House selling/buying process breakdown

househelp76

We are selling our house and struggling to find clear information on a breakdown of the steps you need to take when selling and buying a house. So far we've had valuations and are getting ready to list the property with our preferred estate agent over the next couple of weeks.

So we're prepared for the next steps, could anyone help confirm:

• When you instruct a conveyancer to handle the sale - do you do this as soon as you accept an offer, or only when you have also had an offer accepted on a new house?
• Do you need an AIP to put an offer in on a house, if you're selling your current home? If so, when's best to get this when selling/buying? We'll be porting our mortgage and needing to borrow more, if that changes anything.

If anyone has a full breakdown of the steps they took when buying/selling, I'd really appreciate it!

Ashworks

This is really good explanation:

https://www.which.co.uk/money/mortgages-and-property/first-time-buyers/buying-a-home/how-to-buy-a-house-alm0r9l4yf5x

Weathergirl_76

Hi there, I am in the process at the moment, at enquiries stage with my sale, and waiting on documents from vendor in relation to my purchase. 

I put my house on the market end of last year, and was hoping to meet the stamp duty deadline so tried to be as prepared as possible, to get a head start. 

Prior to accepting an offer: I obtained quotes and chose a conveyancer to handle my sale (and purchase). I paid them £30 upfront for disbursements relating to my sale and completed fixtures and fittings form and property information form. I confirmed my identity. Just a note: the fixtures and fittings form I had to fill in again because of my onward purchase, so probably best not to complete this until you have found an purchase property and have an offer accepted. 

Once I’d found a property and had offer accepted, I sent a further payment for disbursements for my purchase and my conveyancer got the ball rolling. I don’t know if I saved time, but I saved rushing to fill paperwork in whilst trying to find a house. 

I think having an AIP is beneficial because if you make an offer with one, and someone else makes the same offer (for example) and doesn’t, you are more ahead of them finances wise. They may not be able to get a mortgage. Estate agents will check out chains, so if more than one person makes an offer, they can relay the position of the buyer to the seller.  Mine was valid for 3 months from when it was issued. I did it not long after I put mine on market. 

I got my boiler serviced and chimney swept the week before putting my house on the market. I sent my conveyancer the paperwork for both,  along with FENSA certificates etc right at the beginning, along with any guarantees. I don’t know if this saves time, but makes it less stressful when you have to find a property, you know your sale stuff is more or less done. 

AFF8879

I would find a solicitor as soon as your house goes on the market; it can take a bit of time to compare quotes and find someone you’re happy with; there is also anti-money laundering/ID checks they’ll need to run before they can proceed with the actual conveyancing work. That way, you’ll be ready to go with your solicitors details as soon as you accept an offer, meaning the agent can issue the memorandum of sale more quickly.

There are also some lengthy property information/ fixtures and fittings/ leasehold information (if applicable) forms that you will need to fill in, I actually just sold my flat and completing these forms took a couple of weeks and required a fair amount of digging around for information. So getting a head start on these could easily shave 1-2 weeks off the transaction time once you accept an offer.

Thrugelmir

househelp76 said:

• Do you need an AIP to put an offer in on a house, if you're selling your current home? If so, when's best to get this when selling/buying? We'll be porting our mortgage and needing to borrow more, if that changes anything.

Advisable. As the EA representing the vendor may well require sight of substance behind your offer. 

If you intend to port. Then your lender will be able to provide a list of acceptable conveyancers. Worth getting 2/3 quotes and sounding out family/friends for recommendations prior to making a final decision.  

There's no harm in getting the ball rolling. Once you instruct the EA to list your property.