Documents You Need When Selling Your House

So the time has come to sell your first home and you’re ready to upsize to somewhere bigger. You’ve worked hard to get here with equity being poured into one house so that you can draw it out and pour it into another. It’s going to be a great moment in your life because you feel like you’re finally making moves up the rungs of the property ladder. You’ve got the area mapped out and if you get the price that you’re looking for, it should be easy. However, if you’ve only ever bought one house before and you haven’t sold one, there’s going to be a lot to consider.

This is especially the case if you’re someone who likes to be prepared. For instance, do you know what to do to start selling your property? Do you know what paperwork you need? Do you know what documents are most important? Well, you don’t have to panic because in this article, we’re going to talk exactly about that: the documents that you need when selling your house. 

Sales include a lot of paperwork, but what kind of paperwork is involved? What are the obligations and the conditions that those documents entail? Understanding what you should expect on the legal side of things is important, so let’s take a look at some of the documents that you’ll need so that you can get your house on the market and sell it as soon as possible.

Image source: Pexels

1. The sales contract. No matter where you are selling or where you are buying, you have to have a contract for sale. The first step is to draw the sales contract up and usually you’d use a lawyer and even the help of a realtor to help you. Every single state requires a sales contract and a conveyancer prepares the contract. Although the templates are available online, it’s always worth paying a little bit extra to have a legal eye look over this because contracts and paperwork cannot have any room for error. Contracts of sale contain all the information that you need pertinent to the sale of the house so it has the names and the addresses of the vendor and the home buyer involved. It also lays out all the conditions that are stipulated by both parties before the sale becomes binding. Once both parties have put ink on that piece of paper it’s a legally binding contract. There is a lot of information involved in a sales contract, but it will include things such as the price and the deposit, the terms and conditions of payment and even the loan details. If there are any exclusions from the sale or improvements of the property that are to be included, that will be added, too.
2. Any other contract information. This additional paperwork is quite a broad outline of what might be included in the sales contract. When you sell your property, the owner, for example, has to disclose any essential information regarding council zoning or utilities. The owner must also include whatever applicable warranties may be and deeds may be. This is important to include the notification of any defects too, because without that information, a buyer is justified and terminates that contract. If you want the sale to go through then absolute honesty is a must. You also have to realize that it’s fair for the buyer to terminate the contract because they’re the ones that end up with the bill. Buyers will also want to be informed if there are plans afoot. For a public authority to purchase the land or that may be built into your existing contract.
3. The property title deeds. These are included in the sales contract when you sell your property for the most part, but it’s important to know what they are and how you come about them. The Land Registry service oversees all Land Registry services in the state, but it’s something that was privatized and no longer provides titles and plans directly to the public. Of course, you can obtain these by online service for a fee, but these are just copies, not the originals. If you want to have the original, then the certificate of title is issued by the state government and is proof of ownership of the property. If you have your hands on the titles of the property, then there is your property that you own. These should be passed over when you sell your property. If you have a habit of losing documents, you don’t have to have a physical copy to sell the property, depending on your state, but that’s only because of the shift away from paper. You do still need to have a digital copy. Moving to 100% electronic conveyance by the government has helped this. Paper submissions no longer need to be used for land and property transactions as long as you have the original digital copy. Your conveyancer or your solicitor will bear the responsibility of conducting any searches and registrations on your behalf. You might want to obtain and print a copy of personal reasons though, especially when you sell.
4. Zoning certificates. This is usually included in the sales contract too, and this certificate is issued by local councils and it varies by state and locality. The purpose is universal no matter what it’s called though, because it details whatever controls or restrictions apply to the land.If you have a zoning certification with a boundary limit, it means that you can’t go beyond that boundary limit. If it’s a heritage listed house, then permissions may be needed before any work can be done on the building. The zoning certificates will also show any property constraints such as flooding levels, contamination of the land and Bush fire prone land if you’re in a fire area. The information on this document is divided into sections. It gives information that the council holds on a property and it will be relevant to the land, but it’s not necessarily disclosed. You can apply online for your certificate in your local state if you don’t have a copy of one.
5. Personal ID. It might sound like a daft thing to include in a property sales contract, but it’s still a requirement. Your real estate agent and the solicitor that you deal with will need to see your identification and it should be photographic identification. Even if you have the certificate, you have to prove who you are for legal reasons. Your approved agent or legal representative will be able to see these and approve them, and the points of ID that are included in your drivers license, passport, birth certificate and Medicaid card can help. Get a list from your solicitor as to what identification you need so that you can make sure that you are getting your home across a legal threshold. Imagine a scenario where a relative impersonates you after getting hold of your deed. If you are away overseas or something has happened, they could take advantage of the fact that photo identification is not needed. It may seem like a silly thing to need photo identification to be able to sell a property, but you want to make sure that you are the one doing the selling and nobody else is taking it from you.
6. Additional documents. So now that you know you need the sales contract as owning certificate, title deeds, what else do you need? Well, depending on the zoning, you might need a drainage diagram to show where any flooding can drain off. And if you have a pool installed in your property, you’re going to need a certificate of safety there too. This means that you’ve taken the appropriate steps to make sure that the swimming pool on the property has been installed correctly and has been certified as safe by the installer. You will also need to have a document that details property exclusions and a statement of the buyer’s rights in regards to a cooling off period when it comes to the sale of the property itself. All of these documents together are what you’re going to need to sell your house promptly and properly.

It takes a lot of paperwork to sell a property. You can’t just move it off and hope that somebody will buy it and move in. Luckily, as you’re moving away from paper and into something more digital, many of these documents can be found online. This will prevent a lot of hassle when it comes to sales, but this is just the rough outline of what you’ll need to move forward and to sell your house. If you do have any other concerns, you should breach these with your real estate agent and your solicitor to make sure that you are above board every step of the way. Selling one property to be able to buy another is a big step in your property journey, so make sure you get it right the first time and you’ll be well versed for the next time you do it.

Previous post:
What Your Potential Buyers Don't Want To See During A Viewing

Next post:
Salt Water Pool Pros and Cons: What You Need to Know