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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 absolutely must have before you even begin the “Buy my house” or “Sell my house” process in either England and Wales or Scotland, is a good solicitor with an excellent reputation for conveyancing. Personal recommendation is the best way to find one or you could always contact the Law Society.
Next, unless you’re lucky enough to have the cash ready to buy the house, you will certainly have to have a mortgage sorted out. All the High Street Banks and the few remaining Building Societies will offer 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 persuade the vendor that you are serious, and so should speed up the process.
If you’re selling your house; ensure that the prospective buyers have already sorted out these 2 very basic steps. If they haven’t you’ll almost certainly be wasting your time.
Once you’ve seen a house you want to have, and agreed the price, you instruct your solicitor to draw up a Buy my home contract, and the vendor’s solicitors in co-operation draws up a house 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 house price to the Vendor’s solicitor.
Once the contracts have been exchanged, the Vendor is legally committed to “Sell my house” at the agreed price, and subject to the terms & conditions of the contract. Conversely, the purchaser is committed to “Buy my house” on the same terms. If the purchaser backs out or cannot complete the deal, he forfeits the deposit. If the Vendor fails to complete the deal he can be sued for damages.
From this moment 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 Vendor be “gazundered” (where the purchaser suddenly decides to pay a lower price that that agreed in the exchanged contracts.
The final step is to arrange completion. This is where the remaining cash is transferred from the purchaser’s to the Vendor’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.
