Conveyancing is the process of transferring a property from one legal owner to another. When Buying or selling a property
Simon Noble Solicitors are professionals in Conveyancing. Residential Conveyancing is the process of transferring a property from one legal owner to another. When Buying or selling a property, there are three separate stages to go through. These are commonly known as:
- Agreeing the sale
- Exchange of contracts
- Completion of sale/li>
Our Conveyancing professionals will make sure that each stage is completed competently and swiftly. We make sure that you are updated at every part of the process.
Selling Your Home?
Once you have found a buyer and agreed the sale, we will send a legal information pack to your buyer’s solicitor, which contains;
A property information form: We will send you a form to complete which include things like; disputes with neighbours, guarantees about any work you have had done, boundaries, planning and building consents. It’s really important that you give us as much detail as possible, so please inform us if there is anything you are not sure about.
A fixtures, fittings and contents form: This form is to provide your buyers which items at the property you intend to leave behind and which to take with you e.g. cupboards, shelving, kitchen appliances. It should be the same information that you provided the Estate Agents.
A copy of your title: It maybe that you have the deeds if you own your property outright. If not, your mortgage lender may hold them for you. Don’t worry if you don’t have a copy. We’ll contact your mortgage lender to obtain them.
The contract of sale: This will state the address and price of the property, and the names and addresses of the buyer and seller.
We deal with any questions from your buyer’s solicitor, and agree a completion date, or moving date. We will liaise with you to make sure the dates are suitable to you.
Exchange of contracts
We receive the buyer’s deposit on your behalf.
If you have a mortgage on your property we will ask your mortgage lender for a settlement figure. We will need to pay this amount to your mortgage lender once your property is sold.
We will then send your signed contract to your buyer’s solicitor, who sends the buyer’s signed contract to us. You will now committed to the sale , and can’t change your mind without paying a financial penalty. The completion date that we would have arranged previously cannot be changed.
We will then receive a Transfer Deed which you will need to sign which will be sent to the buyer to register their names on the deeds.
Completion
On the completion date you have agreed, your buyer’s solicitor will send us the balance of the payment for your property.
We will use this to pay off your mortgage, your estate agents fees, our fees and any costs incurred during the sale. Any money left over will be handed over to you, unless it is needed for a purchase you are making. We will then hand over the deeds of the property to your buyer’s solicitor
Buying a property
You will need to inform your Estate agent, and Mortgage Lender that we are your Solicitors. Your seller’s solicitor will send us the Legal information Pack with all its contents as mentioned above.
We will then carry out the following searches:
Local Authority Search. This identifies issues such as existing planning and building regulations, applications on the property, breaches of planning and building regulations, tree preservation orders. It also identifies any proposals for council activity that would directly affect the property. It will also reveal whether double glazing, replacement of boilers and electrical works (where applicable) have been carried out in accordance with building regulations.
Drainage Search. This shows whether your surface and foul water drains run into public or private sewers and if there are any drains or pipes running through the property.
Bankruptcy Search. Your mortgage lender may ask us to carry out this search to make sure you have not been declared bankrupt.
Environmental Search, to check the following issues relating to the land where your property is built: contamination, toxic emissions, subsidence, previous landfill or waste disposal sites, or a flood plain.
Chancel Check Search. This is legally defined as “a search made of historical records to establish whether the property is in the historical tithe district of a parish which may have a continuing liability for chancel repair contributions.” What that means in practice is that our search agents will check whether there is a possibility that the land you are buying carries with it an obligation to make payments to the Church in the surrounding area. If there is a possibility that you might receive demands for payments of this type, then we can take out an insurance policy to protect you against any possible demands. This will cover you and your lender.
If you will need a mortgage to buy your property, you should do that as soon as possible. Make sure the Offer is acceptable to you and that you can meet the conditions of the terms. You will then need to arrange for a survey to be done on the property that you are buying. We advise you to have a full structural survey as the survey that your lender arranges will just be for the value of the property.
We will supply you with the contract to sign when the searches are completed. Before you sign the contract, we will invite you to our offices and go through the contract so you absolutely understand everything. Once we exchange the contracts we will need to provide the seller’s solicitors with a deposit, which is normally 10% of the purchase price. This must be sent as soon as possible before exchange in order to prevent any delays.
Exchange of contracts
We will then carry out a Land Registry Search to find out if there is any mortgages or financial Orders registered against the property. If there are, we will ensure that these are removed by the seller’s Solicitor on completion. This prevents the seller registering any further financial charges between exchange and completion and to give your lender priority, for their security.
We will arrange the transfer and mortgage deed for you to sign. We will then send your signed contract to your seller’s solicitor, who sends the seller’s signed contract to us. At this stage you will be committed to the purchase of the property, and cannot change your mind without paying a financial penalty.
Completion
Depending on the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) that needs to be paid to HMRC, will need the full amount of fees, costs and disbursements before your completion date.
On the completion date you have agreed, we will hand over the balance of the payment for your property to your seller’s solicitor.
What to do next?
It’s simple. Call us on 0208 804 3594 fill in our Free Enquiry No Obligation
Form and we will call you back quickly.
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