Usually, your solicitor will assist in preparing the necessary documents for a home sale. However, it is also useful to know what goes into the paperwork and what you may need to prepare even before hiring a solicitor or a real estate agent.
Before you enlist the services of a solicitor, you will have to prepare documents such as your financial records, tax records and the legal description of your property. The contractual part of the home selling process itself consists of two steps. The first part is the Option to Purchase. In the Option to Purchase, which will be prepared for you by your solicitor, details such as the validity period will be expressed in the contract.
When the prospective buyer decides to exercise his or her Option to Purchase and to buy your property, you may request to see the buyer’s loan approval letters from the bank, if he or she is planning to finance the purchase of the property using a loan. At this point, you may also need to prepare proof of house inspection, in case your buyer asks for details regarding the building’s structural stability, and ready the title deed to be handed over to the buyer to complete the sale.
In the second half of the contractual stage, the solicitors usually take over to complete the sale.
• A precise legal description of the property being sold must be included in the real estate agreement. This description should be as detailed as possible and should make mention of the legal identification of the property.
• The purchase price should be explicitly stated in the agreement, by appearing in both text and numbers so as to avoid potential confusion.
• Information about the mortgage used by the buyer should also be present in the agreement, along with any contingencies. Contingencies should be declared, especially with regard to loan approval.
• The agreement should include a specific closing date, by which both parties technically must seal the deal. An extension to this deadline cannot be made unless both parties agree.
• The full and correct names of both parties must be stated clearly. This includes hyphens and any designations which either party might be using. While seemingly trivial, this is actually rather important.