Settlement:

Completing the Transaction
On the date of entry, there may be a meeting between the two sets of solicitors when the titles and the keys will be delivered in exchange for the purchase price of the property. Sometimes it is possible for the keys to be delivered directly by the seller to the purchaser, which can save a great deal of time and trouble. However, the keys should not be released to the purchaser until such time as the seller's solicitor has confirmed that he has received full payment of the price from the purchaser's solicitors. Once the keys have been handed over to the purchaser, any outstanding disputes may become very difficult to settle.

Dealing with Money
Although the purchaser's solicitors' cheque for the purchase price will usually be paid into the selling solicitors' bank account immediately, it is frequently not possible for the selling solicitor to pay out the net sale proceeds to the seller immediately. The reason for this is that it will take a few days for the purchase cheque to be "cleared" through the banking system and the sums actually credited to the solicitor's bank account. In terms of the Law Society's rules, a solicitor is not supposed to pay out money from his account until the cheque has actually cleared through his account. In normal circumstances, the selling solicitor will make a number of exceptions to this rule. For example, he will usually immediately send his own cheque to repay the seller's outstanding Building Society or Bank loan.

In the case where the sale proceeds are to be used to repay a bridging loan which has been organised with the selling solicitors' own bank account, it will not be possible to transfer the funds into the bridging loan account until the purchase cheque has definitely cleared through the solicitors' own bank account.

Seller's Responsibilities
The seller should arrange for the gas and the electricity meters to be read to avoid future confusion regarding liability for these bills. Most utility companies are happy to take a telephone call with a meter reading. The receipted bills should be retained as they may require to be produced later.

The house should be completely emptied of all furniture and other items no later than the morning of the date of entry as it may well be a condition of the purchaser's offer that the keys should be delivered by a certain time on that date. Prior to the date of entry, the seller will have to sign one or more documents to transfer the title deeds into the purchaser's name. Accordingly, if the seller is likely to be away on holiday or on business for any period of time prior to the date of entry, then he should tell his solicitor this as soon as possible.

Although the seller should arrange for a telephone bill to be prepared as at the date of entry, he should take no steps to have the telephone cut off and should advise the phone company of the change of ownership of the property in the hope that a reconnection charge will not be imposed on the purchaser. It may well be a condition of the purchaser's offer that the seller should take all necessary steps to ensure the line is transferred to the purchaser.

Finally, before the date of entry, the seller must arrange a re-direction of mail with the Royal Mail so that all mail is sent to the new address from the date of entry.

Internal or external alterations/extensions and replacement windows
It is the responsibility of the seller to ensure that all proper documentation is in place for any alterations or extensions which have been carried out to the property. This will include making available to us any building warrant, copies of the plans relating to the building warrant, certificate of completion and any planning permission which may have been obtained.

For replacement windows it will be important to ensure that a certificate is available confirming that the replacement windows comply with building regulations.

It is almost always the case that these will be required as the purchaser's solicitor will have been notified of these alterations etc. by the surveyor acting for the purchaser. Indeed the surveyor acting for the purchaser may well make it a condition of the purchaser obtaining a mortgage from his lender that the certificates are available.

If all certificates etc. are not to hand, then it is usually possible to put in place steps to obtain permissions retrospectively. If we recommend that this is done it is the responsibility of the seller to follow our advice failing which complications can arise in connection with the sale and these complications can sometimes result in a purchaser not proceeding with the purchase at the price which has originally been agreed, or in some cases the whole sale being lost altogether.