So, we all agree life happens and people sell their houses for all sorts of reasons.
Whether it’s a cut in salary and you are unable to pay your mortgage, or your children outgrew the family house got married, moved on and now your stuck with a house that is costing too much to maintain, or you just didn’t foresee you would have been filing for a divorce to date. Whatever the reason you NEED to sell the house as soon as possible.
Here are five documents you should have at hand when selling your home. Please note every house or property is different and it may or may not be limited to these 5 documents.
1. THE DEED/ CERTIFICATE OF TITLE
This document is mandatory as you will need to show or verify proof of ownership for the house. Ensure the deed or certificate of title you are presenting is the most recent copy as you may or may not have other copies from acquiring the home. An example of this is, you may have a deed of mortgage from purchasing the home through a financial institution and now you have cleared the mortgage you should have a deed of release or memorandum of transfer showing the property is no longer mortgaged.
2. TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING APPROVAL
This is also a document you should have in order as you will need to show the structure of the house has the necessary permissions and the land that the house is on is allotted for residential purposes by Town and Country. If this is not done or your house does not have the necessary permissions, most of if not all financial institutions will not finance the property and you will run the risk of your property staying on the market and not being sold.
3. LAND & BUILDING TAX RECEIPTS / CERTIFICATE OF PAYMENT
These receipts are also mandatory as it will show/prove that the land and building taxes are up to date as of 2009 which is the year Trinidad and Tobago stopped receiving taxes on properties. I know what you are thinking, Brent but I don’t have those receipts, and I don’t know where to begin to look. Don’t panic, you can visit the inland revenue office in your area with a copy of the deed and a WASA bill and request a copy of the Certificate of Payment. This will prove your payment/taxes are up to date and in order.
4. VALUATION REPORT
Okay before we all start jumping to conclusions and having the valuation debate, I will say having a valuation report will assist you in pricing the house correctly, which in tern will help you sell the house quickly. Whether this document is mandatory or not I will leave that up to you to consider. However, most financial institutions only grant a percentage of the valuation to the perspective buyers. Therefore, if your house is priced incorrectly yet again you run the risk of your property staying on the market and not being sold.
5. WASA CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE
This document is usually obtained from WASA, and it is mandatory before the house can be transferred from you the seller to the buyer. Most times I usually advised sellers to apply for this document when the sale agreement is signed as it usually expires in 3 months which just so happens to be the same timeline of the sale agreement.