Below is a guide on the information we will need to help you move house.
Selling Your Home
If you are selling your home, we will need to provide information to the buyers and their solicitors once an offer has been made. We will need to know about:
- Where you store the deeds for your property
- Who your mortgage provider is, if you have one, and their account details
- Any planning permissions, building regulations and by-law approvals
- Copies of any guarantees, such as damp proof course, woodworm treatment, cavity wall insulation and window or door replacements
If you provide all this information at the outset of the transaction, it will assist us in providing the draft contracts to the buyer’s solicitors. This will allow them to raise the necessary enquiries and carry out any additional services for their clients.
Buying a Home
Once you have made an offer on home, and it has been accepted, your estate agent will provide your solicitor with a sale instruction – a Memorandum of Sale – and they will obtain a contract pack from the seller’s solicitor.
Your solicitor will make suggestions of any searches you should have carried out on the property, such as checking the purchase is not affected by things like public rights of way across the land, or any proposed industrial work. Your solicitor will keep you informed or any courses of action you may need to take once these searches are complete.
Mortgages and Surveyors
When moving house, it is important to make enquiries as to the condition of the property as your solicitor will not do this.
If you are getting a mortgage, your mortgage provider will arrange to have a mortgage valuation. This report will only include basic details on the condition of the property for lending purposes, so it is always advisable to have a survey carried out on a new home if you have any concerns. This thorough examination of the property will identify any problem areas.
Your solicitor will need to see a copy of the mortgage offer from your bank or building society, and you will need to keep your provider informed of the solicitors you are using. They will send your solicitor a version of your mortgage offer, including documentation for you to sign. This will help your solicitor to arrange completion on the sale.
Exchange and Completion
Once your conveyancer is satisfied that all documentation is in place and that all enquiries have been answered in full, they will discuss a date for exchange and completion with you. Funds due to you, such as money from the sale of your property and any surplus mortgage funds, will be released to you.
Once dates have been agreed, solicitors acting for the buyer and seller will agree to exchange contracts on the property – this is when each party becomes legally bound to carry on to completion. A final completion date will be added to the contract and this cannot be altered.
Solicitors will try to exchange contracts prior to completion when there is a chain, but this can happen simultaneously if there is no chain. All transactions take place on the same day and all parties must vacate their properties on or before the completion date.