Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How long will it take to complete my transaction?
A. This depends on a number of factors including:
- The complexity of the transaction
- Number of parties within the chain
- Outstanding documentation and information required by parties within the chain
- Length of time taken for mortgage offer(s) in the chain to be issued
On average it takes between 8 and 10 weeks from offer to completion on a residential
property in a short chain. For first time buyers buying an empty property with a
mortgage already arranged in principle when they put in their offer it could be
quicker than this, but in a long chain or where title problems arise it could take
longer.
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Q. Will I receive an estimate of costs?
A. At the beginning of a transaction you will receive a client care letter setting
out information which we are required to give you by the Law Society. This information
includes details of your designated conveyancer and an estimate of our charges and
disbursements. Depending on the transaction, you may be asked to let us have a sum
of money on account for disbursements.
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Q. What are ‘disbursements’?
A. Disbursements are sums of money we have to pay out to other people or organisations
on your behalf rather than our own fees. Examples include the Land Registry registration
fee to register a purchase, stamp duty land tax, search fees payable to the local
authority and water authority, any defective title indemnity insurance premiums
necessary and fees for title searches and copies of your registered title.
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Q. What is a redemption statement?
A. This is an up-to-date statement from your existing mortgage lender(s) who have
a charge registered over your property. The statement will show the amount owing
at a particular date together with details of any redemption penalty and the lender’s
charges for dealing with redemption (i.e. the repayment) of the mortgage.
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Q. What is any early redemption penalty?
A. Some mortgages “lock” you in for a certain period of time. This is usually the
case if you have had a fixed rate, discounted or tracker mortgage. If you repay
your mortgage before the end of this “lock in” period, your lender may charge you
an additional amount for not keeping the mortgage for the agreed amount of time.
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Q. Who will pay off my mortgage?
A. Assuming there is not a shortfall, we will pay off all secured lending on your
property directly to your lender out of the sale proceeds on completion before paying
any balance to you.
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Q. What is a shortfall?
A. A shortfall can occur if you are in negative equity i.e. the sale proceeds are
less than the amount owed to your lender(s).
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Q. When should I stop my direct debits to my existing mortgage lender(s)?
A. You should not cancel direct debits until you have been advised by us that completion
of the sale has taken place. We will write to you on the day of completion. If you
have made an overpayment the lender will refund this to you usually very quickly.
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Q. I have decided to sell my house. What do I do next?
A. You should contact Chattertons to ask them to let you have an Estimate of Costs.
Chattertons will also advise you on all aspects of selling your home from acceptance
of offer to completion.
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Q. What is an Energy Performance Certificate?
A. An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) must be produced by a qualified energy
assessor who will need to inspect the property. The EPC will provide an energy efficiency
rating and an environmental impact rating. The EPC will also make recommendations
as to the methods of improving the property’s energy efficiency.
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Q. Why do you need my ID?
A. We are bound by strict money
laundering regulations and we need to check your identification to ensure
that the person instructing us to sell the property is the legal owner, or that
the proposed buyer can confirm both ID and address.
If you are borrowing money by way of a Mortgage, your Lender will also require us to check and confirm both your ID and your address before the Mortgage Advance can be completed.
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Q. I have sold my house, what happens next?
A. You need to give the Estate Agent our details and they will then send us the
notification of sale. Please also ring us to advise that you have sold and to tell
us the agreed sale price and any other relevant information about the buyer and
the deal you have agreed.
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Q. What will you do next?
A. If you instructed Chattertons to sell your home prior to a sale being agreed
you will already have completed our initial client care paperwork and provided us
with identification details so we will be in a position to send the contract and
supporting paperwork to the buyers conveyancer immediately on receipt of his details
from the Estate Agent.
At this point if you have a mortgage we will apply for a redemption figure which
will be for information purposes and we will send a copy of this to you so that
you can check for any unexpected early redemption penalties and we can ensure that
there will be enough funds from the sale to pay off your mortgage in full. Once
the buyer’s conveyancer has checked the paperwork we send to him, he will raise
enquiries and commission searches. We will contact you upon receipt of enquiries
and discuss these with you. Once the buyer’s conveyancer is satisfied with our replies
and is in receipt of his client’s mortgage offer and search results we will arrange
for you to sign the contract and discuss a completion date.
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Q. What if I have a purchase?
A. If you are purchasing another property, you will have hopefully instructed us
in this transaction when you telephoned us to confirm you had sold and you will
have completed our paperwork. We will have received the contract from the seller’s
conveyancer and will have raised any necessary enquiries and searches. Again, once
we receive satisfactory replies and search results and your mortgage offer we will
invite you to sign the contract and discuss completion dates.
We will ensure that the completion date on the sale and the purchase are on the
same day (unless you want something different of course!) and will liaise with you
throughout this stage of the transaction.
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Q. When is the transaction legally binding?
A. On exchange of contracts. This means either party can pull out without penalty
or liability at any time until contracts have been exchanged. (link to exchange information sheet).
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Q. What is “Exchange of Contracts”?
A. Once the buyer and the seller (and any other buyers and sellers in a property
“chain”) have signed their respective contracts and a completion date has been agreed,
the conveyancers will exchange contracts. The exchange process takes place over
the phone under a prescribed formula and the date and time of exchange are recorded
by both conveyancers and it is at that point that the contracts become legally binding. (link to exchange information sheet).
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Q. What happens if I change my mind after Exchange of Contracts?
A. If you decide you do not want to move after exchange of contracts you can be
sued for breach of contract by other parties in the chain. Any deposit you may have
paid on exchange of contracts will be forfeited by the seller if you fail to complete
a purchase after contracts have been exchanged. (link to exchange information sheet).
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Q. What is “Completion”?
A. Completion day is the day when the monies are transferred from conveyancer to
conveyancer and it is the day you can get your keys and move into your new home.
You must fully vacate your sale property on completion also.
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Q. What if completion goes wrong?
A. Very rarely completion does go wrong but we will have taken every possible step
to ensure this does not happen. For example, we ensure that we receive your mortgage
advance the day before completion so there is no delay in monies arriving from the
lender. The first thing to remember is DO NOT PANIC. It is extremely rare for completion
not to take place at all and completion going wrong usually refers to a completion
going through later in the day or on the following day. The normal time that you
will be able to collect your keys is late morning/lunchtime on the day of completion.
As soon as we become aware that there may be a problem we will contact you to advise
you of the situation. If you are selling as well as buying you will be advised to
stay at your property until you receive a call from us to advise you that the chain
is moving again. You must not, under any circumstances, hand over your keys to the
buyer until we have advised you that we have received the monies from the buyer’s
conveyancers. The Estate Agents will also be instructed not to release any keys
they are holding until they hear from us.
The contracts you have signed will contain a clause which states that a certain
rate of interest (usually 4% above the base rate) is payable on the purchase price
for every day that completion is delayed and the liability for the delay will be
passed down the chain but will rest with the party who is at fault. You should also
be able to make a claim against the defaulting party for any costs incurred with
removal firms or for overnight accommodation should this be necessary.
Generally, however, the chain will complete on the day specified for completion
and all will be well.
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Contact Us
For further information or advice on any conveyancing matter, please e-mail
residential.property@chattertons.com or contact a member of our Residential
Conveyancing Team from the contact details given below:
Contact Details
Residential Conveyancing Team