Legal Kerb Appeal Can Help Sell Your Home

To enhance your chances of selling your home, you want prospective buyers to feel as confident as they can about your property. If you can show your home is in great condition, and that there are no legal concerns at the house, you will go a long way to enticing offers.

At Thomas Morris, we can assist you prepare your home in this manner. We believe focusing on legal kerb appeal helps you to present your home in the best way, helping you to connect with likely buyers.

What is legal kerb appeal?

Legal kerb appeal, in the words of Chris Salmon, who is a co-founder and Director of Quittance Legal Services, is; “Simply, legal kerb appeal is the strengths of the property when considered from a legal perspective. Legal kerb appeal could also involve proactively addressing any potential legal issues before a buyer is found.”

In an interview conducted on the Property Road website, Chris was asked about what vendors should look to do to ensure they are ready to sell their home in the near future.

Chris responded by saying; “If you are on or are thinking of going on the market, we’re pushing the concept of ‘legal kerb appeal’. Sellers will be entering a buyers market, and must do everything they can to improve their chances not only of finding a buyer, but also completing the sale.”

He continued by saying; “For example, if the property has a roof terrace without planning permission, the buyer’s solicitor will pick this up. Instead, the seller’s solicitor can identify a suitable indemnity policy and offer it as part of the sale. This proactive approach will reassure buyers and avoid delays later in the process.”

How will the housing market move forward?

Chris was also asked about what he thinks will happen in the property market when the industry moves forward. He said; “The consensus is that the pent-up demand that emerged shortly after the 2019 election will gradually resume. It’s very likely that in-progress transactions will suffer a logjam as capacity challenged property services firms struggle to fulfil a rush of requests for searches, surveys and managing agent information. We anticipate significant delays for up to a few months after the lockdown eases.”

Steps in managing legal kerb appeal

With so many sources discussing the importance of legal kerb appeal, most vendors will be keen to incorporate it into their sales process. Here is a list of steps you should follow in managing legal kerb appeal before and during the sales process:

• Complete all property transaction forms
• Anticipate which problems are likely to occur, and resolve them
• Involve external parties and management agents as quickly as possible
• Collate all documents as early as possible
• Start the process of recovering or replacing missing documents as early as possible
• Agents, vendors and legal professionals should work together to find solutions

The earlier you start, the better

As with most things in life, and certainly as with many things in the sales process, the sooner you start, the better. When it comes to legal kerb appeal, the sooner you start to put things in order, the better for you.

If you are looking for help with any matter of the property market, it is best to speak to property professionals. For a chat or discussion on your options, contact your local Thomas Morris branch, and we’ll be delighted to offer guidance.

You can book a sales or rental valuation appointment directly on line at a time and date of your choice by clicking here  or alternatively click here.