No matter how smooth the process or how dreamy your new home, moving house ranks up there as one of life's most stressful experiences, and things can get particularly worrying as moving day approaches. It’s just not that easy when you have so many things that can go wrong, while having to move the entire anchor of your life from one place to another.
Even after someone has made an offer and everything seems to be moving along well, little problems can pop up right at the last minute. Perhaps the person you’re buying the house from needs the signature from an estranged relative to do so, who decides to delay the process and suggests a legal threat if they don’t get a larger slice of the pie. This has nothing to do with you, but can potentially knock over the process of your sale and move.
Usually, most house sales go through without too much drama, especially with good conveyancing solicitors in London handling all the legal elements, yet it's worth knowing what might crop up at the final hour. In this post, we’ll discuss a few measures that can go wrong, and how to prevent or deal with them:
Getting Your Paperwork Ready Early
If you have all the documents you need in one place, signed, and backed up stored in your cloud drives, you have access to it when you need. Houses come with surprising amounts of paperwork, and so trying to find missing documents at the last minute can feel like losing your passport minutes before you check onto flight. Getting all the certificates, guarantees, and permissions together nice and early, categorized, submitted to your solicitor on request, and ready to go is essential. A simple folder for keeping track of things like boiler service papers and window guarantees can save so much hassle later on, even if you don’t (but only might) need them.
Understanding Your Buyer's Position
Of course, you can’t read the minds of your buyer or those selling to you. But money matters can change for buyers during the time it takes to sell a house. Their mortgage offer might expire, or their financial situation could shift unexpectedly. Staying in conversation with them is essential then, and hope they’re open about these problems. Estate agents usually keep an eye on these things, but sellers can watch for warning signs too. If a buyer keeps asking for more time or suddenly goes quiet, it might mean there's a problem brewing or that alternatives may need to be suggested. A broad timeline is that mortgage offers usually last about six months, and if the sale takes longer, buyers might need to sort out a new one.
Get Into The Habit Of Updates
If you offer continual updates to the opposing party’s agent or solicitor, perhaps they’ll do the same for you. It also gives you a chance to ask without seeming like you’re pestering. That can help keep everyone feel more comfortable about how things are progressing. Sales often go more smoothly simply because everyone knows what's happening, even if there are small delays or hiccups along the way, and if there is an issue you can begin to work on them in advance. In other words, despite the important assets and financial costs being thrown around, selling a house doesn't have to feel like you’re walking on fragile eggshells.
With this advice, we hope you can avoid being stung by a house buyer at the last moment, or at the very least see that possibility coming.
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