Sellers Conveyancing

This guide has been prepared to explain the legal process involved in selling a property once an offer has been accepted.

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AUTHORITY TO OBTAIN TITLE DEEDS AND TITLE DEEDS APPLIED FOR – Your solicitor will send a quote and enclose a form that asks for your mortgage account number and details of your mortgage lender. When they have received this back they will are able to apply to the mortgage lender for the deeds to your property. If you do not have a mortgage they will request that you deliver the deeds to them.

PROPERTY INFORMATION FORM AND CONTENTS SCHEDULE SENT TO CLIENT - Details forms are sent to you with the written quotation so that questions that are asked by the buyer’s solicitors may be answered.

TITLE DEEDS RECEIVED - Once they have received the deeds they will be able to prepare a draft contract. This will be sent to the buyer’s solicitors along with the other information that the solicitor may already have.

ADDITIONAL ENQUIRIES RECEIVED FROM BUYER’S SOLICITORS - The buyer’s solicitors may require some additional information from your solicitor. It may be that answers that have already been given require more detail or that results of the search have prompted additional questions. At this stage it will often be necessary for your solicitor to obtain the information required from outside sources such as the local authority or insurance company.

ALL ENQUIRIES ANSWERED - When all the information is available your solicitor will make sure that the buyer’s solicitors receive everything that they require.

DRAFT CONTRACT APPROVED - When the buyer’s solicitors are happy with all the information that they have received they will send back the draft contract to your solicitor to be approved for the seller to sign.

APPOINTMENT WITH CLIENT FOR SIGNING – Your solicitor will arrange for you to sign the contract as soon as possible. If there is a dependant purchase they will make sure that the two transactions are tied in.

DEPOSIT RECEIVED - On exchange of contracts they will require that the purchaser pays a deposit of between 5% and 10% of the sale price. Although your solicitor will not expect that money to be sent to them before exchange they will expect the buyer’s solicitors to confirm that they have the funds to send to them

PROPOSED COMPLETION DATE - Completion is the point at which the purchaser pays for the property and it changes hands. The date needs to be agreed before exchange of contracts can take place.

READY TO EXCHANGE - When you have signed your part of the contract and (if relevant) your proposed purchase is ready they will inform the buyer’s solicitors that you are ready to exchange contracts.

CONTRACTS EXCHANGED - Once contracts have been exchanged the two parties involved are legally committed to buy/sell the property in question. Failure to do so at this stage will result in the party at fault being in breach of contract.

COMPLETION DATE - The completion date which is agreed between the parties on exchange of contracts is the date upon which the seller of the property must give vacant possession and the buyer can take up occupation having first paid the balance of the purchase price. Failure to complete will result in the party at fault being in breach of contract.

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Conveyancing Procedure

Sale	Purchase	Buyers Mortgage
Acceptance offer Price from buyer   Seller to Appoint solicitors Hand over deeds or give lender’s details Complete forms List items included in sale and return to solicitors   Seller’s solicitors to Apply for/retrieve deeds Prepare contract bundle Send contract bundle to buyer’s solicitors Deal with enquiries raised by buyer’s solicitors         Seller’s solicitors to: Receive approved contract from buyer Send the same contract to seller   Seller to: Sign and return contract to solicitors Agree with buyer and other parties in chain on completion date   EXCHANGE CONTRACTS Seller’s solicitors to: Collate figures Prepare completion statement Send completed document (transfer) to seller for signature   Seller to: Sign and return transfer to solicitors Make arrangements to move   COMPLETION Seller to: Hand keys to selling agent Read meters	Offer accepted by seller   Buyer to: Appoint solicitors Apply for mortgage Pay solicitors’ search fees Arrange for independent survey (optional)     Buyer’s solicitors to: Receive contract bundle Apply for searches Investigate title Raise enquiries (if any) to seller’s solicitors   Buyer’s solicitors to: Receive and check mortgage offer Receive and check search results Approve and return contract to seller’s solicitors Prepare reports and send contract to buyer Buyer to: Sign contract and mortgage deed Hand over deposit to solicitors Agree on completion date with seller and other parties in chain (if any)   EXCHANGE CONTRACTS Buyer’s solicitor to: Pass on deposit to seller’s solicitors Apply for funds from lender Prepare pre-completion work Prepare completion statement Buyer to: Make arrangements to move Place building insurance on risk Arrange to pay balance of funds to solicitors   COMPLETION Buyer to: Collect keys from seller’s agents Read meters Sign transfer and return to solicitor	Mortgage application Complete and submit forms and documents Pay survey fees                     Mortgage survey: Usually 1 week – 10 days                 Mortgage offer (hard pack) issued               Mortgage report on title received from solicitors         Min. 5 working days’ notice         Mortgage funds released

GUIDE TO JOINTLY HELD PROPERTY

Property held in joint names can be held in one of two ways. These are as follows:

Beneficial Joint Tenants

• This is where the joint owners are all equally entitled to the property.
• When one of the owners dies, that person’s interest in the property passes automatically to the surviving owner(s). If, therefore, there are two joint owners and one of them dies, the other becomes solely entitled to the property.

Sellers

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