Selling for first time

david_navigator

My Mum has recently moved in to a nursing home and I'm going to have to sell her house (I have PoA).
I've never sold a house before so I was wondering what paperwork I need to find ?
I have an upto date EPC and the certificate from when the boiler was replaced a couple of years ago.
Although my parents lived in the house for 60 odd years they never had any building work done, other than maintenance, so there's no building reg/planning stuff to find, but what about bills for maintenance - reroofing, damp proof injection etc etc - is the purchaser going to want copies of these and if so how far do I go back ? I've got boxes of bills (unsorted) going back to when they first bought the house in 1965 !!!

One other thing, they gave away a small (8' x 6') corner of the garden to the neighbours probably 30 years ago - no paperwork was done. No one but me (and the original deeds) will know about this. Is it likely to cause a problem and if so, what would be the best way to deal with it. The neighbours have changed several times and the land isn't obviously part of ours to look at (it was a dog leg that protruded in to their garden). I'm happy for the neighbours to keep it.

Thanks
David

TroubledTarts

You have the basics all sorted up to date EPC and as it is your first time go through an established estate agent and good solicitor and they can guide you through it all

SiliconChip

If you have the time and patience it might be worth looking through the boxes to try to find paperwork relating to major items such as the new roof. But you're in a good position to simply say that you don't know to any such questions.

The garden could be more of an issue. While only you know about it now that's not going to be the case once a potential buyer's solicitor starts to look at the deeds, and it could scupper a sale. I'd be tempted to get together with the current neighbours and if they want to retain the land make a formal sale to them for £1. I think that's likely to need the whole property to be registered with @Land_Registry first and then do the transfer, hopefully they'll see this and offer advice.

gwynlas

You appear to have a good idea of what to look for, many sellers have to deal with sales through probate and have little idea of the homes history.

Read about selling on here, from what you have said the house sounds as though it might need updating so find a good local agent, having got quotes from 3  and let  them do their job.

What you need to do is remove all personal effects and ensure the house is as presentable as possible prior to valuation and photographs. First impressions count even to agents, Ask their advice about furniture, some buyers cannot visualise if beds or sofas will fit..

You or a trusted neighbour need to keep an eye on the place regarding security services etc as agents will not take responsibility regarding burst pipes or whatever

Land_Registry

SiliconChip said:

If you have the time and patience it might be worth looking through the boxes to try to find paperwork relating to major items such as the new roof. But you're in a good position to simply say that you don't know to any such questions.

The garden could be more of an issue. While only you know about it now that's not going to be the case once a potential buyer's solicitor starts to look at the deeds, and it could scupper a sale. I'd be tempted to get together with the current neighbours and if they want to retain the land make a formal sale to them for £1. I think that's likely to need the whole property to be registered with @Land_Registry first and then do the transfer, hopefully they'll see this and offer advice.

The extra land becomes a problem if the buyer identifies the fact that you own it but it's now part of next door's fenced extent - if they don't spot it then it's still a problem but most likely for them or the neighbour further down the line.
You don't say if the property is registered or not and I suspect it's not if owned for 60 years - if so then the buyer (especially if they have a mortgage) are most likely to ask you to register it first before they'll complete
If that's the case and they do then applying to register just the property less the extra land is one option. The registration of the extra land is then just the neighbour's to sort out.
Whatever you decide the extra land is a complication and how you resolve that will come down to your own approach and/or of course how any buyer or the neighbour also views things

FlorayG

Do the current neighbours even know that they don't legally own that bit?

Albermarle

 but what about bills for maintenance - reroofing, damp proof injection etc etc - is the purchaser going to want copies 

It is possible that the purchasers solicitor may ask questions like this.
The standard answer ( especially if it is not your property) is 'don't know' . Normally they just have to be happy with that.

p00hsticks

david_navigator said:

Although my parents lived in the house for 60 odd years 

Have you checked to see if the property has ever been entered onto the electronic Land Registry ? As your parents have owned it for that length of time it may not be, (although I found that my parents house had been added at the later point in which they finished paying off their mortgage). 

If it isn't registered then you'll need to ensure that  you have all the original paper title deeds both to show the buyer than your parent own the property and to enable any buyer's conveyancer to make a first registration as part of the sale process

david_navigator

Thanks for all the advice. The property is registered with the Land Registry I sorted it out earlier this year and they were happy to expedite the registration. 
The house is in reasonably good condition and has been kept modern internally. Have already signed up to an Estate agent - saw 5 in total, 2 with a view to renting it out (I have 30 years experience doing this elsewhere) and 3 with regard to selling. Decided against renting as effective ROI was very poor considering the value of the property to sell.
Of the three remaining, two gave me a lot of confidence but one really wants the prestige of selling the house, so has offered me a very competitive rate and with just a 28 day notice period to break the contract. Their stylist has been to advise on what to leave and what to remove before photos - so that was very useful. They're recommending waiting another 5 weeks before we do that so that the garden is starting to bloom - the house is perfectly set in the middle of the plot so has garden on all four sides, which is fantastically attractive.
Neighbours are keeping an eye on the house, I also have remote security cameras. My sister lives nearby so she pops in most days to check everything is ok internally.

I'm pretty sure that the current neighbours have no idea about the land. Many years ago there was a brick potting shed which had it's front in line with the fence and the rest of the potting shed was behind the fence "in their garden". The potting shed fell down about 30 or 40 years ago and my mum had it cleared away and bricked up the entrance. 
I'm going to go and find the deeds now to double check exactly how it's shown.

SiliconChip

david_navigator said:

I'm going to go and find the deeds now to double check exactly how it's shown.

I'm surprised you didn't take the opportunity to resolve this when you registered the property. Having done so I'm not sure that checking the deeds will achieve anything, as what's registered is what matters now, and presumably that reflected what the deeds said anyway (and if it didn't then that's yet another thing to be sorted out).