What is Sales Progression?

Know your searches from your sales memos, and the process that makes the magic happen.

Posted on Friday, January 20, 2023

An offer being accepted on your property sets off a process that sees a lot of wheels turning behind the scenes.

Sales Progression isn’t just a period of time between the offer being accepted and the completion of a property sale. Data show that a property sale has a 40% chance of failing to complete during this period. And this is the process of calmly and effectively smoothing out any issues and queries from all parties in order to keep the sale going through to completion.

Being aware of the process makes things less daunting for anyone who’s coming fresh to this or who hasn’t sold a property in a while, and it’s where our service at Estates East really comes into its own.

What happens during sales progression?

Once the sale is agreed subject to contract, the buyer instructs a solicitor to act on their behalf.

We do final checks on IDs, then create a Memorandum of Sale agreeing terms and conditions.

The seller completes the property information forms which confirm which fixtures and fittings are included in the sale. Nothing progresses until this is done, it’s a legal requirement.

If the property being sold is leasehold, the seller is required to buy a management pack showing the maintenance charges etc.

The solicitor obtains deeds to the property from the Land Registry, and creates a draft contract to be sent to the other buyer’s solicitor for review. The contract includes the selling price, and timing between the exchange of contract and completion.

Then questions are raised about anything mentioned in the draft contract, such as details in the search results and survey. Ideally, these would all be gathered in one hit, but often, the queries come in dribs and drabs as further details are discovered in the searches. Patience is required here and persistence by the sales progressor.

Once mortgage offers are received and all outstanding matters are dealt with, both parties exchange contracts and the deposit is paid.

It normally takes 2 weeks, but can be a maximum of 4 weeks between exchange and completion.

As we all know, at any of these stages life can get in the way and circumstances beyond anyone’s control can change. But next the stage that never ceases to be the most exciting stage for everyone.

Completion is when the funds from the sale of the property are received and the buyer is handed the keys.

Our Sales Progressor is Becky Kear and if you’d like to know more details about any of this process, or what her thoughts are on the best way through it, feel free to drop her an email directly at bkear@estateseast.co.uk

Estates East Team

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