Once you’ve instructed your solicitor or conveyancer the sales process can begin. In this article we’ll run through the different stages of a sale.
Timeline
Pre contract work: 2 weeks
Appoint conveyancer, conduct searches, survey, draft contract.
Time for buyer mortgage - 4 weeks
Draft contract: 2 - 10 weeks
Review survey, review searches report, answer outstanding questions.
Time between exchanging: 1 weeks
Total time from offer accepted to completion: 12-16 weeks
Process Questionnaire
The first step is completing in-depth questionnaires about the property and what’s included in the sale. We’ve covered these in this article but to quickly run through them:
TA6: General questionnaire about the property which includes boundaries, disputes, complaints, known developments, building works, council tax, utilities and contact details.
TA7: Only applicable if you don’t own the freehold.
TA10: Provides details over the fixtures and fittings included in the sale.
TA13: Includes finalising details such as the hand over the keys, how and where you will complete and ensuring the property is free of mortgage and liabilities claims.
While this is happening buyers will be conducting surveys on the property to check the structural integrity of the property by checking for things like damp and subsidence.
Draft Contracts
Your solicitor will use the information from the questionnaire to draft a contract that will be sent to the buyers. There will be negotiations over this contract which include:
Date of completion, usually 7-28 days after the exchange of contracts
What fixtures and fittings are included and how much a buyer will pay for them
Who will fix issues raised by the buyers survey or an update to the sales price which reflects the surveys outcomes.
Paying off your mortgage
Before enchanting contracts, you’ll need to pay off your mortgage by requesting a redemption figure from your mortgage company. This is how much you’ll pay upon completing the sale.
Exchanging contracts and completion
At the agreed time your solicitor or conveyancer will exchange contracts for you. This is done by both the buyers and sellers legal representatives making sure the contracts are identical before sending them in post to one another.
If there is a chain the solicitors or conveyancer will do the same thing but will only release it if other people in the chain are happy to go ahead. This way if one person pulls out or delays then everyone in the chain gets held up.
Once contracts are exchanged you are in a legally binding contract to sell the property. This means that if either of you pull out at this point they will be liable and the other party can sue. Exchanging contracts also means you cannot accept any other offers on the property.