When you sell your home, you will need enough money to pay off the remainder of your mortgage, if you have one. You should speak with your lender or broker to find out how much you owe, including any possible penalties for early repayment.

In addition, when selling, you may also need to pay:

• any other outstanding debts secured against the property

• estate agent fees

• legal fees and associated costs (e.g., Land Registry fees)

• removal costs

• capital gains tax that may be due if the property is not your primary home

While it is currently a rare problem, you may find that you are in negative equity. This means your home is worth less than the amount you owe your mortgage provider, and so you may not want to sell your home as you will still be liable for the outstanding balance. 

However, if you really want to move, lenders may consider allowing you to transfer the debt to a new property, but you must speak to them as soon as possible to discuss your options and then tell us what has been agreed.

Even before you put your property on the market, it is a good idea to get all relevant paperwork together to help avoid future delays. 

One thing you will need at the outset is a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). If you bought your home recently it will have an EPC, as EPCs are valid for 10 years (provided you have not done anything to affect the rating – if you have you will need a new one). EPCs are documents of public record and can be viewed on the EPC Register (https://wwwepcregister.com/reportSearchAddressByPostcode.html)

Other paperwork you may already have, but which you need to gather includes:

• Copies of HM Land Registry title documents

• Gas checks, completed by a Gas Safe Operative

• Electrical certificates – an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) or  NAPIT or NICEIC certificate/report from a registered electrical competent person

• FENSA or CERTAS certificates for any replacement windows and doors

• Planning permissions for any works carried out that needed planning approval

• Building regulations completion certificates and builder’s guarantee certificates for alterations or additions

• Subsidence guarantees/warranties

• Damp proof guarantees/warranties

• If a listed building, listed building consent for interior and exterior works

• If your home is in a conservation area, conservation area consent for works

• Japanese knotweed management plans (if relevant)

• Asbestos survey reports (if relevant)

• Party wall agreements (if relevant)

• Any defective title insurance documents that you may have taken out to solve defects

NOTE: some of the above documents you may already have received when you purchased your property.

It is worth asking your conveyancer to check your property title as soon as you decide to sell so that any issues can be identified and resolved before you even find a buyer.

Estate agents, legal representatives and mortgage lenders are required by law to check your identity to protect against money laundering. You will need to provide them with proof of identity (including photographic ID) and proof of your home address.

Get the documentation that you will need together to speed up the conveyancing process. You will need:

• Proof of identity document – e.g., full passport or photocard driving licence. 

• Proof of home address – e.g., photocard driving licence, bank statement or utility bill (not more than 3 months old) 

NOTE: Notwithstanding you provide evidence of your identity and home address (as above), these days conveyancers are also required to undertake electronic ID checks with an external provider to verify the information supplied. The cost of such checks will be notified to you in advance but must be borne by you. 

If you are selling a property which is not your main residence (such as a rental property) you will be asked to supply additional information that links you to the address in questions – e.g., utility bills.

A conveyancer is a legal professional whose role is to do the legal work of transferring the ownership of your home from you to the buyer. You should choose your legal representative shortly before you put your home on the market or as soon as possible once your property is up for sale, as it will reduce delays.

There are various legal professionals who are qualified to carry out conveyancing work:

• solicitors

• licensed conveyancers

• chartered legal executives and CILEx practitioners

As a Consultant Solicitor, we carry out our work through Taylor Rose MW, a well-established and professional firm (it ranks in the top 60 law firms in England and Wales). We take a fresh, client-centred approach to service and will make sure your transaction goes through smoothly, with no surprises and will minimum fuss.

We will also let you have an estimate of the legal fees and other costs and disbursements associated with the transaction so you are fully in the picture of what the conveyancing will cost. 

Once you instruct us to deal with the sale, we will send you a terms of engagement letter to confirm instructions and carry out the ID checks (see earlier in this information note). We will also send you various forms to complete and return to us, including:

• Form TA6 – a property information form
• Form TA10 – a fittings and contents form

• We will contact your estate agent to request a copy of the Memorandum of Sale. In this document your estate agent will set out full details of the property, the parties, the parties’ conveyancers and the purchase price agreed. It may also list other details that reflect what has been agreed between the parties. 

Remember that at this point, neither party is under any legal obligation to the sale. It is only when contracts have been signed and exchanged with your buyer that the transaction becomes legally binding.

• If your property is not registered at HM Land Registry, we will need to be supplied with the title deeds. We may need to request them from your existing lender (if you have a mortgage – note, we will need to know your mortgage roll number) or from your previous law firm who acted when you purchased the property. If your property is registered, we can download official copies of the register and title plan direct from the Land Registry.

• Once we have your title deeds or official copy register entries, we will prepare the title pack for sending to the buyer’s conveyancer.

• We will also prepare the draft contract and collate any supporting documents we need to send them (which you may have supplied to us)

• Once the buyer’s conveyancer has reviewed the title pack, replies to enquiries and draft contract, they may have further enquiries. We will draft replies but ask you to approve them.

• Once the form of contract has been agreed, will report to you on its main terms and conditions and send you a copy to sign and return to us. 

• We will also send you the transfer deed to sign and return to us. This is the document that the buyer’s solicitor will send to the Land Registry following completion to update ownership of the property on the register.

• At the point of exchange of contracts, the transaction becomes legally binding and neither party can then withdraw from the transaction unless there has been a breach of contract by the other party. On exchange, the buyer pays a deposit (usually 10% of the purchase price).

• Following exchange, we will send you a completion statement and bill and ask for your approval to settle the estate agents bill from the proceeds of sale, along with our own bill.

• On the day of completion we will receive the balance purchase monies from the buyer’s solicitors and, upon receipt, we will date the transfer deed. 

• We will inform you that completion has happened and phone the estate agent to authorise release of keys to the buyer.  If there is a mortgage to redeem, we will also attend to this. 

• Following completion we will attend to the following:
• send the title deeds and completed transfer to the buyer’s solicitor
• deal with the net sale proceeds according to your instructions.