Buying and Selling Houses - Procedures
The vast majority of conveyancing transactions are completed within six to eight weeks, depending on the length of the chain. This can be shortened significantly if all parties have the right motivation.
The process is split into two parts; the first leads up to the signing and exchange of contracts between the seller's and the buyer's respective solicitors (known as the pre Contract stage) and the second is the period between exchange and the finalising of the transaction, known as Completion (normally about 14 days).
After the buyer and seller have agreed a sale, the Estate Agent sends a memorandum of sale to both solicitors detailing the intended sale.
Time saver note: if you instruct your solicitor to obtain title deeds at the point you start marketing your property, rather than after you have found a buyer, you could save this time.
1. PRE CONTRACT - What The Sellers' Solicitor Will Do
Request the title deeds to the property from the sellers' Bank or Building Society. Takes 7 - 10 days
Time saver note: This is a point where time can be wasted or saved.
Send the sellers a questionnaire and list of fixtures, fittings and contents for completion and return.
Send draft contract to the buyers solicitors for approval (upon receipt of completed questionnaire, list of fixtures, fittings and contents and the title deeds)
Make an application to the Land Registry for an 'office copy' of the Register of the Property and forward them to the buyers' solicitors
When the Sale contract is agreed it is signed by the seller.
Time saver note: This can often be agreed in principle before they ever see a property.
2. What The Buyers and Their Solicitor Will Do
The buyers make an application for a mortgage.
The Buyers pay the lender a fee to value to property. If the buyers require a detailed survey they may instruct the same surveyor to do this (or another of their own choice) but the fee will of course be higher.
Time saver note: The buyers should tell their solicitor of the offer straight away.
If the valuation is satisfactory, the lender makes a formal offer of mortgage to the buyers.
A copy of the offer is sent to the buyers' solicitor with the lender's instruction to act.
Time saver note: Local searches can be speeded up significantly by instructing a specialist agents, but this can sometimes incur an increased cost to the Buyers.
The buyers' solicitor requests from the relevant local authority a Local Search. This takes about two weeks on average.
Buyers' solicitor receives from sellers solicitors draft contract and all other relevant documents for review and makes further enquiries as necessary. When satisfied he then reports to the buyers.
Time saver note: If you are selling a leasehold property, provide your solicitor with written details of your ground rent, any service charges and block insurances relating to the property.
If a property is the subject of a lease, all of the above apply as well as sorne additional issues.
When his enquiries are completed, your solicitor will; ask you to sign the contract and at that time you must pay a deposit, normally 5% of the purchase price.
3. Exchange to Completion
A completion date is agreed and the contracts are then 'exchanged' by the two solicitors. Both parties are then bound by their contract.
The buyers'solicitor then undertakes some final searches, prepares a transfer deed, obtains the money from the lender and any further money from the buyer and prepares a final account.
The sellers' solicitor has the transfer deed of the property signed, obtains a redemption figure for the seller's mortgage and obtains the estate agent's invoice.
On the day of completion, the purchase money is electronically transferred to the seller's solicitors. This can take minutes or hours depending upon how many buyers and sellers are in the chain and how efficiently the Bank's electronic clearing systems are operating that day. When the seller's solicitors confirms that the money is in his account both solicitors then 'complete'.
Unless a private arrangement has been agreed between the parties, the Estate Agent normally holds the keys to the property and will release them to the buyers when advised by the sellers' solicitor that completion has taken place.