General Information on Your Sale
- Deeds
You will need to let us know the whereabouts of your deeds and if they are with a bank or building society, the name, branch and any reference or mortgage account number. You will also need to let us have details of all mortgages and loans which may be charged against your property.
- Obsolete Deeds and other Documents
You will need to let us have any obsolete deeds relating to the property and other documents such as planning permissions, building regulation approvals, guarantees, searches etc which were obtained at the time you acquired the property.
- Property Details Questionnaire, Leasehold Property Details Questionnaire (if applicable) and the Fixtures, Fittings & Contents List
You will be asked to complete these forms at the outset of the transaction. These documents provide us with information which will be passed to the buyer about the property and what is or is not included in the purchase price.
- Extent of the Property
If you are selling the whole of your property you will need to let us know if there is any land which you currently use which is not included in your ownership e.g. an area of land which you have taken into your garden but which is not shown on your title deeds.
If you are keeping some of your land it will be necessary to consider carefully whether you need to keep any rights over the land you are selling. If, for example, you will need to go across the land you are selling or if any of the services for the land you are keeping pass through the land you are selling then we must specifically state in the sale agreement what these rights are. Otherwise you will have no legal rights at all over the land you are selling once agreements have been exchanged.
- Planning and alterations to the Property
Full details of any alterations or additions to the property should be given to your conveyancer along with copies of any planning permissions, building regulations consents or other consents (including, if the property is leasehold, consents from the Landlord or Management Company, if required) you may have obtained at the time.
- Vacant Possession
Where you are not selling with vacant possession or if there are any other occupiers of the property other than the legal owners of the property then you should inform your conveyancer.
- Mortgages/Charges/Judgements against the Property
The sale cannot be completed without these being paid off on completion. In the event that the sale monies may not be enough to repay everything owing or if you think that someone else is in the process of registering a charge against the property, you should inform your conveyancer immediately.
You will need to take into account any possible penalties for early redemption of your existing mortgage which may mean that your sale proceeds are not sufficient to pay off the mortgage. We will obtain a redemption statement at an early stage and send you a copy so that you know roughly how much will be due on completion.
You will need to ensure that you keep up the payments on your old mortgage until the sale has actually been completed.
Any second or subsequent mortgage on the property will also need to be repaid on completion.
- Exchange of Contracts
On exchange of contracts you will become legally bound to sell the property and to move out of it on the agreed completion date.
- Insurance
You should maintain sufficient building insurance on your property until completion of the sale.
- Completion
The date of completion is the date when you must give up possession of the property you are selling and gain occupation of any property you are buying. On completion the balance of sale monies are dealt with.
- Meters and Charges
It will be your responsibility before completion to arrange for any electricity, gas or water meters to be read and final statements sent to you. You will also need to arrange for a final telephone and council tax bill to be sent to you calculated to the date of completion.
- Post redirection
You may wish to arrange redirection of your post through Royal Mail. There is a fee for this and it can be arranged for periods of 3, 6 and 12 months. Royal Mail usually need at least 7 days’ notice to start a redirection so you may also want to give a forwarding address to your buyer for post that slips through Royal mail’s net. It is also wise to let as many people who normally write to you as possible know you have moved as soon as possible as the Royal mail redirection service is not infallible.
- Keys
If estate agents are involved it is advisable to let them have at least one set of keys on or before the completion date. We will authorise the release of this set to the purchaser when the purchase monies have been paid. Any other keys should be left in the house.
- Wills
On completion of a conveyancing transaction it may be an opportune time to
consider making a will or amending any existing will.
- Financial Services
Legal and financial services often go hand in hand, so why not take advantage of our in-house financial services department and let us deal with your financial needs at the same time. Advice includes:
• Investing the sale proceeds
• Getting the most from my savings and investments
• Planning for a comfortable retirement
• Inheritance tax planning
• Mortgaging or re-mortgaging properties
If you would like a FREE initial consultation with one of our financial advisers, please click on our
financial services link.
- Leasehold Property
Where the property you are selling is a leasehold flat and you have been responsible for payment of ground rent, insurance and maintenance or service charges then we have to prove to the buyer's conveyancer that the rent, insurance and service charge have been paid up to date. You will need to let your conveyancer know as soon as possible if there are any arrears as these could cause difficulties. At worst the buyer could refuse to complete.
On completion we will prepare a "completion statement" apportioning ground rent, service charge and any other payments under the Lease between you and the buyer. As most sales are not conveniently completed on the first day of a new accounting year it will not be certain exactly what will have to be paid during the current year of account. The result is that the service charge is apportioned between buyer and seller on the basis of the interim charge currently being paid (if interim payments are made) or on the basis of an estimate.
When the annual accounts are prepared after the end of the accounting year (this is quite often some months after the year end date) and are sent out and the actual cost for the year is known, the total cost is split between buyer and seller on the basis of the number of days of their ownership allowing for any payments already taken into account on completion. This means that you, as seller, may be asked to contribute towards the cost of the previous year's maintenance some considerable time after the sale has been completed.
Apportionment of service charges can cause disagreements especially if further expenditure is incurred in maintenance after the seller has parted with the property but it is felt that this arrangement, generally speaking, produces the fairest result between buyer and seller.
It may be necessary for us to make a retention from the sale proceeds to cover any anticipated maintenance contributions likely to be required after completion.
Contact Us
For further information or advice on any conveyancing matter, please e-mail
residential.property@chattertons.com or contact a member of our Conveyancing
Team from the contact details given below;
Contact Details
Residential Conveyancing Team