Selling your Property - an outline @ Penman Johnson

Selling your Home - an outline

What follows is a brief outline of the main steps involved with selling your home. Click here to view an outline of a typical purchase.

Subject to Contract

Having accepted an offer you instruct your solicitors giving them details of the transaction (if no estate agent is involved)

Your solicitor:

1) obtains the title deeds to your property (either from you directly, or possibly from a lender if there is a mortgage and they are holding them); and then

2) prepares a series of documents and forwards two forms for you to complete (The Seller's Property Information Form and Fixtures and Fittings Form and in the case of a leasehold property a Seller's Leasehold Information Form).

3) your solicitor sends the completed forms and documentation to the Buyer's solicitor

The Buyer's solicitor:

1) reviews the documents your solicitor has sent;

2) carries out various searches on your property

3) raises a series of enquiries via your solicitor

4) liases with their client as to the transaction generally

5) deals with any mortgage issues on the purchase

You and your solicitor respond to the Buyer's solicitor's enquiries.

The process of raising enquiries and answering them may be repeated until the Buyer's solicitors have satisfied themselves and their clients about the property

The parties then agree a completion date. If the property is part of a chain, the completion date has to be agreed with all of the other parties in the chain - as does the level of any deposit. Also in a chain, all of the parties have to be satisfied about their respective purchases. The combination of requirements can often lead to delays and this can be a frustrating time for all concerned.

Exchange of Contracts

Once all is agreed and everyone is happy, contracts are exchanged. This is a process between two legal professionals - merely signing your contract does not form a binding contract. From this point on you are committed to sell and the buyer is committed to buy. You may or may not receive the sum of money paid as a deposit. In a chain it is important that exchange of contracts is synchronized also - you for instance would not want to be contractually bound to sell you own home when no one is contractually bound to sell you another one!

Completion

On the day of completion, your solicitor waits to receive the proceeds of the sale. On receipt of those funds the sale proceeds to completion - which means that ownership of the property has passed to the buyer. Your solicitor now sends various original documents to the Buyer's solicitor and repays any mortgage you may have. The balance would then be available to you possibly for a purchase.