Buying and Selling

Buying and selling a property simultaneously is a common situation to be in, as most people will need to sell one property to buy another.

This situation is commonly called the property chain. It can be agonising, especially if the chain involves several transactions. But by using us to handle all your legal aspects will help make the process simpler, as we can ensure that the paperwork is in place and ready to go. Once you have found a property that you wish to purchase, and you have made an offer on the property, and that offer has been accepted, you can then instruct us to act as your solicitor. We can then carry out all your legal work for you.

Pre-completion

1, We will ask you to fill in our questionnaire about your current property. The questionnaire has been designed to gather the necessary information required to fill in the legal paperwork and provide answers to a series of questions about the property that the buyer may have.
2, We will contact your current mortgage lender and get the relevant documents from Land Registry to sell your existing property.
3, We will then carry out property searches (such as local authority searches) on the property you wish to buy and then request a copy of the draft contract from the seller’s solicitor. If you need to obtain a mortgage, we will go through the terms and conditions with you.

The pre-contact stage

1, The pre-contract stage starts after you have found a property that you want to purchase. Once you have made an offer on the property and the seller has accepted it.
2, The next step is to arrange a mortgage if you require one and then arrange for a survey on the property.
3, We then confirm your instruction by letter setting out the term of our business and fixed fees.
4, We then contact the seller’s Solicitors to obtain the contract pack and raise any pre-contract enquires. We then carry out the necessary searches and receive a copy of the mortgage offer, if required.
5, We will draw up a draft contract and send it to your buyer’s solicitor. Once all parties are happy, a completion date for you to move out of your current home
6, We will answer any queries about the property you want to purchase and review the draft contract from your seller’s solicitor. Once you are happy, we will set the completion date for you to move to your new home, which, if the time of exchange of contract is swift, can be on the same day.

completion

1. When the queries are answered, arrangements are made for a deposit to be paid in readiness to exchange contracts.
2. You agree with the seller a date by which to complete; on this date, the contracts are formally “exchanged” – meaning both parties are legally committed to the transaction.
3. We prepare a draft transfer deed and completion information form for the seller’s Solicitors. The seller’s Solicitor approves the draft transfer deed, and a final copy is made. The transfer deed may need to be signed by you before being sent to the seller’s Solicitor for signature by the seller in readiness for completion.
4. We prepare a completion statement, carry out pre-completion searches, and apply to your mortgage lender for the mortgage loan.

We will then exchange the contracts and transfer funds

We will then instruct the estate agent to release your keys, and you should be able to collect your keys to your new home,