Buying & Selling Property

My advice to anyone involved in the sale or purchase of property is to get your solicitor involved at the earliest possible opportunity. They have a wealth of experience to draw on and can guide you through all stages of the process with the minimum of fuss and stress.

The solicitor, if involved at the early stages, should foresee any problems which need to be attended to. These are best dealt with sooner rather than later and as a consequence the process should run smoothly and therefore be less stressful.

If there is a problem with your property and you know about it, do something about it (before it goes on the market if necessary). Tell your buyer that the problem exists and that you intend to do whatever is necessary to put it right, or that you intend doing nothing but are prepared to make a financial allowance. 

Even that will reduce the stress levels. Do not try and hide the problem or fail to disclose it. Rest assured, it will come to light eventually and not having informed the other party of the problem will only cause bad feelings and increase stress levels all round – maybe even lose you a buyer.

Your solicitor should be proactive and not reactive. The former puts you in the driving seat and able to direct operations; the latter has you running around after everyone in the chain. 

Similarly on a property you are buying, if you know of a problem, tell your solicitor. It may be that the contract will need to be amended to take this into account. Do not simply rely on the word of the seller. At the end of the day if the seller has promised to do something and hasn’t, it may be too late or too expensive to do anything about it. 

Tell your solicitor at the earliest possible opportunity and they will advise on the best way to deal with the problem.

In other words, you have to have your house in order.

Be honest and straightforward with your seller and buyer. It will pay dividends in the long run and providing all relevant information at the outset will reduce stress levels.

* Brian Lawson is a Partner and conveyancing specialist with BHP Law. He can be contacted on 0191-221 0898.