Selling a Home

“Disbursements” are expenses related to your transaction which are payable to third parties, such as Land Registry Fees. These will be the same regardless of which legal firm handles your matter. We arrange payment of these expenses on your behalf.

If the Title to your property is registered at HM Land Registry there will be a fee payable to them to obtain an official copy of the register. The present fee is £7.20 including VAT.

If the property is Leasehold, we will need to obtain an information pack from your managing agents to forward to your purchaser. The cost will vary depending on the Managing Agent or Freeholder and can only be determined during the transaction, but will typically range between £150 and £350 including VAT.

Also for Leasehold properties there are likely to be Notice Fees, Ground Rent and Management Charges to be paid on completion. Similarly these costs will only be determined during the transaction, but can range between £100 and £500 including VAT where applicable.

The precise stages involved in sale of a residential property vary according to the circumstances however the following is a guide to the key stages involved:

1. We will take your instructions and give you initial advice
2. We obtain title deeds from deeds holder or official copies of the title register from HM Land Registry and details of the amount outstanding on any existing mortgage
3. We prepare the contract documents and send to the buyer’s conveyancer
4. We respond to any pre-contract enquiries from the buyer’s conveyancer
5. You and the buyer agree on a completion date (the date from which you no longer own the property)
6. We exchange contracts with the buyer’s conveyancer which means both parties are then legally committed to the transaction
7. We obtain a settlement figure to repay the outstanding amount on any existing mortgage, if applicable
8. On completion you vacate the property by the agreed time
9. We receive the proceeds of sale from the buyer’s conveyancer
10. We repay the amount owing to the existing mortgage lender, if applicable
11. We pay commission to the estate agent, if one was used and take payment for our costs
12. We transfer all the remaining money from the sale to the you, usually by bank transfer on the day of completion

The average time for a transaction to complete is between 6 and 8 weeks however it can take more or less time depending for example on the number of other parties in the chain. For leasehold properties a time of 8 to 12 weeks is to be expected. I n cases that become unusually complex then a timescale of 3 to 4 months or even longer would not be uncommon. In such situations additional charges may apply, examples of which include (but are not limited to):

• Transactions involving shared ownership
• Leasehold transactions which involve the extension of the lease, purchase of a share of the freehold, obtaining freeholder consent or the grant of new lease
• Where a defect in title is identified
• Missing or absentee landlords
• Expedited transactions

We will always inform you if any unforeseen additional work becomes necessary and detail its estimated cost in writing before any extra charges or expenses are incurred.