Sale – Selling Your Property
This guide has been designed to support you throughout the process of selling your property.
It explains the legal work your conveyancer will carry out on your behalf, from preparing the contract pack through to completion, as well as practical information to help keep your sale progressing smoothly.
You’ll find useful guidance on what to expect at each stage, common requirements, and how to avoid unnecessary delays.
If you have any questions about your sale, the conveyancing process, or your legal costs, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Your Sale
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When you purchased the property, you will have been provided with a Title Plan which outlines the boundary of your property. It is this which will be transferred to the purchaser upon completion. You should let us know if you are aware of any other parcels of land associated with the property that may not be included in the plan, such as an adjacent field, a garage or a parking space. We will provide you with a Fixtures Fittings and Contents List to complete. This outlines what is and isn’t being included in the sale such as furniture, curtains, light fittings etc. This list forms part of the contract and if you agree and then fail to leave any of the items behind, you will be in breach of contract.
Your conveyancer will prepare the contract pack for the buyer’s conveyancer which includes the draft contract, deeds from the Land Registry and Seller’s Property Information Forms completed by you. Your conveyancer will then respond to any enquiries from the buyer’s conveyancer, which are essentially legal questions about the property. Your conveyancer may need your help in answering some enquiries about the property. If the property is Leasehold or is Freehold with a Management Company we will also need to obtain information from these third parties to provide to the buyer’s conveyancer.
On completion, your conveyancer will receive the sale proceeds, pay off any outstanding mortgages and charges along with your Estate Agent fees, any third party fees and our fees and will then send you the remainder of the sale proceeds.
Unless your property is unregistered, your deeds will be held electronically at the Land Registry. We will request payment on account at the start of the transaction in order to obtain copies of your deeds for the buyer’s conveyancer. The cost of these can vary, at a minimum the Title Register and Plan will need to be obtained. However, there may also be copies of Conveyancers, Transfers and Leases which will all be required by the buyer’s conveyancer, these documents will all have a fee attached to them.
If your property is unregistered, you will need to provide evidence of your ownership through physical title deeds. As our basic legal fee is on the assumption that your property is registered, there will be a fee for the additional work associated with your unregistered property.
Documentation
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At the start of the transaction you will be asked to provide as much information about the property as possible by completing the Seller’s Property Information Form, Fixtures, Fittings and Contents List and the Leasehold Property Information Form (if applicable).
You will also need to provide us with original copies of relevant documentation relating to your property such as the Central Heating/Boiler Guarantees, Double Glazing Guarantees, Planning and Building Regulation Consents in respect of any alterations that have been made to the property etc.
It is essential that you provide as much information upfront as possible, as incorrect and incomplete information from the seller is one of the most common delays.
You must provide accurate answers and provide full disclosure of all information about the property, otherwise you may be subject to legal proceedings. We take no responsibility for any misstatement or lack of information provided by you and if there are any variations to your replies during the course of the transaction, you should advise us immediately.
Correspondence with the other party’s lawyers will be headed “Subject to Contract”. This is intended to prevent you being under a legal duty to sell, until we are happy with all aspects of your property transaction and you are ready and able to proceed
The buyer’s conveyancer will require a copy of your latest Water Utility Bill. This is to prove that the property has the benefit of mains drainage and sewerage and that the account is not in arrears. If your property does not benefit from mains drainage, please let us know
It is a legal requirement that an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is commissioned prior to marketing your property for sale. The buyer’s conveyancer will need to see a copy of the EPC before exchange of contracts can take place. We can assist in commissioning an EPC on your behalf but you will be required to meet the costs in this respect.
If you are selling a leasehold property there are further considerations and your Legal Cost Estimate will include a Leasehold Fee in respect of the additional work involved.
We will need to obtain additional documents from the Land Registry, including a copy of the Lease.
Your buyer and their conveyancer will also need information about the management of the building. As the seller, it is your responsibility to pay for a Management Pack from your landlord or Managing Agent. This pack will typically include general maintenance information, service charge accounts, ground rent receipts and buildings insurance policy. We have no control over the cost of the Management Pack, which can vary greatly from £50 – £450 depending on your landlord/ Managing Agent. This cost will need to be paid at the start of the transaction to avoid any delays in obtaining the Management Pack and we can help arrange this for you.
If you are selling a freehold property where you have to pay rent or service charges, the above charges will also be applicable. Please provide us with all of the contact information for this Company with your Welcome Pack to enable us to contact them as soon as possible
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As there is no fixed timeline for a conveyancing transaction, it is likely that you may have to continue to pay Ground Rent and Service Charges whilst your sale is progressing.
We will arrange with the buyer’s conveyancer to reimburse any overpayments on completion. This is known as ‘apportionments’.
Since 6 April 2020, anyone disposing of a UK property that is not their main residence (such as buy-to-let properties, land, or inherited property), has to report and pay any Capital Gains Tax (CGT) due via GOV. UK.
Between 6 April 2020 and 26 October 2021, this had to be reported within 30 days of completion. As of 27 October 2021, the deadline is 60 days.
If you fail to report and pay your CGT within the 60-day deadline you could receive a late filing penalty and be charged interest.
HMRC wants to support customers to get their Capital Gains Tax right the first time. For further information and how to report and pay on property disposals, please visit the following pages:
Capital Gains Tax: what you pay it on, rates and allowances: https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax
Report and pay your Capital Gains Tax: If you sold a property in the UK on or after 6 April 2020 https://www.gov.uk/report-and-pay-your-capital-gains-tax/if-you-sold-a-property-in-the-uk-on-or-after-6-april-2020
How do I report and pay Capital Gains Tax on property disposals? See this Youtube video by HMRC
Your Existing Mortgage
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You have a legal responsibility to make all monthly payments on your existing mortgage until we have notified you of completion. Do not cancel your arrangements for payment, such as Direct Debits, until after we have confirmed completion of your property transaction.
Mortgage lenders provide redemption statements to us on the basis that you will make all required payments prior to completion. If you fail to make any required payments prior to completion, there may then be a shortfall on your mortgage account. The debt will remain your legal responsibility and it will continue to incur interest. Your lender is likely to refer your details to credit reference agencies until the debt is cleared
On completion of your transaction we shall endeavor to redeem your mortgage on the specified completion day. You will appreciate that there may be occasions when it is not possible to send funds to your mortgage lender upon the day of completion. In the event that we believe that completion may be late in the day and we may be unable to redeem your mortgage, we will calculate and pay an additional day’s interest to your current mortgage lender to ensure that the payment is correct. This will ensure that there is no shortfall on your account in the event that there is an unforeseen delay. If there is an overpayment, your Mortgage Lender will refund any overpayment directly to you or if it is sent to us we will forward the return payment onto you.
If there is anyone living at the property who is over 17 years of age and is not an owner of the property, they are considered an ‘occupier’. You must inform us if there are any occupiers as they will need to consent to the sale of the property by signing the Contract for Sale.
It is imperative that you inform us if you are in a matrimonial dispute with your partner, so that we may take the appropriate steps when selling your property.
It is an integral part of the Contract for Sale that you provide the buyer with vacant possession of the property on completion. This means that you should not leave any items at the property (this includes the lofts, sheds and garages), which you have not previously agreed to be left with the buyer. If you do leave such items, then you may be in breach of contract and may be liable to pay compensation to the buyer for their removal.
Exchange of contracts is the point in the transaction where the agreement to sell the property is legally binding for all parties and the completion date is fixed. At this stage, the buyer’s conveyancer will have undertaken all the necessary legal checks and be satisfied that exchange contracts can take place.
In reality, exchange of contracts typically occurs over the phone. Your conveyancer will obtain your authority and instructions regarding a completion date and will then speak to the buyer’s conveyancer to confirm exchange. Once your conveyancer has told you that contracts have been exchanged, you can confirm the completion date with your removal company and utility providers.
Once contracts have been exchanged and the completion date is fixed, you should arrange to have final readings taken by your electricity, gas and telephone suppliers and advise them of your change of address so the final accounts can be sent directly to you.
You will also need to notify the Water Authority and your Local Council of the completion date so that they can provide you with a refund if you have made an overpayment.
You may also wish to re-direct your mail. The relevant forms can be found at the Post Office or you can phone the Redirection Service on 08457 740740 or online at www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redirection
Yes, but we would recommend that you leave sufficient time between exchange and completion. There is no legal commitment between you and the buyer until contracts are exchanged and therefore no certainty that completion will take place on your preferred date or at all. If you instruct your conveyancer to exchange and complete on the same day, you will have to make plans and incur costs with no certainty that it will happen.
If exchange of contracts and completion occur within 5 working days then our expedited property transaction fee of £150 plus VAT will apply.
When do I cancel my buildings insurance policy?
The buyer will be responsible for ensuring the property immediately following exchange of contracts. However, as we do not see a copy of the purchaser’s policy, we would suggest retaining your existing insurance until the completion date. Your mortgage company might also stipulate that you are responsible for insuring the property up to completion
When will I receive the deposit?
On exchange, your contract will specify that a 10% deposit is payable by the purchaser. In reality, it is likely that the purchaser’s conveyancer will hold the deposit funds and send with the full purchase monies on the day of completion.
For some buyers, a 10% deposit may not be possible, for example if they’re having a 95% mortgage or have equity in their sale property. By instructing us on the sale of your property you are confirming that we may accept less than a 10% deposit. Our Contract for Sale will stipulate that a full 10% deposit will be payable by the purchaser if they fail to complete the transaction. Although we provide no guarantee that you will be able to recover the full 10% deposit from your purchaser if the full deposit is not provided on exchange.
What happens on the completion day?
On the day of completion, the buyer’s conveyancer will send the purchase monies to us. Once we receive the funds, the buyer will become the legal owner of the property and you will need to vacate and hand your keys to the buyer/estate agent. We will redeem your mortgage, pay any Estate Agents fees and any third party fees on the day of completion. We will endeavour to send to you your proceeds of sale within 3 working days of completion.
When can the buyer access the property?
Normally, the purchaser cannot gain access to the property they are buying either to carry out work, or to go into occupation, until completion. Completion does not take place until we have gone through all of the legal formalities and received the sale money from the buyer’s Conveyancers. It is most important that you should never hand over a key to your buyer without speaking to us first.
Will my file be archived?
All client’s files will be retained and electronically stored following completion and will be retained for a period of 6 years on a sale transaction or 15 years for a purchase or Remortgage transaction as per our regulatory requirements. Electronic copies of your transaction file are useful for future reference. Clients have the option of paying a fee on completion of £45.00 plus VAT to receive an electronic copy of their Transfer Deed following completion. Alternatively, clients may request a copy of their file of papers from our Electronic File Archive facility at any point in the future at a cost of £150.00 plus VAT per file.
Conclusion
It is our policy at Convey Law to provide you with a service of the highest standard at all times. We hope that this guide has answered many of your questions relating to your property transaction. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We accept the signature on your Welcome Pack as consent to all of the terms and conditions outlined in this document.
