When do contracts get sent out.

jamie_128

Im a bit confused, 8 weeks into the process, ive sold my house and the chap who i sold it too said he hadent recieved his contract yet, he is new to the process and said he signed a few things but doesent think he got a contract.

However he received fixtures and fittings form ages ago and my solicitor states the contract was sent to his solicitor 6 weeks ago.

Searches came back about a week ago for him, and we got sent enquries from his solicitors 2 weeks ago which we answered the next day.

Does the contract get sent out after all this or is likely he has already had the draft contract and signed out without realising?

We got ours for the one we are buying with fixtures and fittings forms and searches all at the same time. That was only recieved a couple of weeks ago.

Bossypants

Most likely his solicitor has the contract, and is reviewing it along with everything else your solicitor sent across. Once your buyer's solicitor is satisfied that everything is in order and all relevant queries have been answered, s/he will 'present' to their client (your buyer), basically walking the client through the solicitor's work and highlighting anything of importance. It's at this point that they will go through the contract your solicitor sent across with their client (your buyer) and have him sign it.

jamie_128

So basically its also at this point more enquries will be raised and potentially cause more delays aswell? I thought we were at the end, such a long process its frustrating!

Bossypants

No, enquiries should be being raised currently. The buyer isn't involved in raising queries, only their solicitor is (if the buyer has something in particular they want confirmed, they should raise it to their solicitor who will query your solicitor). The presentation and signing of contract should only transpire when all (or almost all) of the queries have been answered to the satisfaction of the buyer's solicitor.

jamie_128

That sounds better then. But surely there is a possibility something may flag up that the buyer may want querying further?

What sort of happens next, ive already signed a 'draft contract' for the one im buying, will i need to sign another contract?

And do you sit down with the solicitor to discuss the contract or do they just send it in the post and you basically sign and return it?

AdrianC

jamie_128 wrote: »

Im a bit confused, 8 weeks into the process, ive sold my house and the chap who i sold it too

You haven't sold it yet.
You haven't sold it until completion, but there's a legal promise to buy/sell at exchange...

said he hadent recieved his contract yet, he is new to the process and said he signed a few things but doesent think he got a contract.

He doesn't get it. His solicitor does.

However he received fixtures and fittings form ages ago and my solicitor states the contract was sent to his solicitor 6 weeks ago.

Searches came back about a week ago for him, and we got sent enquries from his solicitors 2 weeks ago which we answered the next day.

So there y'go. His solicitor has received the draft contract, and is working through it on his behalf.

When it's all finalised and ready to sign and exchange, THEN he'll get to scrawl on it. Until then, his scrawl has no meaning.

jamie_128

fair enough im just confused why we recieved a draft contract and he never.

Tiglet2

When you are selling a property, your solicitor will ask you to fill in the protocol forms (fixtures & fittings, property info form etc).

When your solicitor has all the forms to hand, he can draft the contract and send it, with the forms, to the buyer's solicitor.

The buyer's solicitor reviews all the paperwork sent to him and then he would write back to your solicitor with approval of the draft contract along with any enquiries they wish to raise, plus they would draft a transfer for your solicitor's approval.

Once your solicitor receives in writing that the buyer's solicitor has approved the contract, your solicitor can then send the draft contract (now no longer a draft) to you for signature and return.

The buyer's solicitor won't send the approved contract to the buyer to sign, until the seller's solicitor s approves the draft transfer and all the enquiries are satisfactorily answered. This means that the buyer won't sign the contract until much later in the process, when their solicitor is confident that the enquiries are mostly satisfied and they are happy to proceed further.

Flat_Eric

I anticipate your buyer will sign the Contract when he sees his solicitor to sign and go through everything.

jamie_128

is this done face to face or just via email etc?

Surrey_EA

jamie_128 wrote: »

is this done face to face or just via email etc?

Can be either