We understand that selling your house is a very important transaction and you will want it to proceed as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Please make contact with us once you have received a satisfactory offer for your property.

This guide aims to supply practical information to assist in your transaction and to make clear some of the important points during the procedure of moving house.

There are three main stages to selling your home you need to be aware of a few preliminary issues.

1) Although you may agree a sale price verbally with the potential Buyers of your property and the basic terms of the deal, this will not become binding upon either you or them until contracts have been exchanged (see main section 2 below).
2) It is open to the potential buyers to withdraw at any point up to the exchange of contracts and therefore it is essential you make no arrangements which cannot be undone prior to exchange of contracts as on occasions transactions can fail for a variety of reasons.
3) If your potential Buyers are selling their property and you in turn are purchasing a new property, then you are effectively in what is known as a “chain”.

Bearing in mind that everybody within a chain will generally have to commit to selling their property simultaneously with committing to buying their new property, you can see that the more transactions there are within a chain, the more complicated it is for all parties concerned (and the solicitors in particular) to arrange for all parties to commit simultaneously.

Clearly if you have a dependant purchase, we cannot commit you to selling your current property until we have arranged an exchange of contracts on the purchase of your new property. The exchange of contracts within a chain acts like a wave from the bottom of the transaction to the top. One of the most common reasons for delay in transactions going through is that the chain can only move at the speed of the slowest party.

It is important to note that prior to exchange of contracts the only pressure that we can bring to bear upon your potential Buyers is via their solicitor (we are not entitled to approach your potential buyers directly) and then ultimately the only sanction and pressure that you can bring to bear upon your potential buyers is to withdraw your agreement to sell your property and for you to seek a fresh buyer.

1) Offer Received

Now that you have received an offer for your home, what should you do next?

Your estate agent will confirm full details of the offer including the name of your buyers and their solicitors to us.

If you are selling your home without the aid of an estate agent, it is important that you obtain the details of your buyer’s solicitors as soon as you can and pass them to us.

As soon as you have signed our terms of business to confirm that you wish us to act on your behalf and provided your authority for us obtain your deeds we will write to your current mortgage lender to obtain the title deeds to your home to allow us to prepare the relevant contract papers. This can help to avoid delays at a later point.

At the same time as you confirm your instructions for us to act for you we will send you a questionnaire asking for information about the property. It helps speed things up if you complete and return this to the Homeplus team as quickly as you can. It is essential that this questionnaire be completed as accurately and promptly as possible.

Contracts - Once we have the identity of your buyer’s solicitors, confirmation that agreement has been reached as to the terms of the transaction together with your title deeds, we will prepare and send contract papers to your buyers solicitors.

The contract is a written document that describes the terms of the transaction in detail. It will cover such things as the identity of the seller and buyers, the identity of the property, the sale price, the standard and special terms and conditions that will apply to the sale.

It is quite usual for the buyer’s solicitors to ask detailed questions about your property. This is normal as they obviously want to have as much information as possible before they advise the buyers to sign the contract.

When they are satisfied with both the contract document and the questions that they have asked about your property, they will return one copy of the contract back to us which we will send to you to sign.

Contents – It is not unusual when selling a house that some of the contents are to be included within the purchase price - items such as carpets, curtains and light fittings are the most usual contents which are included within the price. The questionnaire that we send to you includes a checklist to make it easier for you to decide what is to be included.

Please note that the fittings and contents questionnaire will be attached to and form part of the contract for sale. Therefore, it is important that you only include the items you intend to leave at the property, if you remove any items you have stated will be included you will be in breach of contract.

Surveys – The buyers will almost certainly want a survey carried out on your property and, if this reveals a problem, they may wish to renegotiate the price.

2) Exchanging Contracts

Once the buyers have returned one part of the contract approved we will send it to you for signature. It is essential to note that even though you may have signed the contract, this does not mean that there is a legally binding agreement between you and the buyers. Only when both you and the buyers have signed the contracts and those contracts have been formally exchanged, does the sale come into force and is legally binding upon you both.

Deposit – When exchanging contracts we will ask the buyers solicitors to pay a deposit. Traditionally the deposit is 10% 0f the sale price but often, in a chain, your buyer's solicitors may ask us to accept a reduced deposit, because your buyer is depending for the rest of his money on his mortgage advance and/orthe sale proceeds of their existing house.

Completion Date – This is the date upon which the transaction will complete and you will be required to vacate the property.You may have already discussed possible completion dates with your buyers. However, it is essential to recognise a couple of points regarding completion. Firstly, until contracts are exchanged no formal completion date is in existence and so any arrangements that you tentatively make towards a date prior to exchange may need to be rearranged. Secondly if all parties are working towards a quick completion date, you may well receive advice from us that the period of time that you would like to see between exchange and completion cannot be achieved due to external factors beyond our control.

Completion takes place after contracts have been exchanged but there generally needs to be a reasonable gap between the two to allow you to makethe necessary arrangements to move and for us to organise signature of the formal documents and the finance to be put in place for payment upon the completion day.

We will discuss a completion date with you before any commitments are made on your behalf.

Removals – You must move out of your home on or before the completion date. As soon as you receive confirmation from us that contracts have been exchanged, you should start making removal arrangements. You should not commit yourself to a completion date until you are sure you can move out on that date. Failure to give vacant possession on the completion date will put you in breach of contract.

3) Completion

Once contracts have been exchanged you will be required to sign a transfer document which will formally transfer the property into the buyer’s name on completion. This document is drafted by the buyer’s solicitors. It will be sent to you to sign undated and will only come into effect upon successful completion of the transaction. It is important that you sign the transfer and return it to us promptly and in any event, it must be in our possession prior to the date of completion of the sale of your home.

Mortgage Payments and Outgoings – When contracts have been exchanged the Homeplus team will obtain a settlement figure from your current Building Society or Lender. At this time you should organise final bills and transfer of your utilities (gas, electricity, water and telephone).Estate Agents Fees – If you are selling through an agent then fees will be due to the agent upon completion of the sale. The Homeplus team will pay these fees directly from the proceeds of the sale, unless you instruct us otherwise.

Any Questions?

Why do I need Homeplus? The laws that cover the transfer of the property can be complicated and there are some tasks that solicitors are better qualified to undertake. Clearly, bearing in mind the size of the transaction involved, it is in your own interest to have professional advice at every stage and the Homeplus team are here to provide that service to you.

How much will it cost? It is difficult to generalise as every property may have its own complications that can affect the price. However the Homeplus team will provide you with a written estimate of the costs involved (and a fixed quotation wherever possible) and will keep you informed of anything that occurs that might affect the price.How long will it take? Again it is impossible to generalise as your own transaction may well be dependant upon other transactions, (“the chain” mentioned above). However in our experience most transactions will take a minimum of 8 weeks from issue of the contract documents before they proceed to completion and will often take longer.
How do I know what’s happening? You will be assigned a particular Homeplus team to work upon your transaction and we will let you have full contact detailsof all the individuals involved in assisting you from within the team.

We will keep you up to date at every important stage of your sale, but if you have any queries at any time can you telephone, write or e mail to the HomePlus team member looking after your case.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Completion
This the date that the seller must move out of the property and the buyer must pay the purchase monies

Contract
This is the document drawn up by the seller’s solicitor. The contract will contain details of the sale, including the price and completion date. It is drawn up in duplicate and the seller signs one copy and the buyer the other

Exchanging contracts
When contracts are exchanged there is a binding obligation, which will include the price and completion date. By exchanging contracts the seller is agreeing that, if the buyer pays the purchase price on the completion date, the seller will transfer ownership of the property to the buyer and the seller will move out of the property. By exchanging contracts the buyer is agreeing that he will pay the purchase price to the seller on the completion date.

Fixtures & Fittings questionaire
This is a form completed by the seller. It is a list of items that will be included and excluded from the sale.

Freehold
Freehold is a type of title. There are essentially two types of title, freehold and leasehold. A freehold title is a title that means that the property is yours forever (unlike leasehold title, which will be for a set amount of time). There will be no Landlord, and usually no ground rent or service charge.

Ground Rent
All leasehold titles require that the owner of the leasehold title (the tenant) pay ground rent to the landlord. The amount of ground rent that is payable is set out in the lease. The ground rent may be fixed or variable. The ground rent may be a nominal sum (often literally a peppercorn) and will not be collected.

Local Search
Before exchanging contracts the buyer will need to obtain a local search. This is a search of the local authority’s records and only relates to the property (not adjoining properties). The search will reveal a variety of things about the property, such as whether the roads are adopted, whether planning permission has been obtained and complied with, and whether the local authority has made a home improvement loan that must be repaid.

Leasehold
Leasehold is a type of title. There are essentially two types of title, freehold and leasehold. Unlike a freehold title, a leasehold title will be for a set amount of time (for example 99 years). Unless it is a new lease some time will have expired. In theory, at the end of the lease period the property will go back to the landlord. In practice the owner of the property can usually arrange for the term of the lease to be extended although he will have to apply to the landlord in order to do this. The owner of a leasehold title is known as a tenant. The owner of a leasehold title will be required to pay ground rent, and sometimes service charge. Ground rent and service charge will be collected either by the landlord or an agent appointed by the landlord. The landlord may have obligations to repair and maintain the property. The landlord may also be responsible for buildings insurance property. This is why he charges service charge. The landlord may appoint an agent to manage the running of the development. The landlord is the owner of the freehold title of the property.

Lease
A lease is a document that creates leasehold title in a property. A landlord will grant the lease to a tenant. The lease will contain various provisions such as length of the lease, the amount of ground rent and service charge that are payable and the rights and restrictions that affect the property.

Landlord
Where there is a leasehold title in the property, the landlord is the owner of the freehold title of the property.

Maintenance Charge
This is the same as service charge

Mortgage
An interest given on a piece of land, in writing, to guarantee payment of debt. The person lending the money and receiving the mortgage is called the mortgagee, the person who concedes a mortgage as security upon their property is called a mortgagor.

Mortgage Advance
This is another term for the loan that the mortgage lender is making

Management Company
Freehold title of the property may be owned by a management company, which makes the management company the landlord. The management company may manage the development themselves, or they may appoint an agent to manage the development.

Mortgage Offer
This is an offer made by the mortgage lender to the buyer. The mortgage offer will contain details of the amount of the loan, the period over which the loan must be repaid and other conditions. Before the buyer can exchange contracts he must obtain a mortgage offer.
The buyer’s solicitor will have to act for the mortgage lender (as well as you) to ensure that the conditions of the mortgage offer are complied with.
The buyer’s solicitor will not be able to exchange contracts until the mortgage lenders conditions have been complied with.

Property Information Form
This is a form completed by the seller. It covers various matters relating to the property, such as boundaries and guarantees.

Rent Charge
Sometimes a freehold title property may be subject to a payment of rent charge; this is similar to ground rent.

Retention
This is a sum of money held back by the mortgage lender pending completion of specified work to the property.

Service Charge
The owner of a leasehold title may be required to pay service charge to the landlord. This service charge is to pay for the landlord’s expenses in carrying out any obligations he may have to repair and maintain the property, and also to insure the property

Title Deeds
Title deeds are the documents which prove who owns a property. Before contracts can be exchanged the seller’s solicitor must provide evidence of title to the buyer’s solicitor, and the buyer’s solicitor must investigate title. Title is essentially the rights and restrictions that affect a property.