We aim to make the process of selling a property run as smoothly as possible. Here we outline what to expect once you have agreed to sell your property to a third party.
1. Initial Steps
Once you have found a buyer for your property and agreed to a price, you need to let your estate agents know that ORJ Law are your appointed solicitors. The estate agent will then issue a Memorandum of Sale to the relevant parties. The Memorandum of Sale contains details of the buyer and the seller, their solicitor and the sale price.
2. Draft Contract Stage
We will issue you a Client Care Pack with certain documents to complete and return. When we have received your completed forms and electronic identity check, we will send a draft Contract Pack to the buyer’s solicitor. This will contain the contract, the title documents for your property and the completed Property Information and Fittings and Contents Forms.
3. Enquiry Stage
The buyer’s solicitor will order the searches, review the draft contract pack and raise any enquiries they deem appropriate. The searches and enquiries may deal with various matters. For instance, in Staffordshire and Shropshire they may deal with issues relating to mining, ground instability or flood risk along with any planning matters. Both Staffordshire and Shropshire have a high number of new developments and the buyer’s solicitor will be concerned to check that all the relevant planning and building regulations approvals are in place. Such matters will be dealt with by way of the searches and enquiries. The buyer may also wish to obtain a survey to satisfy themselves as to the value and condition of the property.
4. Exchange of Contracts
Once everything has been dealt with to the satisfaction of the buyer and their solicitor and they hold their mortgage offer (if applicable) and signed documents, we can then look to agree dates for completion. Once completion dates have been agreed we can look to exchange contracts. Exchange of contracts makes the transaction legally binding on the parties.
5. Completion
On the day of completion, we will receive the purchase money, pay off your mortgage, pay the estate agent on your behalf and send any balance to you or, if you are in a chain, to your seller’s solicitors on your related purchase. You will move out of the property and hand over the keys to your buyer, usually via your estate agent.
Whilst the basic process selling a house will be the same no matter where your property is located, local knowledge can be important. This is because certain areas, properties or estates may have niche issues that a local solicitor will already be aware of and which a local solicitor will already know the solution to. Having offices based in both Stafford and Telford, we have dealt with a large number of property sales across Shropshire and Staffordshire and have the required knowledge of these areas to progress your sale to a quick completion.
If you are looking to sell a property in Staffordshire or Shropshire, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your matter further.