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Balfour+Manson

Selling your home? Top 8 issues to consider

There are a number of issues you need to consider and information which you need to ingather to allow the whole process to proceed smoothly. It is useful for you to locate the necessary information or to consider your instructions on the following issues.

1. Your Title Deeds

We will need to obtain your title deeds as soon as possible. If these are with your lender, then we will require a note of the lender and your mortgage account number. If they are held by another firm of solicitors, then please provide relevant details and we will prepare an appropriate Mandate.

The title deeds are ordered at a very early stage to ensure firstly, that they are complete and secondly, to instruct the necessary pre-registration enquiries which are appropriate should your title still be recorded under the old Sasine system.

Any subsequent sale will trigger an Application for First Registration in the new Land Registration regime and an early instruction of the pre-registration reports allows us additional time to rectify any matters which might hinder the first registration process.

2. Alteration Documentation and Planning Permission

If you separately hold planning permission and listed building consent, warranted plans, building warrant and completion certificate for any alterations which you have carried out to the property or alternatively correspondence confirming that such consents were not required for alterations, then these should be forwarded to us as soon as possible.

If the alterations are in excess of 20 years and you do not have the relevant consents, then any tradesmen receipts or other documentation which evidences the age of the alterations should be forwarded to us so that they can be made available to the surveyor when he carries out the Home Report.

3. Specialist Timber Treatments

If you separately hold timber specialist documentation for damp-proof courses, the eradication of rising damp, wet rot, dry rot or woodworm then please arrange for the original specification/estimate/report for the works carried out and any subsequent guarantees to be forwarded to us as soon as possible.

Again these will be made available to the surveyor when he carries out the Home Report.

4. Guarantees

If you separately hold any guarantees for electrical, plumbing, replacement windows or roof work then these should be forwarded to us for placing with the title deeds.

5. Property Questionnaire

As part of the sale process a Home Report will be prepared which includes the completion of a Property Questionnaire. Please go through the Questionnaire and gather all the relevant information that will be required to correctly complete this.

Our Sales Team will liaise with you and provide you with an electronic version which is capable of being completed online.

Any of the questions regarding liability can be referred to our Conveyancing Team who will be able to answer the questions regarding liability from the terms of the titles.

6. Viewing

Please consider the showing of the property. We would generally recommend there be some open viewing most normally Sunday afternoons between 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Otherwise the viewing will be by appointment.

If you are not resident in the property or will be unavailable, then we can arrange for our trusted viewing agency to host any viewings on your behalf. Please factor in any holiday absences and notify our Property Team in advance should you require any viewing covered during that period.

7. Keys and Access

We normally prefer to have a set of keys to the property to allow the surveyor, photographer and floor plan providers access should the property be vacant. Please ensure that you provide appropriate instructions in relation to any burglar alarm system.

8. Insurance Requirements

If the property being sold is vacant then we would recommend you double-check the requirements in relation to heating and periodic checking which may be required by your building insurance providers.

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