Guide to - Commercial sale

Clients selling premises want to ensure the best financial return and no last-minute falling-through of the deal. Once the buyer is ready to formalise interest in the client’s property, a written legal offer is prepared and submitted by the purchaser’s solicitor and we discuss the offer and its many legal conditions with the client.

We then send a written (usually qualified , i.e. qualifying and revising some of the many legal conditions in the purchase offer) acceptance back. The purchaser’s lawyer consults with their client and goes through the acceptance to check if the qualifications are acceptable, and either tweaks them in a further missive back to us or accepts them in writing.

Whenever the conditions of offer and acceptance are eventually agreed, the missives are concluded and there is a binding contract from which neither side can withdraw without penalty. We then issue the buyer’s solicitor with the title deeds, searches and property reports, and they draw up a new title deed in favour of the buyer. We deal with questions realised about the titles, the searches and reports, and arrange for the client to execute the new title deed in favour of the purchaser.

This is then held by us until the completion date/date of entry, and this is handed over in exchange for payment of the full purchase price, either by a solicitor’s cheque or an electronic bank transfer. If there is a commercial mortgage on the property, we pay that off from the sale money, and account to the client for the balance exactly, after settlement of fees and outlays. Our IT and case management systems allow us to work quickly and accurately as is essential in commercial property work of all sorts.