how it works

The system for selling a house (or flat or other property) has three stages:

• Stage 1: Pre-contract
  Your buyer deals with preliminary matters like obtaining a mortgage, surveying the property, conducting searches and asking you questions. You also need to start preparing a Home Information Pack (HIP). How long this stage takes will depend on how ready your buyer is, and on whether any complications come to light. Either party can pull out during this stage without any penalties or compensation
• Stage 2: Exchange
  Once the pre-contract work has been successfully dealt with, contracts are exchanged and a date is fixed for Stage 3. From this point onwards, both you and your buyer are legally committed to the transaction
• Stage 3: Completion
  You hand over the keys. You will need to have finished everything – having your meters read, clearing the house of all your belongings and so on – by about 1.00 pm.