Neil Risk

Thinking of selling your property?

All of the solicitors firms in Shetland are also estate agents. If you instruct my firm to market your property, I hope to be able to provide you with a professional and personal service. Buying or selling a home is the biggest financial transaction most people ever get involved in, and is often set against the backdrop of other worrying events – eg moving to a new area, starting a new job, getting married (or divorced), etc. You therefore want the process of selling and/or buying your property to be straightforward and stress free. I aim to provide such a service, with prompt, good quality advice and regular communication.

My estate agency package includes:

• preparation of a colour Sales Schedule
• advertisement of the property in my Property Column in The Shetland Times newspaper
• advertisement of the property in my Property Windows on Commercial Street, Lerwick and at my office at Nordhus, North Ness Business Park (Where to Find Us)
• internet advertising

The following note is intended to provide you with useful information on the marketing and selling process.

1 Preparing your House for Sale

Once you decide to sell your property, you should spend some time ensuring that your house is in the best condition for viewing by prospective purchasers. Whilst this may not add significant value to your home, it can make the difference between getting a sale and putting people off.

2 Survey

I would recommend that you instruct a qualified surveyor to carry out a pre-sale valuation of your property before putting it on the market. I will be happy to discuss the valuation received and the level of offers you are looking for, but I cannot provide an actual valuation. There are 2 local firms of surveyors who can do this for you. Their details are as follows:

David Adamson & Partners
4a North Ness Business Park
LERWICK
Shetland
ZE1 0LZ
Telephone: 01595 696788
Email: lerwick@davidadamson.co.uk

Michael Thomson FRICS
10 Charlotte Street
LERWICK
Shetland
ZE1 0JL
Telephone: 01595 695555
Email: michael@michaelthomson.co.uk

3 The Estate Agency

If you decide to use my firm to market your house, I will arrange to visit your property to take particulars and digital photographs so that a Sales Schedule can be prepared. Once the Schedule has been approved by you, I will prepare further copies of the Schedule to be issued to interested parties.

Copies of the Schedule will also be issued to anyone on my mailing list who may be interested in the type of house being sold. I will instruct advertisement of the property in the local newspaper and have the particulars and photographs uploaded to my website. The advertisements will usually include your telephone number for prospective purchasers to arrange a viewing.

If you wish me to arrange accompanied viewings, I can do this for you. Usually a property is advertised for a couple of weeks in the newspaper to gauge what response there is before deciding whether to fix a closing date for offers.

4 Notes of Interest and Offers

People who have viewed your property and are genuinely interested usually instruct their solicitor to “note their interest” with my firm, so that they can be informed if a closing date for offers is fixed.

I must make every effort to notify parties with a noted interest of any closing date, and allow them the opportunity of making an offer before accepting an offer from another potential buyer. Prospective purchasers are also likely to have a survey carried out, so you can expect to be contacted by a surveyor to arrange to inspect your property.

5 Closing Date for Offers

Sometimes there may only be one party who is interested in submitting an offer for your house. You would then need to decide whether the offer is the best price you can obtain, in which case I would recommend accepting such an offer. However, you may decide to hold out for a higher selling price, although there is no guarantee that this will happen.

If there are 2 or more interested parties, it is best to fix a closing date for offers so that all of the prospective purchasers can submit their highest offer for your consideration. Usually the highest offer would be accepted, but you are free to accept or reject any or all of the offers.

6 Conclusion of Missives

Once you decide to accept an offer, I will issue what is known as a “qualified acceptance” to the purchaser’s solicitor. Further exchanges of “formal letters” may follow until both sides reach agreement on the terms of the sale. More information regarding this process can be found in Sections 7 and 8 of my page about Buying a Property in Shetland.

When both parties have agreed all of the details of the offer, the contract (or “missives") is concluded. This means that there is a legally binding contract in place requiring you to sell the property at the price agreed on the specified date of entry. Failure on your part to do so or failure by the purchaser to pay the price is likely to result in financial or other penalties being imposed.

7 The Conveyancing Process

When you instruct me to sell your property, I will need to write to your lender (if any) requesting the title deeds. Once I have received these, I will need to obtain a Form P16 Report if this is the first time that the property has been sold since Land Registration was introduced in Shetland in April 2003.

I will then exhibit the titles, P16 Report and other searches and certificates to the purchaser’s agent for examination. He will examine the titles and certificates and prepare the draft Disposition (title) in favour of the purchaser for checking (“revisal”) by me. The principal Disposition will then be prepared for signature by you in time for completion of the sale.

If you have a mortgage over the property, I will also prepare the “Discharge” of your Standard Security (mortgage) which will need to be signed by your lender. I will also obtain a “Redemption Statement” from the Bank or Building Society which gives details of the amount required to pay off your mortgage at the “date of entry” (ie date of sale of the property). This may include penalties if you have a fixed rate mortgage and you are repaying it early.

8 The Settlement Date

You must be ready to vacate the property on the agreed date of entry, otherwise you will be in breach of contract. On this date (the settlement date), the purchaser’s solicitor will pay the purchase price of your property to me. In exchange, I will deliver to him the signed Disposition, the supporting title documentation and certificates and your keys to the property.

I will then redeem your mortgage, if requisite, and account to you for the balance of the sale price. I will provide my detailed fee note giving a breakdown of the estate agency and conveyancing charges, VAT and outlays. I am entitled to deduct these from the balance of the price before remitting the free proceeds to you.

Next Steps ...

I hope the information provided above is of some assistance to you in understanding the conveyancing process.

If you require any further advice, please get in touch with me or a member of my staff.