Selling Your Property? What documents do we need?

Askews Legal LLP are you local Solicitors in Coventry who can help you with your Conveyancing needs.

Selling and buying property can be one of the most stressful experiences a person may go through. However at Askews we want to make your experience as stress-free and smooth as we can so you may feel excited about moving onto a new chapter of your life.

In order to do this it is a good start to make yourself aware of what documents we are likely to ask for so that when the time comes to instruct us you can be ready and prepared to hit the ground running.

Before we can accept instructions from you we will require proof of ID, and address. This will usually take the form of your driving licence or passport, and a utility bill or bank statement no more than 3 months old. This is so we can satisfy ourselves of your identities for our Anti-Money Laundering requirements and so we can satisfy the purchasers that you are the true owners of the property and have the right to sell it.

We will then send you our Property Information Form and Fittings and Contents Form to complete and return to us. The Fittings and Contents Form details what items will be left at the property – generally fitted furniture such as kitchen counters, bathroom fittings, carpets etc. It will also state what items will be removed from the property. The Property Information Form as the name suggest details important information about the property itself such as who maintains the property boundaries, parking, any building works or insurance claims against the property. It will also detail who the current energy providers are. It is common that enquiries will be raised about the Property Information Form usually in response to Building Regulations. Therefore if you have any Building Regulations Compliance Certificates, FENSA Certificates for windows and doors, or Gassafe Certificates for boilers to name just a few of the common documents, please make these available to us at the earliest opportunity.

It is a legal requirement that an Energy Performance Certificate is provided to the purchasers’ solicitors, this is usually obtained by the Estate Agent or it can be obtained from the EPC Register. This will show the purchaser how energy efficient the property is and will provide an estimate for how much the cost of energy is. It will also detail suggestions for making your home more energy efficient.

If your property is registered with the Land Registry we will be able to obtain Title Documents direct at a cost of £3 per document downloaded. The Title Documents detail the description of the property and its boundaries, who the registered proprietors are (you, the seller), any Charges (usually mortgages) against the property, any rights granted to the owner, any rights reserved to other people (for example rights of way), and restrictive covenants (things you cannot do to the property).

If your property is unregistered we will require the original Title Deeds to the property in order that we may prove to the purchasers that the sellers can sell the property, and provide details of information that would usually be found in the Register of Title as detailed above. We will then put together what is known as an Epitome of Title to send to the purchasers’ solicitors showing the chain of ownership of the property ending with you as the seller.

Once we have obtained these documents we will be able to put together our Contract Pack to send to the purchasers’ solicitors for their approval and to allow them to raise enquiries. If you don’t have all of the documents (such as the Building Certificates) to hand straight away there is no need to worry you may provide them to us at any time during the transaction so long as we have all of the necessary documents prior to completion.

We hope this article provides you with some guidance to what will be needed from you for us to sell your property. Should you have any questions please feel free to contact a member of our Conveyancing team, Coventry based Solicitors who will be happy to discuss any queries with you.

Askews Legal LLP – Solicitors Coventry.