Services

Sales

Here at Lewes Estates we offer a variety of services for selling your house. Firstly, we start with your no obligation Valuation which will give you fair market value and not an inflated valuation just to win business. We aim to have your property on the market within 48 hours of photographs.

Sales can take many formats, this can be a simple valuation for the purposes of a sale, a marital split where you may need the information for a solicitor or court. Probate valuations are also free and we will liaise with your solicitors and provide the details on the same day as your valuation in order that no delays are caused. We also work with a variety of investors who do not require any surveys and are cash ready to purchase your house. We are here to advise on the best course of action to what suits your needs.

Putting in an Offer on a Property

Once you have put forward an offer on a property and this has been accepted you will be required to provide your photo ID and proof of address together with your mortgage AIP (Agreement in Principle) and deposit details. This is required for our Anti-Money Laundering checks that we are required to conduct Anti-Money Laundering for Estate Agents.

Once the checks have been completed the Memorandum of Sale will be drafted and sent to your chosen Solicitors and the process of your new purchase will commence.

The process can usually take up to 12-16 weeks to get to exchange and completion but there are times when these timescales are exceeded. However it is also possible to speed up the process if mortgage is not required. (your solicitors usually advise you about this)

The Completion Process

Prior to exchange of contract your solicitor will:

Organise all the required local authority searches on your behalf.
Receive replies to questions raised and report to you with the contract for signing.
Request your deposit, normally between 5% and 10%.
Deal with the formal mortgage offer and all the conditions on your behalf. Receive the search results and communicate any problems.

Once contracts have been exchanged, your solicitor will:

Transfer your deposit to the seller's solicitor.
Prepare a final completion statement for your approval.
Organise the collection and payment of any balance of funds required.
Prepare the deed of transfer and mortgage deed and arrange for you to sign them.
Organise final searches to check for debts and bankruptcy.

On completion, your solicitor will:

Receive and arrange for payment of any stamp duty, this is a government tax charged on the proportion of property price that falls within the rate band.
To find out the current rates and banding, please visit www.gov.uk and search 'stamp duty'.
Prepare and send off the application to HM Land Registry to register your ownership.
This is done after the completion and can take some time and is dependent on the Land Registry.
Send deeds to the lender (if the property is mortgaged).

Legal Quotes

We are happy to provide you with a favourable legal quote for the purposes of your sale and/or purchase via our panel of preferred solicitors who we work closely with.

Fees

No one likes talking about money but let's assure you that despite being shop fronted we are not passing any high costs to our customers. Fees are decided by us and you the customer at the time of the valuation. We can compete with most local agents in the area regardless but always remember you most certainly ‘get what you pay for’.