We understand that whether you are moving home or buying your first home, buying and/or selling your property can be a stressful and daunting time. With our expertise and wealth of experience we will work hard to ensure that your transaction proceeds as smoothly as possible.
Stage 1 – Getting Started
Once you have formally confirmed your instructions to us by signing the relevant documentation and provided us with evidence of your personal identification and money on account of costs and disbursements, we will make contact with the relevant parties such as the buyer’s solicitors, estate agents, mortgage lender etc. on your behalf.
Stage 2 – Agreement
We obtain all necessary documentation/information regarding the property from you and the Land Registry so that we can use the information contained in them to prepare the contract. We will have sent you various forms to fill in about your ownership of the property – who owns the boundaries, whether you have had any disputes with your neighbours etc – and what fixtures and fittings are included in the sale price. These will be sent to the Buyer’s Solicitors. Once the buyer’s solicitors have received the contract and supporting documentation, they must obtain the buyer’s mortgage offer and satisfactory replies to any further searches and enquiries they wish to carry out. We will then be able to proceed to exchange of contracts. We will have asked you to sign the contract in readiness for this. We will have obtained from your mortgage lender, if applicable, a note of how much is required to pay off your mortgage, and from your estate agent of how much their costs are, so that we know whether we will have to ask you for money to make up the required sum.
Stage 3 – Exchange
We will agree a completion date with you, your buyer and your buyer’s solicitors and then exchange contracts. (Completion is the day your house stops being yours and you must move out)Exchange of contracts is when the agreement between you and the buyer becomes legally binding. Until contracts are exchanged, either party can withdraw from the transaction without having to pay any monies to you. Between exchange of contracts and completion we ensure the Deed of Transfer for the sale of your property, which is produced by the buyer’s solicitors, is satisfactory, we will ask you to sign it and make sure everything is in place for completion.
Stage 4 – Completion
On the day of completion, all you have to do is move out of the property, leaving the keys with the estate agents, and we will take care of everything else. We will receive the monies from your buyer’s solicitors, redeem your mortgage, paying your estate agent’s bill etc. and pay any balance due to you. You should cancel any Buildings Insurance and direct debits relating to the property.
Stage 5 – Finishing Touches
Following completion, we will provide formal evidence of redemption of your mortgage to your buyer’s solicitors. We will assist with any enquiries raised by the Land Registry in connection with your buyer’s application for registration as the new owner of the property.
Please refer to our ‘Frequently asked Questions’ section if you need further information, or contact our offices.
