Selling a Property
Generally speaking, the timescale from receiving your instructions to completion of your sale or purchase, can take between 6 and 12 weeks. It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the chain. For example, if you are a first time buyer, purchasing a new property with a mortgage in principle, it could take 6 to 8 weeks or if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, between 10 and 14 weeks.
In a straightforward transaction, with no unusual problems arising, our procedure (briefly) is as follows:
Before signing & exchange of contracts:
We contact the Estate Agent (if any).
We obtain your deeds from your Building Society/Bank.
We obtain up-to-date copies of your deeds from the Land Registry.
We prepare and send out a draft Contract to your buyer’s Solicitors.
We reply to any enquiries sent to us by your Buyers.
We ascertain whether or not your Buyers have received their mortgage offer.
We attend upon you to discuss the paperwork and answer any queries you may have.
At the same time your Seller’s Solicitors and Buyer’s Solicitors will be carrying out the same procedures for their clients.
When all the above matters are completed and if your Seller and Buyer are ready you will be in a position to exchange Contracts (this will legally bind both of you and your Seller and Buyer to complete the transactions). At this stage we will ask you to sign the Contracts and then discuss proposed dates you would like to move, bearing in mind that we need on average a further seven days from exchange of Contracts to finalise our preparations for completion and to request monies in readiness for completion. If two or more people are buying together we will advise as to the methods of ownership; ie Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common.
After exchange of contracts & before completion:
You will now have a date for completion and you should make arrangements with your removal firm and with your Seller and Buyer to have the gas and electricity meters read and the telephone transferred etc on completion day. You should also deal with Council Tax, Water and Sewage Rates. We continue with the transaction as follows:-
We approve the final legal documents or transfer.
We reply to any final queries.
We obtain a redemption statement from your Building Society/Bank.
We obtain a commission account from Estate Agents (if applicable).
A few days prior to completion we shall arrange for you to sign the Transfer documents and your Mortgage Deed and pay any further monies to us if there are insufficient funds available from the sale and purchase.
Please note that for all of our conveyancing transaction we act on a “No Move No Fee” basis, this means that if for any reason you are unable to proceed with your sale or purchase, we will make no charge for the legal work undertaken on your behalf. Please bear in mind however that if, for example, you are purchasing a property, you may already have incurred disbursements for search fees etc.
Client Testimonials
“I have had the pleasure of working with Louise over a number of matters over recent years. Most recently when she acted on my behalf during my house conveyancing process. There were many challenges along the way, however Louise always dealt with these in a truly professional manner. Advising and guiding me through a very difficult process. In my opinion, her explanation of all Legal terms, her knowledge and attention to detail is outstanding and I feel that she is a valuable asset to any company.”
“Throughout the process Louise was approachable, efficient and extremely professional. Nothing was too much trouble. Responses were prompt, and communication was frequent and informative…Our sale was not a particularly straightforward one, and we were extremely grateful to have Louise guide us through this. We cannot recommend Louise highly enough, and would definitely use her again, without hesitation, for any conveyancing needs we may have in the future.”
“Wendy & Anthony, Your customer service really is first class and I’ve been singing your praises to all who will listen. Absolutely brilliant experience from start to finish, and love your flexibility and fluid response to everything. I won’t be using any other legal firm going forward, signed up to be a lifelong customer. Thanks again!”