Property Sale Guide

We understand that for most of our clients the information that they need when deciding to sell their property is:

• How much will it cost ?
• How long will it take ?
• What is included in the price ?
• What do I need to do next ?

We have set out answers to these questions below.

How much will it cost?

Our fees cover all of the work required to complete the sale of your property, including assisting you in completing the property questionnaires that are required as part of the selling process, liaising with you in relation to any enquiries that are raised by the purchaser’s solicitors and completing the transaction on your behalf.

Our fees are based on the value of the property which is the subject of the transaction as this generally reflects the level of complexity of the legal work required.

Whilst each transaction is different as a guide our fees for a sale of less than £300,000 start at £595 plus VAT and our fees for a sale of over £1 million start at £925 plus VAT.

Our fees cover all of the work required to complete the sale of your property.

In addition to legal fees there are additional expenses that we pay on your behalf in relation to a sale – these are commonly referred to as disbursements. In a straight forward sale we would normally expect that the following additional expenses would be payable:

• Electronic money transfer fee £36 inc VAT (there may be two fees if we are repaying a mortgage upon completion of the sale, and there are also sale proceeds to transfer to you and you elect to have these sent by same day transfer).
• E-Conveyancing fee £30 inc VAT
• ID check fee  £18  per person inc VAT
• Office Copies of the Title Register £6

VAT will be payable upon our legal fees at 20%, so for a sale at under £300,000 our legal fees would be in the region of £714 inclusive of VAT. For a sale under £300,000 our average fees are therefore £768 inclusive of VAT and disbursements. Additional fees may be payable in the following circumstances :

Leasehold property

As there is a large amount of additional work in relation to a leasehold property we may charge an additional fee.  In addition the landlord and management company frequently charge a fee for providing information which may be payable by you depending upon any agreement you make with the purchaser in respect of those fees.

Problems with the title to the Property

Early in your transaction we will review your Title Deeds and if there is anything in them that indicates there might be a difficulty with your sale we will address this with you as early in the transaction as possible.

We will discuss with you any problems and agree the fees that will be payable in respect of fixing that problem, before carrying out any work in relation to such issues on your behalf.

Examples of possible problems with the title to a property are where there is an area of land which is owned and used in connection with the property but is outside the boundaries as shown on any title plans, where the property is accessed by going over adjoining land but there is no specific right within the Title Deeds to pass over that land or where there are covenants affecting the property which may affect the future use and enjoyment of the property.

We will discuss with you any problems and agree the fees that will be payable in respect of fixing that problem, before carrying out any work in relation to such issues on your behalf.

How long will my house sale take?

The length of time that it takes for the sale of a property to actually complete, following an offer being accepted, can depend on a number of factors.  At Baines Bagguley Penhale we work on the basis that we would expect, unless there are any specific complications during the course of the transaction, that the sale would complete within 6 weeks of our receiving your instruction to proceed and, if appropriate, your Title Deeds.

There are, however, a number of issues that can cause delay such as:

• Leasehold Properties – as we need to obtain information from the Landlord and in most cases a management company this does slow down the transaction;
• Unregistered land – where we are instructed in relation to a sale that includes land that has not been registered at the Land Registry it can take an additional period of time to prepare the Contract as we must fully investigate the title from the Title Deeds before the Contract can be prepared;
• Defects in the documents or legal title – if there is a problem with the legal title identified as part of our work in reviewing the legal documents in relation to your property this can cause delays.
• Delays within the chain of transactions – where you are buying as well as selling, or where your buyer is selling as well as buying, all of the transactions in the chain will normally need to complete at the same time. Any delay in any of the transactions will therefore have a knock on effect upon your sale.

Whilst most of these issues are out of our hands and there is little that either you or your estate agent can do to move matters along, delays can cause significant additional stress and worry. We keep our clients updated at all stages of their transaction and as soon as we identify an issue that is likely to delay the moving date we will notify them and discuss the likely length of the delay and any steps that can be taken to reduce the delay to an absolute minimum.

We keep our clients updated at all stages of their transaction and notify them as soon as we identify an issue that is likely to delay the moving date.

Where issues or difficulties within the process are likely to cause additional charges we will notify you immediately and obtain your consent before incurring additional fees.

What is included in the price

Our fixed fees cover all of the usual stages in a sale. Whilst all transactions vary significantly our work will mainly include:-

• Taking your instructions and giving you initial advice;
• Obtaining your Title Deeds, if appropriate, or obtaining copies of the Title Register from the Land Registry;
• Providing you with the appropriate questionnaires, Sellers Property Information Form and Fittings & Contents Form and assisting you in completing them and identifying any documentation that may be needed once you have supplied your replies to those enquiries;
• Preparing the Contract documentation and the associated documents and submitting these to the purchaser’s solicitors;
• Receiving any enquiries from the purchaser’s solicitors and liaising with you to obtain your replies to the same;
• Liaising with yourself and the purchaser’s solicitors to arrange dates for completion of the transaction;
• Advising you in relation to the terms of the Contract and the Transfer Deed and arranging your signature to both documents;
• Facilitating the completion of the sale of your behalf;
• Exchanging contracts and notifying you that this has happened
• Redeeming any mortgage that is secured against the property and submitting any sale proceeds to yourselves.

We will only raise additional charges where additional work is required that is in addition to the work involved within a standard transaction. This might be where:

• You require advice in relation to any tax that may be payable as a result of the sale;
• Where the property is being sold after someone has passed away and we are requested to divide the sale proceeds in accordance with the terms of a Will;
• In leasehold transactions, where additional documentation is required by the Landlord or Managing Company which we are requested/required to prepare;
• Where there are problems with the title this might require additional work to remedy this issue.

We will always discuss and agree with you any additional charges before carrying out any additional work outside of the work covered by our fixed fee.

What do I need to do next ?

If you would like to get a quote for our legal fees please click here. We will then contact you to obtain further information if appropriate and then provide a quotation in respect of the fees and expenses that are likely to be payable in relation to your sale. Alternatively if you would like to discuss your sale with a member of our property team please contact us. We will be happy to discuss with you your specific transaction and answer any questions you have in relation to the process.