What happens after you’ve found a buyer for your home? Can you just hand it over to a conveyancer and wait until completion?
Almost.
As conveyancers, we can do the heavy lifting for you and guide you through the process. But there are some questions that only the seller can answer. In reality, it’s a bit of a joint effort between you and your conveyancer to get you over that completion line.
Step 1: Collate the documents
You may remember that when you bought the property, your solicitor provided you with a suite of documents. Now that it’s time to sell, it’s your turn to gather the documents that the buyer needs.
You conveyancer will be able to source official documents that are available from the Land Registry.
These include: a plan showing the boundaries of the property, a copy of your legal title to the property, copies of any charges on the property, and a copy of the lease (if it’s a leasehold property).
The documents you’ll need to provide include:
• A copy of your gas certificate
• The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
• Your boiler service history
• Consents for any planning permission, for past or future alterations
• Landlord’s consent to adaptations (if your home is leasehold)
• Certificate of loft insulation works (if relevant)
Step 2: Complete the Property Information Form
Probably the most cumbersome task for the seller is completing the property information form. It’s quite a lengthy document, with 12 sections. It’s very important that you give accurate, complete answers in this document, so that you can’t be accused of misrepresentation.
With that in mind, it’s worth spending some time on this document. You need to answer a variety of questions about flooding, relationships with neighbours and any alterations to the property (for example).
Thankfully, it’s a standard form, which means that it’s fairly straightforward to fill out. Some answers are tick-boxes, and there are guidance notes throughout.
If your property is leasehold, then you’ll also have to complete a leasehold information form. This is a similar format of document and is slightly shorter, including only 10 sections.
Step 3: Complete the fittings and contents form
The fittings and contents form is similar to a an inventory of the house. It’s your chance to tell the buyer what you’re offering to leave in the house when you move out.
Think about things like curtain poles, blinds, washing machine or even a hoover and dining table. You can suggest a price for any of these items if you’d like to give the buyer the opportunity to buy them separately.
Step 4: Answer enquiries
The buyer and their conveyancer are likely to have questions about the property. During the course of the transaction, you’re likely to be asked to answer these enquiries. Often this is where a transaction stalls, so the quicker you can answer these questions, the more efficient the process will be.
Some enquiries are legal in nature, like “who is responsible for maintaining the boundaries of the property?” or “are there any rights of way over the property?”
Others may be non-legal such as whether you will be willing and able to make certain repairs to the property before exchange.
Step 5: Post completion tasks
Once the contract of sale is drafted and exchanged, then it’s legally binding, and completion usually takes place in the next couple of weeks.
It’ll be your conveyancer’s responsibility to do important post-completion matters like stamping and registering title. They’ll also do the critical job of transferring funds and arranging to ‘port’ the mortgage (if that’s what you’ve agreed with the lender).
Brief summary
Selling your property should be an exciting time! You’ll have some paperwork to complete, but we’re here to support you all the way. We can answer any of your questions about the process, or the specific aspects of the forms you need to fill in.
Please feel free to get in touch if you’d like a friendly, efficient conveyancer to help sell your property.