House Sale Online

House Sales UK is not a single discipline. A separate legal code operates in England and Wales on the one hand and Scotland on the other.

The first thing you undeniably need before you even start the “Buy house” or “Sell my house” process in either England and Wales or Scotland, is a good solicitor with an excellent reputation in conveyancing. Personal recommendation is the best way to find one or you could simply contact the Law Society.

Next, unless you’re fortunate enough to have the money ready to buy a property, you will certainly have to have a mortgage in place. All the High Street Banks and the few remaining Building Societies will provide mortgage in principle agreements showing that, subject to valuation and status, you are a guaranteed a loan up to a fixed amount.
A mortgage in principle and your solicitor’s details will show the vendor that you are serious, and so will speed up the process.

If you’re selling your property; ensure that the prospective purchasers have already sorted out these 2 extremely basic steps. If they haven’t you’ll almost certainly be wasting your time.

Once you’ve picked a property you want to buy, and agreed the price, you instruct your solicitor to draw up a Buy my house contract, and the vendor’s solicitors in co-operation draws up a property sales contract. When everything is agreed the contracts are “exchanged” between the solicitors, and the buyer’s solicitor transfers a deposit of usually ten percent of the total agreed property price to the Seller’s solicitor.

Once the contracts have been exchanged, the Seller is legally bound to “Sell my house” at the agreed price, and subject to the terms & conditions of the contract. At the same time, the purchaser is bound to “Buy house” on the same terms. If the purchaser backs out or cannot complete the deal, he forfeits the deposit. If the Seller fails to complete the deal he can be sued for damages.

From this time on, the deal is fixed, and the purchaser can’t be “gazumped” (that is where another purchaser suddenly appears and offers more money), nor can the Seller be “gazundered” (where the purchaser suddenly decides to pay a lower price that that agreed in the exchanged contracts.

The final step is to organise completion. This is where the remaining cash passes from the purchaser’s to the Seller’s solicitor, and the change of ownership becomes effective. This step can be on the same day as exchange, but most solicitors prefer to have a few days gap between the two steps.