So what is involved? How long does it all take?
Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring home ownership from a seller/vendor to a buyer/purchaser. It starts when your offer on a house/flat is accepted and finishes when you receive the keys, save for a few little loose ends that are tied up afterward. Understanding what is involved will help ensure there are fewer surprises along the way.
Once you have instructed us we will:
- Send you a letter confirming who will be handling your Conveyancing, our fees, any payments required as well as our terms and conditions. There will be some forms to sign and you will need to send or bring in two forms of identification to confirm who you are.
- We will also include the following forms for you to complete:
- TA6 – this is a general questionnaire and includes questions about boundaries, proposed developments of which you are aware (like housing developments or motorways near to your property), any building works that have been carried out, council tax, utilities and contact details.
- TA10 – This is a fixtures and fittings form detailing what you are including in the sale of your property (washing machine, oven, curtains etc.)
- If you are a leaseholder you will also be required to complete a TA7 or a TA9 form detailing more information on the lease/commonhold.
- It is vital that these forms are completed to the best of your knowledge and truthfully because if not then the buyer may feel that they have been mislead or you may be sued for compensation after completion.
- We will also write to your buyer’s solicitor to confirm we are acting for you.
Legal Work
- We will use the answers provided by you in all of these forms to draw up a draft contract which will then be sent on to your buyers Solicitor/Conveyancer for approval.
- We will then begin negotiations with your buyer’s Solicitor/Conveyancer to agree a date for completion (usually 7-14 days after the exchange of contracts)
- If you have a mortgage on your home then we will request a redemption figure from your mortgage company. This is how much we pay to them upon completion of the sale.
Exchanging Contracts
- At this stage, you and the buyer will have agreed a date to complete. Your Solicitor will contact you on the day of exchange to ensure that you are happy to proceed. Once you have confirmed your approval we will contact your buyer’s Solicitor/Conveyancer and exchange contracts for you.
- This is usually done by both Solicitors/Conveyancers making sure the contracts are identical, inserting the completion date and then immediately sending them to one another in the post.
- If you or the buyers are in a chain the Solicitors/Conveyancers will do the same thing, but will only release it if the other people in the chain are all happy to go ahead. This means if one person pulls out or delays, then everyone in the chain gets held up.
- Once you have exchanged contracts you will be in a legally binding contract to sell the property. Which means;
- If you pull out the buyer can sue you.
- If the buyer does not complete the purchase, you can also sue them and likely keep their deposit.
Between Exchange and Completion
- Immediately after the exchange of contracts, we will receive the deposit from the buyer which will be held in an account for you until completion.
- You will continue to own the property and be free to live in it until the agreed completion date. Now is the time to pack and get ready to move by hiring a removal firm or making your own arrangements.
- It is important to ensure that when packing up all items listed on the fixtures and fittings list are still left in the property and that you do not damage the property.
On completion day
We will receive the outstanding balance of the sale price which will then be sent on to you after payment of any outstanding mortgage fees, estate agent fees and together with our fees.
You will need to ensure that you have moved out and handed over the keys to your property. In practice, the buyer normally collects the keys from the estate agent.
Do you know how much it costs to move home? Our conveyancing calculator can help you to work this out quickly – Click here to try it.
