To complete your purchase and if there is a balance due from you, we will require cleared funds in our bank. If you are paying the balance by telegraphic transfer or CHAPS this will automatically come into our bank account and will be immediately cleared funds.

Alternatively, if you are paying by a cheque we will require 7 working days to clear the funds.

This is the date set for moving. Usually the keys are handed over in the middle of the day set for completion, once the buyer’s solicitors have paid over the purchase price to the seller’s solicitors.

This is also called an agreement. It describes what is being purchased, at what price and by whom. It also sets out terms and conditions and includes obligations of all parties.

On request we prepare a Declaration of Trust setting out the rights of ownership where there are multiple owners who have different shares in the property, e.g. one wants to preserve rights to deposit money.

The Declaration of Trust deals with the equitable interest in the property where the owner’s legal interests are different (e.g. where the owners are holding on trust for others).

The deposit is a payment (usually 10% of the purchase price) paid to (or held to the order of) the seller’s solicitors on exchange of contracts, as a sign of good faith that the buyer is intending to purchase the property.

Sometimes if the sale is in a chain, the deposit passes up the chain from the first time buyer at the beginning to the last seller at the top. Ultimately the deposit will be forfeit if the contract is breached by the buyer after exchange.

Once both sides have signed the contract, and the buyer’s and seller’s solicitors are satisfied there are no outstanding matters for either side, contracts can be exchanged.

The contracts are then sent to the respective solicitors, thereby ‘swapping’ contracts. The contracts are dated the same and a completion day is agreed. This will be the date that you move on and is not negotiable from this time.

The transaction is binding from this point onwards and no party can withdraw from the transaction without penalty. The buyer must insure the property from this day.

A freehold property is one that is not subject to any lease. You will be purchasing the title to the whole of the property and it is yours to own indefinitely.

Joint tenants means that you have a right of survivorship. If one of you was to die the property would automatically transfer into the survivor’s name. Tenants in common means that if you or your partner dies the property will pass under the deceased’s Will or under the intestacy rules if there is no Will.

Joint tenants have equal share of the property, tenants in common can hold the property in equal or unequal shares (for example 50% each or 70% to 30%).

A leasehold property is one that is subject to a lease, limiting ownership to a specific term. Leases vary in length of term. If the property you are buying is leasehold but is not brand new, a transfer document transferring the property from the current owners to yourself will be created which itself is subject to the original lease.

You will therefore be liable to take on all the covenants and terms of that lease. However, if the property you are purchasing is going to be subject to a new lease then a new lease will be created for the transaction which you will have to sign.

You will have to pay ground rent and a service charge every year to the landlord or management company. If you are selling a leasehold property you will be transferring the lease to your new buyer.

This report will set out what you are borrowing and whether it is a repayment or interest only mortgage. Before exchange you will need to sign the mortgage deed promising to repay the loan to your mortgage lender.

We will contact your lender to ensure they release the funds to us in time to complete your purchase. This is done by submitting a certificate of title to your lender, in which we confirm that the property meets the lender’s criteria and is marketable.

Lenders can take as long as 7 working days to release mortgage monies following submission of the certificate of title.

Negative equity means that the mortgage you have on your property is more than the value you will be paid when selling your property.

This means that on completion paying off your mortgage and the cost of selling your house are more than the actual sale price. We will also require the balance of the difference between mortgage (plus costs) and sale price before exchange.

We are required to carry out two searches between exchange and completion:

Priority search – This search gives priority to you or your lender if you are taking out a mortgage and it gives a 30 day window in which no other alterations can be made to the title to your property.

Bankruptcy – To check that there are no bankruptcy or impending bankruptcy claims against you or your partner.

At the outset of your sale we will send to you what we refer to as protocol forms.

• Property Information Form – This form asks questions generally about the property, e.g. disputes with neighbours, boundaries, drainage.
• Fittings and Contents Form – This form asks questions about what is or is not being included in your sale and what will be left at the property.
• Leasehold Information Form (if your property is leasehold) – This form asks questions about the leasehold nature of your property, e.g. who your management company is.

It is worth noting that all of these forms will be relied upon by your buyer. Therefore, you must ensure the answers you give are correct.

If there is a mortgage registered on the title to your property, we will request a redemption statement from your lender. This will show us exactly how much your lender is expecting from us to repay your mortgage.

If you have a fixed interest rate and are repaying your mortgage before your fixed interest period is up, you may be liable to a penalty. On completion we will arrange to pay the lender from the proceeds of sale thereby redeeming your mortgage.

Following completion, the transfer of your property will need to be registered at the HM Land Registry. We will deal with this.

We will submit your transfer, any mortgage deed (if you are having a mortgage) and a Stamp Duty Land Transaction Certificate (to state whether or not there is Stamp Duty payable and if this has been paid) to the Land Registry.

They will then register your transaction amending the title document (the Title Information Document) to the property. It will state you are the proprietors and will also show any mortgage you may have secured against it.

Before exchange of contracts we will write to you with our report in regard to your purchase. This document sets out matters of a legal nature relating to the property and its title. It will require your signature.

We will not proceed to exchange without this signed document.

Once we have your instructions to proceed with your purchase we will need to collect money from you to pay for searches made on your behalf.

We will use a search agency to carry out a local search, a drainage search and an environmental search. Sometimes we will recommend further searches (e.g. a mining search) depending on the property and location.

If you are taking out a mortgage, your lender may insist on searches direct with the local authority.

With shared equity, you will not own the property in conjunction with any other party. This is unlike shared ownership where you own a percentage of the property and the rest is owned by a housing association or similar institution.

Shared equity means you will be taking out more than one loan for the property: a mortgage and an ‘equity loan’.

You will be the only person on the deeds. There is no co‑owner. However, when the property is sold, you will have to repay the loans AND a proportion of any increase in equity of the property to the party making the ‘equity loan’.

This form is a full ‘Self Assessed Tax Return’ relating to the payment of Stamp Duty and Land Tax. If there is no Stamp Duty due on your purchase we are still required to fill out and ensure you sign this form to declare that no Stamp Duty is required.

On completion we submit the form to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and they issue us with a certificate stating that no Stamp Duty was payable or that Stamp Duty has been paid.

This certificate will be sent to the Land Registry along with your transfer document and mortgage deed (if applicable).

This document transfers the title of the property from seller to buyer in accordance with the terms of the contract, i.e. what is being purchased by you and at what price.

Once it is sent to the Land Registry, it will facilitate the transfer of the property to the buyer. Your signature on this document will need witnessing by an independent adult witness.

If there are two needing to sign, both your signatures will need to be witnessed individually. However, this can be done by the same person.