How To Make Selling Your Home Easy

Selling a home is notoriously stressful and entails a complex legal process – but with the right conveyancing solicitor, the process doesn’t have to be a difficult one.

There are certain things that your conveyancer needs to do to help make the process of selling your home an easy one, and there are certain things that you need to do too. Provided you are given all the information at the outset and throughout the sale, you should find selling your home a straightforward and relatively simple matter.

What Does Residential Conveyancing Involve?

The process of selling your home will usually involve three stages:

1. Providing the buyer’s solicitor with all the background information about the property.
2. Exchange, which is when the two identical contracts signed by the seller and buyer are exchanged meaning both are legally bound to continue with the transaction.
3. Completion, which is when the monies from the buyer comes through and the seller moves out, handing over the keys to the property via the estate agent

What Does Your Conveyancer Need To Do?

Residential conveyancing is complicated, and it’s the job of your conveyancer to make the process easy for you, the seller.

Exactly what your conveyancer needs to do will depend on your particular circumstances, sale type and property, but as a guide he or she will need to:

• Obtain the title deeds, and check your title to the property
• Prepare the contracts
• Provide the buyer’s solicitor with all the background information
• Reply to any enquiries during the process

What Do You Need To Do?

The sale of your home will involve a great deal of paperwork and administration, and it definitely pays to be organised and prepared to gather all the relevant information.

As a guide, when selling your home, you will need to:

• Provide Documents
  Your conveyancer will need proof of your identity and address. You will also need to present the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), which shows your property’s energy use and CO2 impact – if you don’t already have one of these, you should be able to arrange for your home to be assessed through your estate agent.
• Provide Property Title Deeds
  If your property is registered at Land Registry, your conveyancer will ask them for copies of your title deeds. If it’s unregistered or you were given paper deeds when you bought your property, you will need to send these on to your conveyancer. It may be the deeds are held by your mortgage lender or previous solicitor if you don’t keep them at home.
• Complete The Fittings and Contents Form
  This states exactly what you plan to leave and to take when you move out, including furnishings and fittings. The form is completed on a room by room basis and is part of the contract so be sure to take care when filling it out.
• Complete The Property Information Form
  This form provides greater detail about the property, such as legal responsibility for boundaries, any building works you’ve undertaken, location of gas and water meters, whether you have a new boiler, etc. All associated documents will need to be provided together with the information. If you’ve lost any paperwork or never had certain documents, your conveyancer will advise you on how best to proceed.
• Take Action On Completion
  On the day of completion and before you move out, take final meter readings and give these to your utility provider for the final invoice. You need to inform the necessary organisations such as banks, DVLA, Electoral Roll, and doctors, that you’ve moved, and should set up a Post Office redirection for all your mail to ensure you don’t miss important documents in the meantime.

The Importance of Residential Conveyancing

Your conveyancer will ensure you have all the information and legal support you need when you sell your house, and that your sale completes as easily as possible.

All our conveyancers have the wealth of experience together with a friendly, personal approach to ensure you are kept informed throughout the entire process. Your conveyancer will advise you on all you need to do in terms of paperwork and help you if there are any issues that arise along the way.

For tailored, impartial legal advice on selling your home, please contact our specialist residential conveyancing solicitors at our Failsworth office on 0161 681 4005 or at our Chorlton office on 0161 860 7123 or email info@hlfberry.com