Moving House

• 1st Solicitors will deal with the legal process from start to finish.
  To help those who are new to property matters we have prepared some useful guides.
  Check out our useful guides to the steps in the process and our glossary of terms used.
• 1st Solicitors can also supply your Home Information Pack.
• Whether buying a new home or a buy-to-let property, we can handle all aspects of the transaction for you.

Selling Your House - A guide to the process

After you have instructed our firm we will:

1. Send you a client care letter confirming your instructions and our terms of business
2. 2. Send to you for completion:
   Fixtures, Fittings & Contents Form, Property Information Form and Leasehold property Information Form (if applicable)
3. Obtain your Title Deeds and Land Registry office copies.
   On leasehold property we will also ask your management company for the last 3 years service charge account, their projected expenditure for the next 12 months, building insurance details and a copy of the lease.
4. Prepare the draft contract.
5. Compile a contract pack & send it to your purchaser's Solicitor.
6. Answer any queries raised by your purchaser's Solicitor about the regarding the property after consulting you.
7. Send you the finalised contract for signing
8. Swap signed contracts with your purchaser's conveyancing solicitor. This is known as exchange of contracts. The next stage is completion. This is the date when you will cease to own the property.
9. On the completion date the purchaser’s solicitors will hand over the balance of the purchase money. When all the purchase money is received we will release the keys to the new owners.

Buying Your House - A guide to the process

After you have instructed our firm, we will:

1. Send you a client care letter confirming your instructions and our terms of business.
2. Apply for the property searches, which include:

• Local Authority Search
• Water and Drainage Search
• Environmental Search
• Coal Search (depending on the location of the property)

We will analyse the results when received and report back to you.

3. Investigate the title of the property you are buying, reporting our findings to you
4. Raise any enquiries regarding the property with the Vendor’s Solicitors
5. Receive your mortgage offer
6. When all property searches have been received, all enquiries answered and your mortgage offer in, we will exchange contracts and set the completion date
7. Undertake pre-completion searches
8. Request your mortgage funds from your lender and any further balance to complete from you
9. Upon completion we will send the purchase money over to the Vendor’s Solicitors. When the Vendors Solicitors have received the money, keys will be released
10. You now own the property!

Please note that if you are selling and purchasing a property at the same time we will synchronize the two transactions so that the day you cease to be the owner of the property is the same day that you become the owner of the property you are purchasing.