Declan McHugh – Page 2 – Sweeney McHugh Solicitors

At what point do you get a Solicitor when selling a house?

At what point do you get a Solicitor when selling a house?

The short answer: it is usually never too early!

One of the typical questions when selling a house is how long will a transaction take after a sale has been agreed. This can be difficult to answer, especially if you are acting on behalf of a purchaser because not all vendors are ready to sell their house despite having put the property on the market.

Sales are delayed in progressing a lot of the time because necessary documents are not readily available. For example if a vendor has an outstanding mortgage against the property being sold then the deeds to the property are typically held by a bank. It varies from bank to bank as to how long it takes for them to release the deeds to a solicitor to facilitate a sale of the property. This can case a delay of between 1-4 weeks in itself.

Further delays can occur after deeds are released to the vendor’s solicitors because the title documents may be incomplete or have elements that require to be updated. It is common to assume that all necessary documents should have been obtained when a property is purchased and be part of that property’s title deeds. However, the requirements for a sale of a property vary due to changes in the law and current practices. Therefore it can occur that a vendor is asked to provide additional or amended documents after the deeds are released by the bank.

Ideally therefore if you have decided to sell your house a call through to your solicitor should be made at the same time or even before you make contact with your auctioneer/estate agent. This would allow the solicitor carry out the necessary preparatory work so that you are hopefully “contract ready” when a sale is agreed for the property.

“Contract ready” means that the necessary information has been obtained that would allow a Contract to be sent to a purchaser’s solicitors immediately after a sale is agreed. While every transaction varies, being contract ready should help reduce the time required for the matter to complete.

Sweeney McHugh Solicitors are happy to advise a prospective vendor as how best to prepare for a sale of a property to include a full review of title and ancillary documents and to confirm if you are “contract ready” in respect of your property. If you would like assistance in this regard please contact us on 0749521115 or by email on info@sweeneymchugh.ie .

We can provide appointments in person, by telephone or video call where required.

Declan McHugh, Managing Partner.

Updated Office Hours

We have updated our opening hours.

We are now open Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Fridays.

Our office is closed from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. each day for lunch.

We can also be contacted by email at info@sweeneymchugh.ie if you wish to contact us outside of office hours.

We appreciate that some clients are unable to attend the office during office hours. Please contact the office and we will endeavour to make alternative arrangements. Appointments can be arrange via a Teams meeting (video call) or telephone if this is more convenient for you.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS 2022

The offices of Sweeney McHugh Solicitors will be closed from 12 p.m. on Friday the 23rd of December 2022 until 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday the 3rd of January 2023.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients for their business during the course of 2022 and wish all a Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS 2021

The offices of Sweeney McHugh Solicitors will be closed from 12 p.m. on Thursday the 23rd of December 2021 until 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday the 4th of January 2021.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients for their business during the course of 2021 and wish all a Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.

Speed Up Your House Sale

We are finding many sales of property are being unnecessarily delayed because the Vendor(s)

is not ready to sell at the point a property goes sale agreed. The following advice has been prepared

by the Law Society of Ireland as a useful guide to speed up the sale of your house (or other property).

Sweeney McHugh Solicitors can offer a title review service and advise you of any further documents or

information that will be required to allow for a sale of your property.

TO SPEED UP YOUR HOUSE SALE
Contact your solicitor as soon as possible. Your solicitor will need to get your title deeds
immediately in order to prepare a contract for the sale of your house and will also need to
take full instructions from you on the details of the sale. There are several pieces of
information and documentation that your solicitor will need and you should start getting them
together now.

YOU WILL NEED TO GET THE FOLLOWING
1. Details of where your title documents are (if your title deeds are with a bank, provide
the name of the bank and the account number).

2. Local Property Tax printout showing local property tax paid to current year end
(www.revenue.ie).

3. Receipt or Certificate of Discharge showing that the Household Charge has been
discharged (www.householdcharge.ie),

4. Certificate of Exemption or Discharge for NPPR (applied from 2010 to 2013)
(www.nppr.ie),

5. Details of your water and drainage supply,

6. If you have a septic tank on the property, evidence of its registration
(www.protectourwater.ie)

7. If you are or ever have been married, a copy of your state marriage or civil
partnership certificate (and copy of separation agreement or divorce, if applicable),

8. BER Certificate showing the energy rating on your home,

9. Details of any building work you have done with copies of any planning permissions
and architects’ certificates of compliance,

10. If your property is in a managed development, contact details for the management
company/managing agents, and receipts for service charges,

11. If the property is let, copy letting agreement,

12. Details of any contents included in sale,

13. PPS Number(s) – needed for proof of identity,

14. Photographic identification such as passport(s),

15. Utility bill / bank statement (within the last 3 months) to prove your address.

Updated Covid-19 Restrictions

OFFICE CLOSED TO PUBLIC

To enable us comply with HSE social distancing requirements we are presently closed to the public. Should you require advice or assistance in relation to a new or ongoing matter please make contact with our office by telephone (074 9521115) or email: info@sweeneymchugh.ie

We are making arrangements for consultations to occur remotely or by telephone to ensure a continuity of service in the meantime.

Arrangements will be made for clients who wish to make a will urgently. Please telephone for further advice in this regard.

SWEENEY MCHUGH SOLICITORS

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS 2020

The offices of Sweeney McHugh Solicitors will be closed from 1 2 p.m. on Wednesday the 23rd of December 2020 until 9:30 a.m. on Monday the 4th of January 2021.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients for their business during the course of 2020 and wish all a Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.

Appointments Available

As Covid 19 restrictions continue to ease we continue to provide a full service.

If you would like to consult with a solicitor from our office please make contact by telephone or email and we will be more than happy to assist with your query.

Appointments are available in the office on a restricted basis so that we can continue to ensure the HSE’s social distancing guidelines are complied with. If you would like

an appointment with a solicitor please contact us by telephone or email.

For vulnerable clients or anyone who has concerns about attending the office please feel free to discuss this with the relevant solicitor to see if alternative arrangements can be made.

SWEENEY MCHUGH SOLICITORS

Office Restrictions for COVID-19

To avoid spread of COVID-19 we are taking the following precautions to protect our staff and clients:

CLIENT CONSULTATIONS

For the foreseable future we will be limiting the number of in office client consultations to the most urgent and necessary matters. We will see clients in the office by appointment only. Please telephone the office if you require our advice or wish to discuss an ongoing matter with us. We will attempt to deal with most queries by telephone, email or Skype.

Any appointments scheduled to take place in the office will be in a designated room which will allow us comply with the HSE guidelines for social distancing and disease prevention. We will not allow multiple appointments to be schedule for the same time to avoid congregation of people within the office.

To minimise the time required for appointments the relevant fee earner will contact you to discuss the matter and provide checklist and guides to ensure that the lengths of appointments are kept to the absolute minimum.

REMOTE WORKING AND OFFICE CLOSURE

We have provided facilities for our solicitors to work remotely therefore their availability for in office appointments will be limited

We will provide emergency contact details on our website (www.sweeneymchugh.ie ) should the need to close our office occur. Our email addresses will remain operational at all times.

We regret any inconvenience caused in the short term.

SWEENEY MCHUGH SOLICITORS

Christmas Holidays 2019

The offices of Sweeney McHugh Solicitors will be closed from 1 2 p.m. on Monday the 23rd of December 2019 until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday the 2nd of January 2020.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients for their business during the course of 2019 and wish all a Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.

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