Drafting the Contract (England and Wales)

As you would expect, a solicitor's starting point for drafting a contract is the heads of terms of the agreement which is sometimes referred to as "the four ps" and are summarised simply as follows

(a) the price
(b) the parties
(c) the property
(d) the particulars

A typical residential contract when an owner occupier is selling is the easiest kind of contract to draft.  The contract used is in the Law Society Standard conditions of sale format.  Such a contract would rarely require anything to be added to the information stated above.  However, there are times when additional conditions are required in the contract and it is always a solicitors duty, having checked the title, to ensure that his client is protected from breach of contract arising out of a title defect.

A solicitor also has to ensure that his client's contract meets his agenda, when appropriate.  That might happen if there is a related purchase.  If the related purchase is from a builder, the completion date is usually linked to the finish of the building work and it may be necessary to ensure that the mechanism for completion is related to the completion date in the purchase contract.

Similar principals apply to contract drafting when acting on the sale of a commercial property except that the format used is usually the Law Society's Commercial conditions of sale.  Experience shows that adjustments to the contract are much more likely to happen on a commercial contract as a result of title issues than they are in relation to a residential sale.

Related topics

Acting for a Seller (England and Wales)
Drafting the Contract (Northern Ireland)