Memorandum of Sale

This will entirely depend on the estate agent who has been instructed to sell the property.

Typically, it will be prepared within a few days of a sale being agreed. However, it can take longer, especially one of the parties does not yet have certain details available (such as they are yet to appoint a solicitor).

You may also need to allow extra time for the document to be received in the post since not all estate agents send them via email.

Once the memorandum of sale has gone out, the conveyancing process progresses as normal with all parties knowing the identities and contact details of the others for as and when they need to communicate.

As a buyer, you'll have to provide your ID  and also your proof of funds to your solicitor and it's your responsibility to provide information for your solicitor to examine regarding the suitability of the property you're looking to buy.

This includes booking a house survey (which is different from your mortgage survey if you're buying with a mortgage (click to find out more) and providing your solicitor with the report and paying for searches which your solicitor also examines (you always have to get searches if you're buying with a mortgage but it's recommended that you do so anyway).

Your solicitor will also receive lots of information about the property from the seller via their solicitor (property information, contract, fittings and contents form, warranties and material related to the freehold if it's a leasehold sale). You'll have to book your mortgage survey and await the result of your valuation. Your solicitor, as information comes in, raises enquiries about any matters they feel they need further information about regarding the property and also awaits your mortgage offer. Once they have all this, they'll summarise their findings - called a Report on Title - which they'll return to you for signing, then you're ready for the next big stage, exchange of contracts and eventually, all going as planned you'll move to final completion .

Your seller has plenty to do to start with: they'll have had to fill out all the property information forms and forms related to fittings and contents as well as any warranties. The seller's solicitor will also have to produce a title plan, an official copy of the register (which is effectively what used to be called a Title Deed) and if applicable a copy of the lease. Once they've provided all the information to your solicitor via their solicitor, they may also have to help their solicitor answer any enquiries which your solicitor may make, as referred to previously. When these have been exhausted (enquiries) and a buyer is happy to move to exchange of contracts, the seller's solicitor will exchange contracts with the buyer's solicitor on a pre-agreed date (and electronically in the vast majority of cases).

Please note however that the seller doesn't have to remove the property from the market following an accepted offer and the memorandum of sale going out. It's only when you exchange contracts that the contract for sale becomes legally binding.

The memorandum of sale is not a legally binding document but it does formally mark the point when your seller has officially accepted your offer and you and your solicitor can progress with the next steps towards buying the property in question. The process gets fully formalised when contracts are exchanged and finishes on completion. Up until then, either you or the seller can pull out of the transaction without penalty.

Additionally the seller's solicitor will generally only draft the essential contract for the sale once they've received the memorandum of sale.

Special conditions, as briefly referred to and which appear on our template example, might include, for example, any remarks that deviate from the standard conditions of sale, including planning restrictions and specified rights concerning the land.