Nine questions you should ask to help speed up your move

There are a huge number of sales being agreed at the moment, which means that it’s likely to take a bit longer from having your offer accepted to picking up the keys.

To try and help, we spoke to three property experts – Abby Bulley, Sales Progressor at Henderson Connellan in Market Harborough, Chris Carney, Sales Director at Chestertons in Barnes, and Peter Ambrose, who heads up conveyancing firm The Partnership – who gave us a number of questions you can ask to try and help speed up the process.

The questions apply to various stages of the journey, some are specific to buyers whilst others are more relevant for sellers, so have a look and see if they can help in your situation right now.

What’s the position of the buyer?

As we’ll explain later in this article, good communication is key to making your home move progress smoothly, and it’s far easier to communicate with another party when you know more about their circumstances.

So if you’ve found a buyer for your property, ask to hear more about their current situation. Are they a cash buyer? Are they a first-time buyer? Are they ready to move soon? Are they already part of a chain?

The central question of ‘what’s the position of the buyer?’ will give you a much better sense of the circumstances surrounding their need to move, and will give context to further communication.

What’s the position of the seller?

Likewise, if you’ve had an offer accepted on a property, you’ll want to know more about the circumstances of the person or people selling their home.

For example: have they already started looking for their next home? Have they already found their next home? Are they already part of a chain? When are they looking to move?

Again, asking about the position of the seller will allow you to move forward safe in the knowledge that you feel confident about what is happening in the process and can plan accordingly.

Should I use a mortgage broker?

Instructing a mortgage broker could help speed up the home-moving process, because they can chase underwriters and lenders for you and have direct contact with a bank or building society.

But it’s worth knowing that a mortgage broker will charge you a fee for their time, so make sure you do your research first and work out what’s right for you and your circumstances.

You can find out more about this, here.

Has my buyer’s mortgage application been submitted?

Most buyers will be financially pre-qualified by an estate agent before you accept an offer, but do make sure you ask when you receive offers on your home.

An estate agent will usually ask the buyer for proof of funds or will have asked for proof that a lender has agreed to a mortgage in principle.

However, if you’re a seller, it’s also worthwhile asking if your buyer has actually submitted their mortgage application.

This is important because this particular part of the process is taking longer than usual right now. The sooner your buyer can get a mortgage application approved, the quicker you’ll be able to press ahead with the rest of the move.

Am I choosing the right solicitor or conveyancer?

You may choose a solicitor that has been recommended to you by a friend, you may choose one your agent suggests, or you might do your own research.

It’s up to you who you decide to go with, but you should first call them and ask to speak to the solicitor who would be looking after your case. You could ask the following the questions:

• How will they be communicating with you? Will it be by post or email or both?
• Is there cover in place if they have any plans to be away?
• What should you expect from the process?
• Is there an app or online platform that tracks each of the tasks? This is not essential but can prove very useful, so you know which steps are completed
• If you absolutely have to move by a certain date, ask them if they think that is possible – they won’t know what hurdles may come along but they should be able to give you their opinion based on previous experience

Is my solicitor working from home?

As anyone who has moved home before will know, there is a lot of paperwork to fill out before you get your hands on the keys.

You’ll need to send verification of your ID, as well as various signed documents, to your solicitor.

Make sure you double check with them where to send any documents if they’re working from home, or if they will accept electronic versions.

Are searches underway?

Before you’re committed to buying a property (by exchanging contracts), you need to know as much as possible about what you’re buying.

Searches are enquiries that are made on your behalf by your solicitor or licensed conveyancer.

They contact various authorities with information about the property you’re buying – for example, the land the property is built on – which may directly (or indirectly) affect the property’s future value.

Most searches are requested very soon after you’ve had your offer formally accepted, but they usually take a number of weeks to complete.

So if you’re a buyer, make sure that whoever you’ve instructed to take care of the searches is on the case for you. Likewise, if you’re a seller, you should ask if your buyer has begun this process.

No matter where your property is located, there are three main searches you’ll need as a minimum:

• Local Authority searches – e.g. planning issues and highways issues
• Environmental searches – e.g. flooding issues and subsidence issues
• Water and drainage searches – e.g. if the property is connected to a public water supply and sewer

What paperwork do I need to complete?

As a seller, your estate agent and solicitor will ask for various bits of paperwork throughout the process, so if you can gather together all the relevant documents ahead of time, you should avoid delays further down the line.

If you need to call your solicitor about a specific document, try to write down all the questions you have before you pick up the phone. It’s better to make one phone call to go through everything rather than calling five times when different questions come up.

Some of the paperwork to consider rounding up include:

• HM Land Registry title documents
• gas checks completed by a Gas Safe registered engineer (or Corgi-registered engineer prior to 2009)
• electrical checks – an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) or a NAPIT or NICEIC certificate/report from a registered electrical competent person
• FENSA or CERTAS certificates for windows
• planning permission for any major work carried out
• building regulation completion certificates and builder’s guarantee certificates for alterations or additions
• subsidence guarantees/warranties
• damp guarantees/warranties
• party wall agreements (if relevant)
• if a listed building, listed building consent for interior and exterior works
• if your home is in a conservation area, conservation area consent for works
• any title insurance policies you may have taken out to solve title defects

When is the target exchange date?

Naturally, this date never seems like it can come soon enough! However, by prompting others to think about a target exchange date, or even agree to a realistic target date for exchange, it gives everyone involved a specific deadline to keep in mind and work towards.

This should help to give the whole process a little more structure.

Depending on your circumstances, you may not have the option to be flexible with an exchange date.

However, if you can, it can help a sale go through more quickly. You may ideally want a couple of weeks between exchange and completion to have time to pack everything up, but if the buyer asks for one week, consider if you think you would be able to compromise on this.

READ MORE: Housing market remains open during lockdown

The header image for this article comes courtesy of The New Homes Agent.