Private Treaty
The typical way to sell a property fast is by private treaty on the open market. The property will be advertised with an asking price and the buyer will submit an offer for you to consider if they want to purchase the property.
In England and Wales, once an offer has been accepted and an agreement is reached, a contract of sale will be issued and those contracts signed and exchanged. The exchange of contracts will only happen once the buyer has completed their research, arranged any mortgage necessary and asked all the questions they need with the help of a solicitor.
Both parties are only legally committed to the sale once the contracts are exchanged, up until this time if circumstances change, either the seller or the buyer can pull out.
If the seller is receiving multiple offers from multiple buyers, a ‘sealed bids’ situation may be proposed. This involves each prospective purchaser submitting their best and final offer. After the deadline, we and seller will review the best offers and decide how to proceed. You can take the best offer but are not under any obligation to do so.
Modern Method of Auction
This is also known as a conditional auction and offers a little more flexibility than the traditional auction process. At the end of the auction or once an offer has been accepted, the buyer will need to pay a non-refundable reservation fee. This reservation deposit will vary but is normally calculated as a percentage of the final selling price.
The buyer will then have an exclusive 28-day window to exchange contracts and then a further 28 days after that to complete the transaction. This differs from the traditional auction method where contracts are exchanged almost immediately and is sometimes considered the quickest way to sell a property.
The advantage is that the payment of the non-refundable reservation fee shows the buyer is financially invested in making the purchase. This is different to the usual sale process (Private Treaty), where the buyer can walk away from the purchase until the exchange of contracts, without financial loss. From a buyer point of view, it means the seller cannot change their mind about selling the property or change the price.
The reservation fee is not a part of payment of the purchase price, but is often offset against the sellers cost of marketing the property.