Steps in preparation of selling your property

If you are considering selling your property, we recommend taking some simple advance steps to ensure that your sale is ready to proceed quickly once you have found a buyer.

  1. Locate any documents relating to the property which you were given when you purchased it and any paperwork you have acquired during your ownership, for example guarantees or warranties, boiler service certificates and any planning or building regulations paperwork for work you have carried out.

If the property is mortgaged, it would also be helpful to have a copy of a recent mortgage statement to hand

  1. Decide which firm of solicitors will be acting for you and instruct them in good time. We often receive instructions to act for the seller of a property only after a sale has already been agreed and the memorandum of sale issued by the estate agents. This means that you are under immediate time pressure to complete the property information forms and collate all of the supporting paperwork about the property as quickly as possible to avoid delaying the transaction.  Instructing your solicitor in advance avoids this problem, not least because we can let you have the standard Law Society Property Information Form in readiness. This form runs to 16 pages and although the questions are relatively self-explanatory, it inevitably takes some time to complete.

By collating your documentation in advance, and instructing your solicitor in readiness, it means that your solicitor is ready to act quickly and issue a comprehensive pack of contract documentation just as soon as a sale has been agreed.

If you need any advice on a property related matter, please contact Carol Scott or Kay Chapman on 01258 840507.