Freehold Sale

Selling a property is a very stressful time. It may help you to know what we are doing on your behalf and how you can help us speed up your sale.

Initial Actions

Once we receive your instructions, the first thing we have to do is obtain you deeds. If you have them, please send them to us as soon as you possible.

If you have a mortgage, then you deeds will be held by you Mortgage Company. In order for us to be able to request these, we will need you mortgage Account Number (sometimes called a Roll Number) and their name and address. You will find these on you annual statement.

The buyers will want some information from you about your property. For your convenience, we will send you some standard Property Information Forms, which you should complete, sign and return. When you send them to us, please send any documents referred to in you replies: e.g. Guarantees, Planning Permissions, Building Regulation Approvals, and Notices etc.

We will also send you a Fixtures Fittings and Contents Form. Please complete this carefully and accurately, as it will form part of your Agreement with the Buyer. If you remove something you have said is included, they will be entitled to claim damages. Please return this to us with the Information Forms, as soon as possible.

Before Exchange of Contracts

Once we have your Deeds, your Property Information Forms and your Fixture Fittings and Contents Form, we will be able to prepare and send a draft Agreement (also called a Contract) to the Solicitors for the Buyer. They may well ask some additional enquiries, which we will send to you, so that you can help us give them accurate answers.

Once the Solicitors for the Buyer are satisfied, they will send one part of the Contract back to us for signature by you.

We will ask you to sign the Contract and return it to us. Signing the Contract does not mean you are legally bound to sell your property yet. This will only happen when we exchange Contacts on your behalf with the Solicitors for the Buyers.

We will only exchange Contracts when we have your permission to do so and when we have agreed the Completion Date. This is the date on which you actually have to move out of your property, usually by 1 p.m. at the latest.

If you are also buying a property, this will also have to be the same day you move into you new property. If you are not moving into your new property the same day, you should ensure you have alternative accommodation, which you can move into. You should make sure, before we exchange Contracts, that you are able to arrange removals for that day.

Deposit

On exchange of Contracts, it is usual for the Buyer to pay a deposit of 10% of the Purchase Price. The point of this deposit is that, if for any reason they fail to complete the purchase, then you have some of their money to cover any damages you may incur as a result of their failure to complete e.g. bridging loans, having to sell you property at a lower price for a quick sale etc.

The Buyer may well not have a 10% deposit, e.g. if they are getting a 95% Mortgage or if all their money is tied up in their present property, which will only be released on completion. You then have to decide if you will accept a lower deposit, maybe 5% or less. This obviously reduces the amount that is immediately available to cover your damages if they fail to complete.

If you insist on a 10% deposit, the Buyer will often refuse to let you use it towards the deposit you have to pay on your purchase, which means you may have to borrow more for your deposit. Alternatively, the Buyer may take extra time having to arrange borrowing, and therefore delay the transaction.

Exchange of Contracts

When you and your Buyer, or all parties in a chain, have agreed a mutually agreeable date for completion, then we can exchange Contracts for your sale. This means exactly what it says. We send the solicitors for the Buyer the part of the Contract signed by you and they send us the Contract signed by the Buyer. This is agreed on the telephone between the solicitors and so is instantaneous. You are then bound to sell and move out on the completion date, and the Buyer is bound to buy your property on the completion date. If either of you fail to do so the other party is entitled to damages, sometimes these are quite substantial.

After Exchange of Contracts

After Exchange of Contracts, the solicitors for the Buyer will send us the Land Registry Transfer which we will pass on to you for signature. This has to be signed in the presence of an independent witness, who must also sign underneath, and out their name address and occupation.

This has to be returned to us before completion as the Buyers will not send us the money to complete the purchase if we do not have it.

If you have a mortgage, we will apply for a redemption statement calculated to the date of completion. As soon as we receive this, a copy will be sent to you. You should carefully check it, especially any redemption penalty. If it is wrong, you must take this up with your Mortgage Company direct and get them to send us a new statement. On completion, we have to send them the amount on this statement, even if it is wrong!

Once Contracts have been exchanged, you can probably cancel you mortgage payments. Sometimes the Mortgage Company will not have processed your last payment and it will not show up on the redemption statement. They will refund this to you in due course.

You should make sure that you inform your Insurance Company and all the Services of the Completion date (gas, electricity, Water, TV licensing Telephone, Council Tax Office etc.). Where appropriate, ask them to come and read the meters. If they do not come to take the reading, you should take the reading yourself when leaving the property, and if possible agree this with your Buyer to avoid a dispute over the bill at a later date.

Completion

On the day of completion, the Buyer will send us the balance of the purchase price by Bank Telegraphic Transfer. You must not release the keys to the Buyer or let the estate Agent release you keys, or let the Buyer into your property until after you have checked with us that we have received all the money.

After Completion

We will pay off your mortgage.

We will also pay the Estate Agents Account, after we have checked it with you, and you have confirmed we are to pay it on your behalf, otherwise we will send it on to you for you to deal with.

We will also deduct our own account and disbursements, and make any other payments you have requested us to make.

We will then send you the balance, if it is not needed in connection with your related purchase.

If you want it sent direct to your bank Account, then you will need to let us have details of your Bank including the name address sort code and Account Number. A Telegraphic Transfer fee of £30 plus Vat will be deducted to cover the cost of this service.

If the property is in joint names, the funds must be sent to a joint account, unless we receive written authority from both of you to send it to just one person or single bank account.