What happens when you accept an offer?

Instructing your solicitor

As soon as you have accepted an offer on your Bradford property, your solicitor will need to be informed so that they can prepare a Memorandum of Sale that contains all the basic details of the agreement.

You’re free to use any solicitor or conveyancer, but we find it can help speed things up – and ensure things go smoothly – if you use the solicitor we recommend. Communication is a vital part of the sales process and it helps when your Bradford estate agent and solicitor already have an agreed way of working.

Preparing the paperwork

It’s time to complete the forms we give you (for things like ID and fixtures and fittings you’ll be leaving in the property). The quicker you complete these, the quicker your solicitor can draw up a draft contract to send to the buyer’s solicitor.

Finalising the mortgage

Chances are you’ll be moving to another property using a mortgage. It’s a big help if you can have the mortgage agreed (at least in principle) as that will speed things up. Your mortgage provider will then want to carry out a valuation of your new property, and the buyer’s lenders will want to arrange a mortgage valuation survey on your current Bradford property. We will liaise with them on this.

The mortgage valuation gives lenders the assurance that the property is worth the loan they are planning to advance. Once the valuation report is finalised, they will issue the mortgage offer.

Draft contracts, queries and searches

The buyer’s solicitor will review the draft contract, propose amendments and raise queries.

If the property is leasehold, many of those queries, such as ‘how much is the service charge?’ ‘what work has been carried out recently?’ and ‘what parking provision is there?’ will be included in a management company information pack.

The management company will usually own the lease on the property and be able to provide all relevant answers in return for a fee. This fee varies, but it’s worth bearing in mind as a potential additional cost.

The buyer’s solicitor will also order local authority searches to check on things like planning issues, flood concerns, building plans or environmental issues. There’s a significant amount of ‘to and fro’ during this period, with communications pinging between vendor’s and buyer’s solicitors and estate agents. Throughout, we’ll always aim to keep you in touch with progress.

Exchange of contracts and completion

Once all enquiries have been addressed, the contracts will be sent to both parties for signing and arrangements will be made to transfer funds. With the exchange date set, your solicitor will exchange contracts for you. Completion often happens at the same time, but there can be as much as a week between exchange and completion.

Once the solicitors confirm completion, keys can be released, you can start moving into your new property, and the buyers can start moving into your old one. You can find more on making the moving process easier here.