Get your house in order
Whilst the housing market is in lockdown, there may be opportunity to get your house in order to speed up selling your home when the restrictions lift.
We believe that if you invest the time now, you could be ready to exchange in as little as two weeks after accepting an offer for a 'simple sale'.
Selling your home can take 8-12 weeks, and sorting out property enquiries often accounts for at least 4-5 weeks of that time frame. Typically we find that up to 50% of sellers have issues with title deeds or planning so don’t make any assumptions. We can also help you in advance with the Property Information forms.
Ways to speed up residential property-based transactions
Registered titles
In theory, the ability to obtain copies of registered titles within minutes lessens the need for preparation. In reality however, it is rarely that straightforward. Often a registered title refers to other documents (which in turn have to be obtained from HM Land Registry) or to consents and certificates that need to be secured before the deal in question can be completed. It is also surprising just how many titles remain unregistered. This is particularly so with rural properties and properties that have not changed hands for many years.
Searches and enquiries
Searches and enquiries can also cause delays particularly when they reveal further documentation, which needs to be reviewed to enable a purchaser’s conveyancer to fully investigate the property concerned. Inevitably copy planning permissions, listed building consent and building regulation approvals will need to be obtained and checked. This process can add weeks to an otherwise straightforward transaction.
Our House in Order offering
In order to address these problems we recognise that now is the perfect time to "get your house in order". We are offering you the opportunity to instruct us now without incurring any upfront legal fees.
By doing this now, we can help you decide how best to deal with any issues or problems we identify to enable you to have all documentation ready to issue when the "deal" is agreed and nothing to pay until you complete.
We will obtain copies of your title deed, review the entries and help you identify any gaps or potential issues that will need to be addressed.
We can also assist you with preparing replies to standard enquires and pulling together the supporting documentation that will inevitably be required. That might include planning permission, listed building consents or building regulation approvals. There may be guarantees and warranties to review. It may be that there are missing title documents. You would be surprised just how often the title plan differs from the position on the ground!
If your property is leasehold, there may also be outstanding consents and approvals that your landlord or management company need to provide, the most common example being for works or alterations that have been done either by you or a predecessor.