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Helping You Sell Your House Privately
We offer just one package to help you sell your house privately, avoiding complication and dilemma – for just £65 the price is fixed, there is no commission or anything else to pay on the sale and your advertising listing will remain in place with us until the property is sold or until you tell us otherwise. Prospective buyers contact you directly either by e-mail and/or phone.
To take advantage of this service and sell your house privately online via the thishome4u.co.uk website visit the sellers section
Whatever your motive for selling your house, in order to ensure a successful outcome, you need to have an effective strategy. The following information about selling your house outlines the selling process, from accepting an offer through to completion, and shows you how to maximise your chances of a smooth and speedy sale.
1. Prepare your property - We have all seen or heard about how you should prepare your home for sale, making your property as appealing as possible to potential buyers is vital to successful selling. Our Top Tips for Selling Your Home suggests some ways.
2. Obtain a Home Information Pack (HIP)
3. Appoint a legal adviser - Although it is possible to do your own conveyancing when selling most types of property, the majority of people use a solicitor or licensed conveyancer. The latter are sometimes, though not always, less expensive than solicitors. So that you are ready for action as soon as you receive a suitable offer, choose your legal adviser in advance. Referrals from satisfied clients are helpful, so ask around. Before entering into any agreement, obtain written confirmation of charges. The selling process, step by step The checklist below outlines the stages involved in selling a property, and shows the likely sequence of events. Note that the introduction of HIPs looks set to change the process slightly. On average, a sale takes around 10 weeks, from receipt of offer to completion. Much depends on such variables as the performance of your solicitor and the purchaser's, how quickly the local authority and Land Registry reply to searches, and the length of any chain. To speed things up, you can, if you wish, make the sale conditional upon exchange of contracts within a stipulated time.
Seller's checklist - The potential purchaser submits an offer direct to you.
1. You either accept the offer, or negotiate
2. When a price is agreed, both sides instruct solicitors
3. If your purchaser's offer is ‘subject to contract', neither side is committed until contracts are exchanged. Your purchaser will probably ask you to remove the property from the market now, but you are not obliged to do so. You may, if you wish, accept a higher offer, though this practice, known as ‘gazumping', is generally frowned upon.
4. If the property is mortgaged, you must provide your solicitor with your lender's details, so that he can obtain the title deeds. If there is no mortgage, you must produce the deeds yourself or be able to tell your solicitor where they are, so he can request them from the holder (a previous lender, for example).
5. Pending receipt of the title deeds, your solicitor will ask you to complete two forms, which he will refer to when drafting the contract: a fixtures, fittings and contents form (containing details of items included in the sale price, those that can be bought as extras, and so on), and a property information form (detailing, among other things, whether your home is connected to all necessary utilities and who is responsible for any perimeter structures, such as fences).
6. When he has obtained and checked the title deeds, your solicitor will prepare a draft contract and send it to your purchaser's solicitor. The draft will contain details of the purchase price, items included in the sale, whether the property is freehold or leasehold, and so on.
7. Arising from the information in the draft contract, it is usual for the purchaser's solicitor to make further enquiries about the property, which your solicitor will discuss with you.
8. While all this is going on, your purchaser and/or his mortgage lender will have commissioned a survey. If the surveyor's report exposes significant shortcomings in your property, the purchaser may ask you to reduce the price to reflect them. Though you are under no obligation to do so, it may be wise to consider the possibility rather than let the deal fall through. Your estate agent or solicitor can advise you.
9. Once any renegotiations have been concluded, both parties are happy with the draft contract, your purchaser's solicitor has received the search results, and, if applicable, your purchaser has obtained a mortgage offer, contracts are exchanged. At this stage, the purchaser pays you a deposit (typically 10 per cent of the purchase price), and a completion date is set.
10. After exchange, neither side can withdraw without paying compensation to the other. Your solicitor will now prepare final accounts for your approval and ask you to sign the conveyance (transfer document). On completion day, you must give the purchaser vacant possession of the property, unless it is being sold subject to a tenancy. Your solicitor will arrange the repayment of any outstanding loans, pay you the balance of the sale proceeds (by cheque or electronic transfer), forward the title deeds to the purchaser's solicitor, and notify the Land Registry of the change of ownership.
After all the hard work, your home is finally sold, so you can sit back, relax and enjoy opening a bottle of something sparkling!
