When buying or selling a house, there is a lot involved and we will try to set as much of the process for you below.
All property owners should attempt to keep all documents relating to any house matters in one place. These documents will then be ready to provide to your solicitor when selling your property.
Examples of documents you might possess:
- Title Documentation
- Gas Safety Certificate
- Electrical Safety Certificate
- EPC – Energy Performance Certificate
- Buildings Regulations Completion Certificate
- Planning Permission consent
- FENSA Certificates – If any new window/glass doors have been installed
- Indemnity Insurance obtained when purchasing the property (if necessary)
- Party Wall Agreement (if necessary)
- Lease )if applicable)
- Tenancy documentation (if applicable)
The title documents might mention covenants. Covenants are agreements that previous owners of the land have made which you are liable to adhere to. These can be positive covenants which mean you need to do something specific and restrictive covenants which restrict you from doing something on the land. Indemnity insurance will be necessary for you to obtain if these have not been adhered to, we will explain and deal with these on your behalf during the conveyancing process but you would be liable for the cost.
There are a range of different expenses that could occur during the conveyancing process and these are all labelled as disbursements (payments to third parties). The most common disbursements are:
- HM Land Registry Court Fee
- Management Information Pack (if applicable)
- Stamp Duty land Tax
- Indemnity Insurance )as above)
- Local Authority search
- Water & Drainage Search
- Environmental Search
- Bank transfer fee
- Chancel Liability search
With regards to the actual conveyancing process, when selling a house you will be required to complete the protocol forms )property information form, fittings & fixtures form and possible leasehold information form) or peruse them if buying. Anything left out of these forms could delay the process because we would be asked by the buyer’s solicitors for you to complete anything blank.
On a sale, we would send all the completed forms along with the title documentation and all relevant documentation and the contract that we would draw up. They would then ‘raise enquiries’ with regards to anything in the documentation that they need further information on. The opposite would happen on a purchase, we would then raise the enquiries.
On a purchase, once all enquiries have been satisfied and the contract is agreed, we would prepare a report for the Client setting out everything we discovered along with all relevant documentation. When you have perused this and are happy with everything, we would be ready to exchange contracts and complete,
Exchanging contracts is when both solicitors agree the details of the contract over phone and set a time and date for completion. If a mortgage is involved, the buyer’s solicitors would then inform the lender of the date of completion and the funds for completion.
Completion then takes place on the agreed date and occurs once the seller’s solicitors receive the completion funds into their bank account. The seller’s solicitors would then allocate all the funds and release the keys.
If you would like to discuss any of this with us. Please call us on 0161 850 9911 or email us at propertyteam@khanmather.co.uk.