Conveyancing & Selling Your Home A Simple Guide

Selling a home can be a gruelling task and the lack of knowledge surrounding the role of Conveyancing within that can add to your frustrations. The process in general takes time and hopefully knowing more about what's involved, how long it takes and why it takes its time, may help lighten the load.

After you have agreed with your Estate Agent to sell your home and before you spruce the place up, have photos taken from every angle and prepare yourself for all sorts of visitors; you'll need to contact your Conveyancing Solicitor and let them know you'd like to get the ball rolling in anticipation of a buyer. The earlier you can contact your Conveyancing Solicitor to get the paperwork in order, the better, as this process typically takes between 4-10 weeks. After you have instructed your Conveyancing Solicitor they will send you a client care letter outlining their proposed services and a breakdown of their costs, which you will need to agree, sign and return, along with the details of your current homeowner loan (if you have one) and proof of your identity.

Once your Conveyancing Solicitor is in receipt of this information, they will send you a series of preliminary enquiry forms to complete regarding your property. These include a property information form, a leasehold property information form and a fixtures and fittings form, which will establish if there is any extra work to be done or if there are planning permissions, building consents or building work guarantees attached to the property. Complete your forms to the best of your knowledge and send them back as soon as possible with any relevant paperwork, such as the above consents.

Your Conveyancing Solicitor can now start acquiring your Land Registry Office copies and the equitable title of the property or title deeds. If you are selling a property with a leasehold agreement, your Conveyancing Solicitor will also need to be in possession of a copy of the lease, your building insurance details, your service charge accounts dated back 3 years and the property management company's projected expenditure for the next year. A linked process can only go as fast as its slowest member, so if you are selling a leasehold property, any information that you can pass on regarding your insurance or service charge will help your progression.

Upon receipt, your Conveyancing Solicitor will then prepare a draft contract, along with a contract pack. Once you have finally accepted a realistic offer and you've swapped legal contact details with your prospective buyer, your Conveyancing Solicitor will be contacted by theirs and upon your approval, can send your property contract pack to your buyer's counterpart, with both legal representatives making themselves available for any questions that either party might have.

Once you have given your Conveyancing Solicitor as much information as possible about your buyer and sale, and you are both happy in the knowledge that your buyer has a mortgage certificate or other proof that their homeowner loan application has been approved, you can all begin to negotiate a completion date. If all parties concur, then you can have this written into the contract to make sure that you the seller, your buyer and your respective representatives are working towards the same target. You now have an agreement in principle and you have sold your house "Subject to Contract". Your buyer will by now also have laid down money in the acquisition of a survey, giving you further assurance that the sale will go through. As soon as your Conveyancing Solicitor receives word from the buyer's camp that they are happy to proceed, you will receive a copy of the finalised contract, which you will need to check thoroughly and if in agreement, sign it and return it to your licensed Conveyancer. You are now ready to exchange!

Once you have both received your signed contracts, your Conveyancing Solicitor will collect and hold their deposit. You and the buyer and now legally committed to the sale and well on your way to completion, which can take anywhere between 1-28 days. Your Conveyancing Solicitor will have now liaised and confirmed a settlement figure with your mortgage lender for the redemption of your current homeowner loan and sent to you a transfer deed that they have received and checked from your buyer's licensed Conveyancer, which you will need to sign and return as soon as you can.

With the full payment of the property now received from your buyer's team, your Conveyancing Solicitor will forward the title and transfer deeds to your buyer's opposite number and take care of the payments to your Estate Agent or online marketer if you had one, the redemption settlement owed to your current mortgage provider and of course, their own Conveyancing service, plus they will pass on to you any leftover funds from the sale that aren't used in the purchase of a new home. If you are in a chain and buying a property at the same time as selling, then your Conveyancing Solicitor will also be sending your payment to your seller's licensed Conveyancer, obtaining title and transfer deeds, registering your new home at the Land Registry Office and dependant on whether it was a cash sale, send your new title deeds to your mortgage lender or you.

All the while your Conveyancing Solicitor is tying up loose ends, you will be arranging removals to depart from the property, getting utilities switched off, forwarding your post to your new residence and organising for the property's keys to be in the hands of their new owner as you have just completed your sale!