AFTER DECIDING TO SELL
THE STEPS TO TAKE
Contents
1. Contact your Estate Agent. Order an Energy Proficiency Certificate (EPC)
2. Contact your Solicitor
3. Instruct your Solicitor to prepare the sales pack of Deeds and Replies to Enquiries.
4.1 Complete Property Information form (PIF) and where required Leasehold Information Form (LIF)
4.2 Complete Fixtures & Contents Form (F&C form)
4.3 Title Deeds
5. Purchaser arranges survey & mortgage
6. Survey
7. Exchange of Contracts
8. The deposit
9. Insurance
9. Completion date
10. Paying off the Mortgage
1. Contact your Estate Agent
Before the property can be marketed tell your Agent to Order an Energy Proficiency Certificate (EPC) You should advise the Estate Agent of the name and address and contact details of your Solicitor and the person at your Solicitors who will be dealing with matters on your behalf.
2. Contact your Solicitor
You should contact your Solicitor and instruct him or her and give him the name and address of your estate agent and the name, address and account number of your mortgage lender if you have a Mortgage.
3. Property Questionnaires
You will then need to provide information for your Solicitor to prepare replies to various Questions which will provide the buyers with information about the property, details of any guarantees, and important information. These must be answered fully and truthfully. There have recently been cases where Sellers have glossed over important issues such as problems with rights of ways and disputes with neighbours which have proved very costly to the Seller when the property was sold and the Buyers discovered the truth of the history of the property.
4.1 Property Information Form (PIF) and where required Leasehold Information Form (LIF)
This will provide information as to the history of your use of the property.These forms will provide information as to the history of your use of the property.
4.2 Fixtures & Contents Form (F&C form)
Your Solicitor will also ask you to complete an F&C setting out in detail what you will be taking and what you will be leaving at the property.
4.3 Title Deeds
Your solicitor will prepare a pack of Title Deeds and, where the property is leasehold he will urgently require detailed leasehold information and a copy of the Lease.
He will also need the name, address and account number of your Freeholder or Managing Agent of Leasehold Properties.
5. Mortgage
Most people borrow money from a bank or building society to help them buy their house. This is registered against the title of the property and must be repaid on a sale See below.
6. Survey
Your Buyer will need to obtain a survey (see “Survey” in Glossary). In addition their bank or mortgage lender will carry out a valuation on their behalf to ensure that they are getting a property which equates to the value of the loan.
7. Exchange of Contracts
Once the Buyer has obtained a mortgage and is satisfied with the survey and with the questions that you have provided, the Buyer should be ready to exchange contracts, that is, to enter into a commitment to buy the property and will pay a deposit to your Solicitor of 10% of the purchase price. This will be held by your Solicitor in a stakeholder client account, although it can be used by you in the purchase of another property at the same time as payment of, or part payment of, your deposit. If you are asked to and agree to accept a deposit of less than 10%, and if your Buyer fails to complete, the Contract will contain an obligation for them to pay the full 10%, which will be recoverable from them by legal action if, having failed to complete, they have not paid a full 10% deposit. The Contract will also provide for the Seller to be able to make other claims against the Buyer in the event of the Buyer delaying completion or failing to complete. The Seller will be entitled to be compensated for expenses and losses that the Seller has suffered if the Buyer has not fulfilled his obligation under the Contract.
8. The Deposit
Usually 10% of the purchase price, which will be held by the Seller’s solicitor in a stakeholder client account, and it can be used by the Seller in the purchase of another property as payment of, or part payment of, the Seller’s deposit. If a Seller agrees to accept a deposit of less than 10% Buyers must appreciate that if the Buyer fails to complete his purchase the contract will contain an obligation for the Buyer to pay the full 10% which will be recoverable from the Buyer by legal action if, having failed to complete, a full deposit was not paid. The Contract will also provide for the Seller to be able to make other claims against the Buyer in the event of the Buyer delaying completion or failing to complete. The Seller will be entitled to be compensated for expenses and losses that the Seller has suffered if the Buyer has not fulfilled your obligation under the Contract. Of course it may require Court action to enforce such rights.
9. Insurance
Most contracts required a Buyer to insure the property from the date contracts are exchanged. Increasingly the parties agree to vary this obligation and the Seller maintains insurance until completion.
10. Completion Date
When the parties are ready to exchange contracts they will need to agree on a completion date. That date will be the date of the actual move when the money will be transferred and the keys will be handed over. On the day of completion the Buyer’s Solicitor will send the monies to the Seller’s who will redeem any mortgage if applicable, will deduct fees as agreed and, if selling a property, the money which remains will be forwarded to the Seller’s bank Obviously if the Seller is purchasing a property on the same day then the Solicitor will use the money received for the purchase.
11. Paying off the Mortgage
Paying off your mortgage. When your Solicitor completes the sale he will need to pay off your mortgage. Before completion your Solicitor would have written to your mortgage lender to ask for confirmation of the amount that you owe. This is known as a mortgage redemption statement. Your Solicitor will check that you agree the figures and immediately after completion your Solicitor will need to send this money to the mortgage lender so that your Buyer gets clear title to the property free of the mortgage.
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