Is it easy to sell a house without using an estate agent?
It’s relatively straightforward to sell your own home without involving an estate agent, although you should be warned that it’s a time-consuming process (which is why agents set a certain fee to pay for their time in getting your home sold).
First you need to get a proper valuation of your home, which can be done by paying a chartered surveyor and registered valuer, or you can research the house prices in the area for similar properties to get an idea of how they are selling.
Once you are happy with the price, you can advertise the property (there are several free sites that allow you to do this). Legally, you’re required to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate for the property before putting it up for sale, so you’ll need to organize a registered energy assessor to create this for you. Then you can start arranging viewings and negotiate an agreed price with anyone who is interested.
We would recommend, however, that you sign up with an estate agent as they can do all the leg work for you. The key thing, though, is to understand their fees and rates before signing an agreement with them.
I must to complete on the sale of my home inside 2 months - are you fast Northumberland property lawyers ?
We maintain that our speed focused conveyancing property lawyers adopt a completely efficient method when finishing the conveyancing
With Homeward Legal, conveyancing solicitors try to communicate through all parts of the buyer and seller property chain and implement state of the art online and information technology systems to complete on the sale as quickly as possible.
If I am purchasing in the parish of Widdrington, should we get a chancel search?
Your property lawyer is likely to recommend that a chancel search be ordered. Through some Parochial Church Councils have exercised their right to exact chancel repairs on the current owners of affected property, it cannot be guaranteed that a parish in which lay rectors have not been expected to pay chancel repair dues recently will remain liability-free for new owners. It is not safe to rely on the historical behaviour of the parish council alone as a guide.
Should we use the lawyer suggested by my estate agent?
An agent will often refer one or more conveyancing firms. However, if the agent is paid a fee by the solicitor, an agent may decide to recommend the firm which pays to the largest referral fee, not the law firm with the best reputation.
Do I need a solicitor?
The quick and easy answer is that you don’t. There is no legal imperative for you to employ a solicitor to handle the conveyancing when dealing with property. However, it would be rather unwise for you to carry out the work yourself because you probably won’t have the skills, knowledge and experience to perform many of the complex tasks, and you won’t possess the indemnity insurance that all solicitors are obliged to carry to protect clients in the event that something goes wrong.
You need to appoint a solicitor who is experienced, proactive and focused so that you have the best chance of completing your transaction as early as possible. You should also look for such a solicitor who also offers ‘No Completion, No Fee’ protection so that you will only be invoiced for the fees once your transaction has completed successfully.
Worried about the conveyancing process? Looking at a tight budget? Let Homeward Legal help you with our low fees without compromising our service values. Call us now on 0800 038 6699.