Sellers' legal preparation

Selling a home involves a legal process, known as conveyancing, to transfer ownership of the property to the buyer. All the legal documents relating to the property and the local area need to be carefully checked. You also need to agree exactly what is included in the sale before preparing the contracts. Most people hire a solicitor to do this.

How long it will take

It often takes a month or two before contracts can be exchanged. However, delays may occur at any stage in the process. If you are selling your current home to buy somewhere else, there will also be legal work involved in buying your new home. It is usually simpler to get one solicitor to handle both the sale of your current home and the purchase of your new one.

Whether to use a solicitor

It's possible to do the legal work involved in selling your home yourself and there are self-help books available. However, this can be complicated, and if you don't have legal experience, it's usually less risky to hire someone as a legal adviser (as you could make very costly mistakes). This is usually a solicitor but it's possible to use a licensed conveyancer instead. You can check with the Council for Licensed Conveyancers to see whether a particular conveyancer is registered.

Your lender or estate agent may be able to provide a list of solicitors for you to choose from. You can get details of other solicitors from the Law Society, or a list of conveyancers from the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. Fees vary, so it's worth shopping around to get a few estimates and check whether VAT and expenses (disbursements) are included. You should also check whether your mortgage lender is happy to use the same solicitor/conveyancer to do the legal work involved in your mortgage. This can help to keep the costs as low as possible.

Securing the sale

At any point during the negotiations, the buyer could pull out. This is permissible until contracts have been exchanged. To avoid this happening, you may be able to persuade the buyer to sign a legal agreement saying that the sale can't be called off as long as you exchange within a certain amount of time. Ask your solicitor if you want to arrange this sort of agreement. There will probably be extra legal fees and/or a deposit involved and the buyer doesn't have to agree to it.

Checking the documentation

The first thing your solicitor will do is give the legal documents that show you own the property (the title deeds or Land Registry entry) to the buyer's solicitor. The buyer's solicitor will carefully examine these documents to make sure everything is correct and that you have the right to go ahead with the sale.

If the property you are selling is leasehold (which includes most flats), the buyer's solicitor will also need to check the lease carefully. This will include checking:

• how much the ground rent is
• who has to arrange (and pay for) insuring the building
• how service charges (for repairs and maintenance) are calculated
• whether service charges and ground rent can be increased, and if so, how
• whether the buyer will have to contribute to any expensive repairs that have already been carried out (such as replacing windows or repairing a lift)
• who is responsible for maintaining the building's structure and shared areas.

If there is a major problem with the lease or the title deeds, the buyer may insist that it is sorted out before contracts are exchanged. This might mean you have to correct the legal documentation or sort out a dispute over who is responsible for repairs. This could cause delays. Ask your solicitor to explain anything you don't understand.

Information you have to provide

The buyer's solicitor will also ask you - or your solicitor - certain questions (pre-contract enquiries). This normally includes whether you have had problems with the neighbours, such as noise or disagreements about parking. If the property includes land (such as a garden), the buyer's solicitor will also want to know where the property boundaries are, and who is responsible for maintaining them. If this isn't clear, you may be asked to sort it out before you exchange contracts.

You have to answer these questions truthfully. Sellers have been successfully sued for providing false information.

You also need to agree with the buyer what fixtures and fittings (such as light fittings, carpets or furniture) are included in the sale. You will have to provide a detailed list of what is included in the price. This will become part of the contract. If you later take away things that were included in the price, the buyer can ask for them to be returned or claim compensation. If you leave behind things that weren't part of the sale, the buyer can ask you to remove them.

Local authority searches

Details about the background of the property and the surrounding area need to be checked by your solicitor. This includes checking with the local council that:

• any alterations to the property had proper planning permission
• there are no developments in the surrounding area that could affect the value of the property (such as a road widening scheme)
• public areas (such as the street, pavement and drains) are public and maintained by the council
• whether there are any 'charges' on the property, which mean that money from the sale will be used to pay off money you owe (for example, if bought through a home ownership scheme and have to repay a discount).

Preparing the contract

While the buyer's solicitor is checking all the details, your solicitor will prepare the draft contract between you and the buyer. Your solicitor will then negotiate with the buyer's solicitor to draw up the final contract. This stage often involves considerable delays, as you may not agree to everything the buyer wants. For example, s/he may want to pay less than the price s/he originally offered or insist that you carry out repairs.

All the conditions of the sale need to be agreed before contracts are exchanged. Your solicitor will normally do most of the negotiating on your behalf, but s/he will need to be in regular contact with you to discuss any changes.

How much it costs

Solicitors and conveyancers charge fees for their work. They are sometimes worked out as a percentage of the value of the property and are sometimes a fixed amount. The amount you have to pay will also vary depending on how much work is involved and whether you are buying somewhere else. You will also have to pay for any disbursements that are part of buying and selling, which might include:

• capital gains tax (if the property you are selling has increased in value and is not your main home)
• Land Registry fees
• local authority search fees
• stamp duty.

You will also have to pay your lender's expenses for the legal work involved in your mortgage. If your lender has agreed to use the same solicitor to do the legal work involved in your mortgage, they will normally be included in the same bill.

Some fees are paid in advance and the rest are normally paid on the day you exchange contracts. Any bills you receive should be clearly itemised and you can ask your solicitor to explain if there's anything you don't understand. Legal fees are not normally refundable, even if the sale falls through. If the buyer pulls out before contracts are exchanged, you can ask her/him to help with your costs. However, s/he doesn't have to unless you signed a separate legal agreement saying that this would happen if s/he pulled out.

Making a complaint

If you get poor service from your solicitor or conveyancer, you can make a formal complaint. If s/he doesn't deal with your complaint properly (or at all) you can complain further to the Legal Complaints Service or the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. You may be able to get compensation but will need help from a new solicitor.

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