If you want to get the best deal out of selling your home (or any piece of property), conveyancing is the way to go. Conveyancers will help make the entire smoother and easier for you to go through. Conveyancing is the process of legally transferring home ownership from you, the seller, to the buyer. It begins with making an offer and finishes when you hand over the keys to the buyer. The good news is that the process is simpler for sellers than it is for buyers. It is important to understand the steps involved in conveyancing, as you can stay involved throughout the transaction and avoid any unnecessary stress.

First, you have to pick a conveyancer. It is best to instruct a conveyancer as soon as you get an offer on the property as they can start on the paperwork and formalities much sooner and will help prevent any delays. This will help save time and can even let you complete the procedure faster. After this, you will have to complete a number of detailed questionnaires about the property and what you intend to include with the sale. These will be provided to you by your solicitor/conveyancer. The information from these questionnaires is used by your conveyancer is used to draw up a draft of the contract.

These drafts are then sent to the buyer’s’ conveyancer for approval. Both parties then enter into negotiations. They decide on things such as the date of completion, if the fixtures and fittings will be included in the sale price and if so which ones, how much they will pay for the other fittings and furnishing and if there are other issues that have to be settled. During this time the buyer will also have several surveys conducted by their conveyancer. If the survey shows up anything major – for example, if there is need for significant roof repairs – you may have to negotiate over who will fix this or even compromise over the sale price. Moreover, you also have to plan to pay off your mortgage. This means you have to ask the company for a redemption figure. This is the amount you have to pay them after the sale is completed.

After you you and the buyer have agreed on a date and time, you will exchange the contracts. At that time your solicitor or conveyancer will exchange contracts for you. Both conveyancers check to see that both the contracts are identical and then send them to each other. After the exchange of contracts, you are legally obligated to sell the property to that specific buyer. This means that if the buyer does not complete the purchase, you will probably keep their deposit and moreover, you can also sue them. Furthermore, if you pull out, they can also sue you. In short, you have to sell them your property and cannot accept another offer.

Immediately after the exchange, you should receive a deposit from the buyer, usually 10% of the property price. As the property is yours until completion, you do not need to move out after the exchange of the contracts. However, it is a good idea to start planning your move so you can easily leave right before completion. This makes things less hectic for everyone involved. Moreover, you should check the property before you move ensuring that everything that was on the fixtures and fittings inventory list is still in the property. On the day of completion, you get the rest of the price for the property and hand the keys over to the buyer. Your solicitor/conveyancer will hand over the legal documents that prove ownership. He or she will also pay off any outstanding mortgage on the property using the proceeds from the sale. Once this stage is over, you will have to pay your conveyancer.