Steps in selling a Property

May 10, 2022

10th May, 2022

-The following are guidelines regarding the sale/transfer of a property from a legal point of view.  We will discuss these in greater depth at our meetings.  However, there are a few points, which should be noted by you; 

-In most cases, there is no contract to sell the property until such time as you have signed the formal written contracts.  It is imperative, therefore, that you do not sign any documents relating to the property without them first being approved by your solicitor. Until such time as the purchaser has signed and returned the contract to us AND you have signed the contract, the purchaser (in most cases) will be able to pull out of the sale. The purchaser may have given a booking deposit to the Auctioneer but generally this is refundable to the purchaser.

-The basic procedure for the sale/purchase/transfer of property is as follows:‑

(1) The Vendor’s Solicitor is instructed that the property has been sold by receiving a Sales Advice Note from the auctioneer (or receives vendor’s direct instructions) and Vendor’s Solicitor writes to Vendor’s Bank to take up the title Deeds i.e. documents relating to proof of ownership of property (this takes up to 6 weeks on average);

(2) Upon receiving these title deeds, the Vendor’s Solicitor reads them and writes up the contracts, which are then sent to Purchaser’s Solicitor with a copy of the title deeds and also the answers to a long set of standard legal property questions (called Requisitions on Title) (further 1 week);

(3) The Purchaser’s Solicitors may raise queries in relation to the title deeds and other matters to which the Vendor’s Solicitor will reply (say 2 weeks);

(4) When Purchaser’s Solicitors are satisfied with replies to their legal queries and received instructions to proceed, the Purchaser signs contracts and the Purchaser’s solicitor returns them to Vendor’s Solicitor with a deposit(a further 2/3 weeks);

(5)  The Vendor’s Solicitor asks Vendor to call and contracts are signed by the Vendor and one contract is returned to the Purchaser’s solicitor; with closing date being set (ONLY NOW is legal agreement in place – generally no-one can pull out of the deal!!)

(6)  The Purchaser’s Solicitor sends list of what is required to complete the deal;

(7)  The Vendor’s Solicitor replies;

(8)  The Vendor’s Solicitor approves the Deed of transfer of property to the Purchaser, which has been drafted by the other side, and arrangements are made for closing;

(9) Purchaser’s Solicitor arranges to get money from Purchaser and/or from the Purchaser’s bank (i.e. mortgage) by giving that bank the Solicitor’s own personal guarantee (known as an Undertaking) that all paperwork is in order and that the Solicitor will finalise ownership process;

(10) Purchaser’s solicitor sends balance of all outstanding monies to Vendor’s solicitor and Vendor’s solicitor sends all legal documents required for completion to the Purchaser’s solicitor;

(11)  Closing date agreed/arrived upon, on which day the Purchaser’s solicitor carries out a variety of searches against the property and it’s owners and if all is ok then keys and vacant possession of property handed over to purchaser;

(12) Vendor’s Solicitor discharges mortgage with Bank; balance less costs paid to Vendors;

(13) Purchaser Solicitor receives payment of their legal bill and then pays stamp duty to Revenue (to be done within 30 days of completion to avoid interest and penalties), and then sends stamped deed of transfer (and other documents) to Property Registration Authority of Ireland for the Deeds to be officially changed into Purchaser’s name (can take up to 18 months for this);

(14) Deeds given to Purchaser or if there is mortgage, to Purchaser’s Bank.

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