’s statement.

Additional Enquiries

Your solicitor will respond to enquiries where they are able, but may refer to you where they do not have the personal knowledge of your property.

Buyers’ Lawyers

Before the buyer’s lawyer can exchange they will need to cover various steps, such as :

Raising additional enquiries.
Reviewing your replies to their additional enquiries.
Requesting searches, such as
- The Local Authority search
- A water and drainage search
- An environmental and land contamination search
Reviewing search results.
If the buyer requires a mortgage they will need to receive a copy of the mortgage offer and comply with the lender’s requirements.
Report on the property to the buyer and request contract and mortgage papers are signed.

If you are selling within a chain it is important to note that everyone in the chain must exchange contracts at the same time and complete on the same date. This means that all lawyers in the chain must complete their parts of the legal process before they can exchange. Your solicitor will do their best to ensure we reach exchange as quickly as possible.

Stage 3 : Exchange of contracts

Exchanging contracts is when the sale becomes legally binding for both buyer and seller. Both buyer and seller must complete on the agreed completion date at the agreed price.

If you decide not to proceed at this stage you risk forfeiting the deposit and possibly incurring other costs for damages.

The Process

When your solicitors are ready to exchange contracts they will telephone you, on the day, to obtain your permission to proceed before committing you to the contract.
Once they have exchanged contracts we will telephone you to confirm that the exchange has been successful.
If applicable, they will submit our final report to your mortgage lender and request funds be released to us to be ready for the completion date.
You can now safely make arrangements to vacate your property on the completion date, arrange removals, inform your utilities providers and remember to take meter readings on the completion date.

Stage 4 : Completion

The completion date is the day you must vacate the property and your buyer can move in

Legal completion takes place once the sale money from the buyer’s lawyer has been received into your solicitor’s account.
Your solicitor will then authorise the estate agent (if applicable) to release the keys to your buyer.
Your solicitors will pay all sums due to your mortgage lender where applicable and send you the balance. The monies can be sent by bank transfer to reach your account the same day.

Please note…. remember to leave all keys with the estate agents (unless you have made other arrangements direct with your buyer) and take final meter readings.