You may be wondering what you can expect after you have accepted an offer on your property, or received an accepted offer for a new property. We have broken down the conveyancing procedure here.

Memorandum of Sale: This is a document the Estate Agents will send to both the buyer’s and seller’s solicitors. It includes information about each party to the transaction, the agreed sale price and any other relevant information regarding the agreement. This enables the solicitors to contact one another and get the ball rolling. 

Draft Contract Pack: Is a bundle of documents, prepared by the seller’s solicitor and provided to the buyer’s solicitor. The Draft Contract Pack is made up of –

Property Information Form: 16-page questionnaire about the property, including questions about any alterations or extensions to the property, any warranties or guarantees you may be holding and other relevant information affecting the property.

Fixtures and Contents Form: 8-page questionnaire about what is included and excluded in the sale, eg curtains, washing machine, carpets etc.

EPC: Energy Performance Certificate, consists of information about the property’s energy use and costs, as well as advisories as to how energy use can be reduced.

Official Copies: These are documents filed at the Land Registry, that include information about who owns the property, the property address, rights and reservations that may affect the property, the plan, the mortgagee and any restrictions that may affect the property. These are affectively the deeds.

Draft Contract and Transfer Deed: These are the documents both you and the seller/buyer will sign.

Searches: Your searches will consist of three reports:

• Local Authority Search: will consist of information provided by the local authority including, but not limited to, information about any relevant planning permissions or building regulations for works started or completed at the property, whether the property is in a conservation area, listed, or near any proposed planning developments.
• Water and Drainage Search: will advise if the pipes are adopted by the local authority and considered main drains or if there are unadopted pipes that you may be liable to contribute financially towards. The search will provide a plan as to where the drains are located to ensure that if there was ever a need to repair/maintain the drains, it would not adversely affect your property. Or perhaps it may be that the property is served by a septic tank or cesspool, in these circumstances we would ask further enquiries specific to that system, to clarify what expenses may be involved in its maintenance and upkeep.

• Environmental Search: Details of site-specific current or historical contaminated land, mining activity, landfill/waste treatment sites, nearby hazardous and radioactive substances, subsidence and probability of radon gas will be revealed in this search.

Enquiries: questions, raised by the buyer’s solicitors about the documents provided in the draft contract pack and the agents particulars. This could include questions about the questionnaires completed by the sellers, search results, entries to the official copies, amendments to the Contract and Transfer and questions the buyers themselves wish to raise based on viewings at the property.

The seller’s solicitor will deal with the questions they can, the rest of the questions will be sent to the seller.

Reports: Once your solicitor has received the searches and replies to enquiries, and your mortgage offer if applicable, reports will be sent to you explaining the important information affecting the property and outlining any advice or action recommended based off the information received.

If you are happy with everything reported on, then you will sign the Contract and Transfer and receive a financial statement showing the funds we require from you if you are buying, or the net sale proceeds you can expect if you are selling.

Exchange of Contracts: exchange is when we use your signed contract to make the agreement legally binding and set a date to complete the purchase/sale. If you are buying, you need house insurance on the date of exchange. It is very important that you are 100% committed to the sale/purchase at this point, because if you change your mind after exchange, there could be large financial consequences of doing so.

Completion: Completion is the moving date and when you will get the keys and/or the sale proceeds.

In conclusion, Conveyancers advise you on what is for many, one of the most significant financial decisions of your life. They check for any issues with the property that may seriously devalue it in time to come and ensure that you can go into the purchase with open eyes.

Look out for our future articles, where we will concentrate on each stage in detail and also show where surveys and mortgage offers fit in.

Please contact our Property Department, we can open a file today and begin the process!