Housing and Property

Housing and Property

The buying and selling of property is one of the most stressful events clients encounter. Here at CMS we try and make the conveyancing process as simple, speedy, efficient and, more importantly, as helpful as we can. We deal with all types of property, freehold, leasehold, houses, maisonettes, flats and apartments. We offer competitive charges - please contact  rosie.cowley@chamberlainmartin.com at our Bognor office or susan.rutherford@chamberlainmartin.com or sarah.mcgee@chamberlainmartin.com at our Littlehampton office for a quote.  The phone numbers are for our Bognor office 01243 825211 or our Littlehampton office 01903 713814

 

Click here to get a Conveyancing Quote

Pick an office you would prefer to work with:

Selling a Home 

The following information is intended to provide a brief summary of the key steps involved in the conveyancing process, and give guidance on matters which arise. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

1. Questionnaire forms - A number of forms must be completed by the seller and are sent to the buyer's solicitor.  The forms give information about boundaries, disputes, notices, guarantees, services, rights and other matters.

2.  Title deeds - In order to prepare documents the seller's solicitor needs to obtain the title deeds.  It is possible to obtain title documentation from the Land Registry if the title deeds have been registered.  If not, the seller will need to advise us of the location of the title deeds.

3.   Contract papers - The seller's solicitor will draft the contract.  The contract sets out the terms of the sale.  The contract and related paperwork is sent to the buyer's solicitor for approval.

4.    Exchange of contracts - Once all the paperwork is ready and when everyone in the chain has reached the same stage, contracts can be exchanged.  Only then do the parties to the transaction become legally bound to the deal, up to this point it is possible for anyone to pull out without financial penalty, other than the costs that they have incurred themselves.   A deposit, usually 10% of the sale price is paid on exchange of contracts.  When contracts are exchanged, the date of the sale is fixed - this date is known as "completion".  It is essential that the parties should not make any binding arrangements for completion until either contracts have been exchanged or you have cleared the arrangements with us.  It is quite common for the seller or exchange agents to put forward a date for moving/completion which might not be achieved which could lead to distress by both the seller and the buyer. After exchange you will need to make arrangements for moving, we will confirm the amount needed to repay any outstanding mortgage/s and ask your estate agent for their account. We will prepare and send you a completion statement which sets out the finances of the transaction and the balance due to you.  On completion we receive the balance of the sale price, repay any outstanding mortgage/s direct with the lender/s and pay the estate agent's account.
5.  The average sale takes 6-9 week.  Various factors may affect the average time and we will give you further guidance when taking instructions and throughout the process.

Buying a Home

All purchase transactions are different, but they do have certain stages that can be identified:

  1. Taking instructions and providing initial advice.
  2. Verifying your identity
  3. Checking finances are in place to fund the purchase.
  4. Receipt of the contract documents, checking them and providing initial advice.
  5. Requesting the searches.
  6. Obtaining any supplementary planning documents.
  7. Check through the mortgage and any conditions that are imposed.
  8. Report to you on the contract and searches including sending out the contract documents for signing by you.
  9. Advising on joint ownership.
  10. Drafting the Land Registry Transfer document
  11. Liaising with parties to agree a completion date.
  12. Carrying out ore completion searches
  13. Exchanging contracts.
  14. Requesting mortgage funds and requesting any balance due from you.
  15. Completing the purchase.
  16. Notifying the lender that the matter has completed.
  17. Paying the stamp duty land tax.
  18. Submitting the purchase documents to the Land Registry for registration.

Clients often ask how long will the purchase take. This depends on a number of factors, but you are dependent on other parties in the chain doing their bit. The average time is between 6 and 9 weeks,  but leasehold purchases, shared ownership leases, new build properties or lease extensions are examples of matters that most likely will take longer than the average.

Our work includes:

  • Sale and Purchase of freehold property
  • Sale and Purchase of leasehold property
  • New build purchases
  • Rights of way/Easements
  • Mortgages
  • Equity release
  • Shared ownership
  • Transfers of Part
  • Right to Buy purchases
  • Acting for Landlords
  • Lease Extensions

The conveyancing team is made up of a CILEX Legal Executives, Rosie Cowley with excess of 10 years experience and two Solicitors, Sarah McGee with an excess of 5 years experience and Susan Rutherford with over 22 years experience.

DISCLAIMER PLEASE BE AWARE OF CYBER-CRIME. OUR BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS WILL NOT CHANGE DURING THE COURSE OF A TRANSACTION. CHAMBERLAIN MARTIN SOLICITORS WILL NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU TRANSFER MONEY TO A WRONG ACCOUNT.