What happens post completion? – an overview from the buyer’s perspective

Here is breakdown of what happens post completion

Becoming the Legal Owner

On completion day, your solicitor transfers the money to the seller’s solicitors and once the funds are received, the property legally belongs to you, meaning you can collect the keys from the estate agents and move into your new home.

Serving Notices (leasehold only)

If the property is leasehold, your solicitor will be required to serve notices on the landlord and/or the management company, informing them of your ownership and of any mortgage lender (where applicable). Once the notices are receipted, this will enable the landlord and management company to update their records accordingly.

You may also be required to become a member of the management company in which case your solicitor will deal with those formalities also.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)

Whilst solicitors are not tax advisers and generally cannot advise on SDLT matters, they will, nevertheless usually handle the submission of the SDLT return and payment of the tax on your behalf which must take place within 14 days from the completion date. An SDLT5 certificate of submission will be obtained after the submission has taken place which will be required when submitting the application to register the property at the HM Land Registry.

Registering Ownership with the Land Registry

Once your solicitor has received the seller’s completed Transfer deed, your solicitor will lodge an application at HM Land Registry to register the change of ownership and any mortgage/charge against the property, if applicable. Once the application has processed, a new copy of the title register will be provided to the solicitor who submitted the application. Due to current delays at HM Land Registry, this process may take several months.

Once to hand, the title register will be forwarded to the buyer for safe keeping.