Selling Land & Estates in Wales & England

Our Legal Process and Guide to Selling a Plot of Land in Wales and England

This information below is intended as a general guide surrounding the legal process we help clients through when selling a plot of land. 

PSR Solicitors is one of the largest teams of Land Conveyancing Solicitors in Wales and a leading law firm for Land Conveyancing in Cheshire. We work with Landowners and investors throughout England & Wales. We always strive to give as much practical advice as possible and of course great service.

Therefore please read our process conveyancing services when handling land or landed estate sales.  

First steps

If you have chosen PSR solicitors to act for you regarding the sale of a piece of land you own, you will have received from us a Land Questionnaire.  Please complete this fully and return it to us as soon as possible to enable us to issue the full contract documentation to the Buyer’s Solicitors. Once approved this contract enables the land sale to progress.

If you have agreed on any other matters with your Buyer which are not within the scope of the standard Land Questionnaire please advise us immediately.  Do not enter into any written agreement with your Buyer or anyone seeking to represent your Buyer without first discussing the matter with us, as you may otherwise put yourself into a position of being bound by a contract contrary to your interests.

If an estate agent is involved in the sale of your land you will receive a copy of the agents' details.

Please check the details very carefully to ensure they are accurate and represent the agreed terms of the sale. If there are any discrepancies, please let us know immediately.

Legal work prior to contracting to sell

When we have received the title deeds to your property, plan of the land being sold, and your completed Land Questionnaire, we can produce the full contract documentation.

These, together with a supporting package of documents dealing with title, planning, or similar applicable documents to your land will be sent to your Buyer’s Solicitors for approval.

We may be asked further questions concerning your plot of land when the Buyer’s Solicitors have received the contract documentation, necessary searches, and mortgage instructions, or when the Buyer has received the results of a land survey. We will advise you and reply as soon as we are able to do so.

Please ensure that you deal with any further requests made to you promptly in order to avoid any undue delays in progress. The Buyer is entitled to place reliance upon the information we supply on your behalf.

You must make full disclosure to your Buyer of all relevant facts about the land and its history, in order to avoid any misrepresentation to the Buyer, however innocent or unintended.

Reporting to you up to exchange of contracts

As you will appreciate there are a large number of matters which need to be investigated to ensure that your interests are fully protected. We will keep you advised of progress by email, letter, or by telephone. Should you have any queries on any matter at any point please contact us as soon as possible. We will ask for your instructions in writing to any information you supply so that we can all be clear on what further steps are to be taken.

Financial charges on your property

We will obtain estimates of the amount required to redeem any mortgage on your land so that we can ensure there will be sufficient funds available to allow the sale to proceed. Please ensure that you disclose to us all loans secured on your land.

It is important to establish at an early stage whether there are any further mortgages, loans, or Local Authority charges, that may be secured upon the land. All secured lending must be repaid on or before completion of the sale.

If we are instructed by your Lender to repay a mortgage or loan secured upon the land, then we will also be acting on behalf of your Lender independently of you. Your Lender will also be our client and as explained in the Lender’s terms and conditions you are responsible for the Lender’s costs.

Your Lender will normally charge a deeds production fee which is added to your mortgage account when the deeds we request are forwarded to us.

Signing your contract

Once the Contract has been approved by your Buyer’s Solicitor we will send a report of the transaction to date and ask you to sign the Contract in readiness for the exchange of Contracts. You will also need to sign a Transfer Deed which will be sent to you when received from the Buyer’s Solicitors and which will need to be back in our possession duly signed before completion can take place.

Signing a Contract does not bind you to sell. It is only when all parties are ready that a completion date is agreed, and exchange takes place. At that stage, the Contract will be dated and become legally binding.

Exchange of contracts

When all parties are ready and the completion date is agreed upon, we will commence the exchange procedure. Once the exchange has taken place we will advise you. You will upon exchange, be legally bound to sell to the Buyer based on the information provided about the land.

If either party backs out after exchange there can be a claim for damages for losses arising from such a decision which can be substantial. Such losses could include a) interest for late completion b) damages to compensate any innocent party in the chain of transactions suffering a financial loss and would need to be redressed via the Court system which would take a long time.

Between exchange and completion

Completion is usually two to four weeks from the date of exchange. Completion must take place on a working day (not a Saturday, Sunday, or Bank Holiday). Vacant possession of the Property must be given by the date of completion and by the time specified in the Contract. You should aim to give vacant possession by 12 noon on the day of completion.

We will obtain details of any Estate Agents account, final redemption statements for all secured charges disclosed, and forward copies to you for your approval.

You will need to advise us where the Buyer can collect the keys to the land (if secured by a locked gate) on the day of completion (we recommend you leave them with the estate agents if any). We will confirm by telephone that keys can be released once we receive the balance to complete the sale from the Buyer’s Solicitors.

Please also bear in mind that any items not included in the price must be cleared from the land, to include your items and rubbish if any.

Practical points for you on completion

Do not forget to ensure meter readings are taken, if appropriate. Do not forget to cancel any direct debits or standing orders for the land and above all do not forget to move! (you agree to sell with vacant possession remember).

Insurance risk on any buildings on the land should be retained until completion and you agree to transfer the land on completion in the same physical condition as at the date contracts are exchanged.

Do not forget to leave all keys to any gates where they can be collected by the Buyer and that you have notified us of the collection point (again we recommend they are left with the estate agents if any).

Completion day

We will receive the sale proceeds, pay off any secured charges (including mortgages) disclosed, pay the Estate Agents if any, and, any other relevant parties, in accordance with the Financial Statement which we will send you.

We will also send the title deeds and Transfer Deed to your Buyer’s Solicitors. We will account to you for any balance of amounts of money due after payment of our costs and payments made on your behalf.

Summary

We will do all we can to comply with your reasonable requirements and timescale. Should there be any points you wish to discuss please contact us. We will be pleased to help.

If you have further questions, please call one of our offices and talk to our location teams.