Docsroom

Worked examples / A house purchase

Two buyers, one deposit, and a list that keeps growing.

Owen and Ruth Feasey have had an offer accepted on 14 Sanderling Road, their first house. Before the file can go to the solicitors, the agent needs photo ID for both of them, proof of address, proof of the deposit and where it came from, and the mortgage offer in principle. None of it is hard. All of it arrives in pieces, from two people who both have jobs.

Invented exampleThe Feaseys, 14 Sanderling Road and Denise Rowntree, who is selling it, do not exist. The shape of a purchase is real; the names are not.

Before

Three weeks, the way it usually goes

Nine things, two buyers, one vendor, and every one of them answering a different email.

By emailThree inboxes and a phone. Not a Docsroom screen.
In DocsroomOne pack for the sale. A link each, no account.

An illustration. The names are made up.

By email, over three weeks: the agent emails one list; Owen sends his licence and forwards the email to Ruth; Ruth sends hers as a photograph taken at an angle; a statement for the deposit arrives missing the page that shows where it came from; part of the deposit turns out to be a gift, and nobody said a letter would be needed; Ruth asks her parents for it by text; the agent chases everything, including what already arrived; proof of address is sent again because the first was four months old; and nobody can say what is still outstanding. In Docsroom, one pack for the sale shows each person and what they still owe: six of eight things are in, Owen has had a reminder for his proof of address, and the mortgage offer has no due date.

In Docsroom

One pack for the sale, and a link for each of them

The same purchase, played through on one pack.

  1. One pack, a request each

    The agent opens one pack for the sale and puts each request on the person who owes it: photo ID, proof of address and the deposit, each its own line.

  2. A link each, no account

    Owen, Ruth and Denise each get a private link and see only their own requests. Owen forwards nothing to Ruth, and a photo from a phone is an answer.

  3. The gift letter joins the pack

    Part of the deposit is a gift, so one more request goes to Ruth’s mother with a link of her own, instead of by text.

  4. Chased only for what they owe

    Reminders go on the agent’s schedule and list only what that person still owes. The mortgage offer has no due date: send it when it lands.

An illustration. The names are made up.

What else changes, and what does not

The gift letter

Part of the deposit is a gift from Ruth’s parents. The letter becomes one more request, sent to her mother with a link of her own, and it lands beside the deposit.

Doing it for yourself

If the broker’s list has landed on you, put it in Docsroom yourself: a request for each payslip, the gift letter and the statement. When it is all in, it downloads as one ZIP.

What does not change

Docsroom does not check a passport or decide whether a statement will satisfy a lender. A person still opens each file. What goes is the forwarding and the chasing.

Send the next list as links, not an email.

Free for 14 days, no card. Try it on the sale with the most people in it, or on your own move.