WHAT WE SHALL DO FOR YOU IN YOUR  PURCHASE OF A PROPERTY

This is intended to be a general guide to the work which we shall do for you in connection with your purchase of a property and is an outline of the steps involved in a conveyancing transaction. We shall  give you more detailed information and advice as your purchase progresses.

As a preliminary point please note that at any time before contracts regarding your purchase are exchanged both you and the Seller are free to withdraw from the transaction and to try and renegotiate the purchase price. For this reason we advise that buyers wait until contracts have been exchanged before giving notice to their Landlord to end their tenancy.

We also recommend that buyers do not order carpets, curtains , kitchen units, white goods or large items of furniture etc until contracts have been exchanged just in case the seller or someone in the conveyancing chain changes their mind.

The contract will become binding on both parties when contracts are exchanged.  You will then be legally committed to purchase the property on the Completion Date specified in the contract at the price specified in the contract.  It is usual for a deposit of between 5% and 10% to be paid by the Buyer to the Seller through their respective solicitors or conveyancers on exchange of contracts. The Completion Date is the date on which the balance of purchase monies are paid to the Seller and is the date upon which you will be able to move into your new home. 

It is important that you do not sign and pass any papers to the Seller or to anyone on the Seller’s behalf.  All written communication should be made between us as your solicitors with the Seller’s representatives.

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL BE BUYING THE PROPERTY COMPLETELY AS IT STANDS FROM A STRUCTURAL POINT OF VIEW. YOU WILL HAVE NO ACTION AGAINST YOUR SELLER IF IT TRANSPIRES THAT THERE ARE ANY DEFECTS IN THE PROPERTY OR IN ANY OF THE ITEMS INCLUDED IN THE SALE. ACCORDINGLY WE RECOMMEND  THAT YOU HAVE A STRUCTURAL SURVEY CARRIED OUT PRIOR TO EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS. ANY VALUATION INSPECTION CARRIED OUT IN CONNECTION WITH A MORTGAGE ADVANCE WILL NOT BE AS THOROUGH AS A FULL SURVEY AND IT IS EXTREMELY UNLIKELY THAT YOU WOULD HAVE A RIGHT OF ACTION AGAINST EITHER YOUR LENDER OR YOUR LENDER’S VALUER IN RESPECT OF ANY ERROR OR OMISSION IN THE VALUATION REPORT. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A PREFERRED SURVEYOR WE WILL BE HAPPY TO RECOMMEND A FEW SURVEYORS TO YOU.

YOU MAY SIMILARLY WISH TO ARRANGE FOR THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM , DRAINS AND THE CENTRAL HEATING SYSTEM ETC TO BE INSPECTED/TESTED ON YOUR BEHALF PRIOR TO EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS

IF IT APPEARS THAT REMEDIAL WORKS ARE DESIRABLE WE RECOMMEND THAT ANY REPORTS OR ESTIMATES ARE OBTAINED BY YOU PRIOR TO EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS SO THAT YOU ARE AWARE OF THE LIKELY COSTS INVOLVED BEFORE YOU ARE LEGALLY COMMITTED TO COMMITTED TO YOUR PURCHASE

STEP 1 ON RECEIPT OF NOTIFICATION THAT YOUR PURCHASE HAS BEEN ARRANGED   

If we have not already done so, we will provide you with a quotation setting out details of our charges and the foreseeable expenses associated with your purchase, our Terms of Business, our Privacy Policy, and confirmation as to who will be looking after your sale transaction.

    Please see HERE for details of our conveyancers

We will normally arrange to meet with you in order that we can discuss your transaction with you and any particular requirements which you may have regarding timescales for your purchase transaction.

    Please see HERE for details of average timescales.

    We will also deal with formal proof of identity and proof of residence at

Please see HERE for details of the sort of documentation which we will need to see.

We will also ask you to confirm details of house your purchase will be funded and the source of any funds being used in your purchase.

Please see HERE for details of the sort of documentation which we will need to see as evidence of the source of funds

At our meeting we will provide you with a written note of our bank account details so that you may send payments to us with confidence that you are sending monies to the correct account. In view of the potential problem of cybercrime you should not act on any email which claims that out bank account details have changed.

We shall notify the Seller’s solicitors/conveyancers that we have been instructed by you and request that the draft contract and any supporting papers are sent to us

We shall advise you of the conveyancing searches usually undertaken on behalf of people buying property in this area and ask you to put us in funds for any searches which you require to be undertaken.

POINTS  FOR YOU:

It would be most helpful if you could at an early stage gather together your proof of identity / proof of residence and proof of source of funds documentation.

Please note that it is for you to put in hand your Mortgage Application and to

arrange a survey and any other inspections of the property which you require - please see note in our Terms Of Business.

It is sensible to start to consider buildings insurance arrangements at an early stage and to obtain quotations – you may find that there is information which you need to have to obtain a competitive quotation which you do not have e.g. the type of locks on windows and doors – you may wish to check your chosen insurer’s requirements so that if necessary any additional information can be obtained from the seller in good time.

STEP 2 THE DRAFT CONTRACT IS RECEIVED FROM THE SELLER’S SOLICITOR/CONVEYANCER

On receipt of the draft Contract and supporting documentation we shall examine the same and raise any enquiries that may be necessary with the Seller’s solicitors/conveyancers.

We will let you know when the Contract pack has been received and will supply you with copies of the information forms which have been completed by the seller and documents referred to in  the forms such as any guarantees or certificates provided in respect of replacement windows or doors, gas installations or electrical works carried out at the property.

We will provide you with copies of the title to the property and ask you to confirm whether the Title Plan reflects the position of the boundaries of the property on the ground.

Once we have received funds from you we will then make Local Authority and Drainage searches and if you instruct us to do so the Environmental and any other optional additional searches which you have requested. Please note that although the Environmental search is optional in that your lender does not usually require an Environmental search to be carried out, it is more often the case that a buyer has one carried out. You may choose not to do so but in the event of you selling the property your buyer is likely to have an environmental search carried out. Occasionally environmental concerns are highlighted by these. Please note that a separate fee is charged by the organisations with which the searches are made and we will need to collect the search fees from you before the searches are made.

On receipt of the various Search results we will usually report to you on

  the results. Please note that in the case of the Environmental Searches,

  flooding searches, and ground stability searches we shall forward the Search results to you but we are not qualified to interpret the Search results for you. You may wish to take specialist advice from an environmental surveyor or scientist.

If the draft Contract contains any terms which we believe are not fair to you as the Buyer we shall request suitable amendment.

If the property you are buying is a leasehold one (which will usually be the case if it is a flat) we will provide you with a copy of the Lease and advise you on the lease terms. We will ask the seller’s solicitors to obtain and provide information with regard to the payment of ground rent, service charges/ maintenance charges, whether there are any unusually large items of expenditure anticipated, the insurance arrangements in respect of the building and will advise you of the information received.

If the property you are buying is leasehold we will advise you of the fees that will be payable to the freeholder/ landlord /managing agent on the completion of your purchase.

     

STEP 3   PREPARING FOR EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS

On receipt of formal Mortgage Instructions from your Lender we shall advise you that these have been received and will check that any conditions contained in the offer are capable of being satisfied.

When the form of the draft Contract has been agreed and results of the various searches have been received and replies to our enquiries have also been received we shall report to you on the Contract and any matters not previously reported.

When there is more that one buyer -we shall advise you of the difference between a Joint Tenancy and a Tenancy in Common which are two distinct ways in which a property can be held by joint owners. If you wish a Deed of Trust or Deed of Agreement can be prepared for you to set out your rights and obligations in respect of the property as between the two of you. We would be delighted to assist you in this matter but please note that an additional charge would be payable in respect of the preparation of a Deed of Trust/Agreement.

When you are satisfied on all matters pertaining to the Contract and in our reports to you we invite you to sign the purchase Contract in readiness for exchange and to provide us with any funds that may be necessary to make payment of the deposit payable to the seller on exchange of contracts. Please see the note in our Terms Of Business re receipt of monies from you. It is not possible to use mortgage advance monies which are to be secured on your new home to pay the deposit on exchange of contracts. However when Buyers are selling another property they can usually use the funds received on exchange of contracts on their sale towards the payment of the deposit on their related purchase.

We will discuss with you your preferred completion dates/dates to be avoided and will agree a date in principle with your Sellers Solicitors/Conveyancers.

When all parties in your chain are ready and we have received the contract which you have signed and any deposit monies from you we shall try to exchange contracts as soon as possible.

         

Point for you:

Prior to exchange of contracts you should arrange for your buildings insurance to be placed on risk (unless the property you are buying is a leasehold one and the Lease provides for the Freeholder/Landlord/Managing Agent to insure the building). You should also arrange for any life cover which you are arranging to be placed on risk. You should also check that your chosen removal firm will be available on the proposed completion date and provisionally book your move. Please ensure that any surveys or inspections of the property which you may wish to have eg. inspection of the central heating or electrical wiring systems have been carried out and that you are satisfied with the results. Remember that you will be buying the property completely as is stands from a structural point of view and will be very unlikely to have any come back on your Seller in respect of any problems discovered later on.

 

STEP 4   EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS

Exchange of contracts generally takes place during a telephone conversation between us as your Solicitors and the Solicitors/Conveyancers acting for your Seller. This is not as casual as it sounds and a very formal procedure is adopted. The completion date is inserted in the contract and the time at which contracts are exchanged is noted.

We will send the Contract which you have signed to the Seller’s Solicitors/Conveyancers and this is normally sent together with the exchange deposit monies.

We will notify you that exchange has taken place as soon as we can.

 

STEP 5  PREPARING FOR COMPLETION

Traditionally the purchase Transfer document is prepared by the Buyers Solicitor and sent to the Seller’s Solicitors/Conveyancers after exchange of contracts. We may well deal with the drafting of the Transfer before exchange of contracts but if we have not done so we will now and will raise any final enquiries concerning completion arrangements.

We will prepare the Mortgage Deed if we have not already done so and arrange for you to sign the same. Usually we invite you to sign the Mortgage Deed at the same time you sign the purchase Contract.

We shall send our Report On Title to your lender and request that mortgage advance monies are sent to our bank. Generally we ask for the monies to arrive on the day before completion to facilitate a smooth move.

We will carry out the pre-completion searches at the Land Registry. These have to be done shortly before completion to ensure that it will be possible to apply for the registration of your title within the protected priority period given in the search result.

We will prepare a completion statement and our invoice and will forward the same to you requesting that any funds required from you are received the working day before the completion date or earlier. Please see note in our Terms Of Business.

Points for you:

Please confirm your removal arrangements with your chosen removal firm. We suggest at this stage you make enquiry regarding the transfer of utilities to you in case your Seller has not arranged for final meter readings/accounts to be prepared. You may also wish to make arrangements for redirection of your mail.

STEP 6     COMPLETION

On the day of completion we shall forward the balance of purchase monies to the Sellers Solicitor’s/Conveyancer’s bank as soon as reasonably practicable and shall notify the Seller’s Solicitor/Conveyancer that the purchase monies are on the way requesting that we and the selling agents are notified as soon as possible on receipt.

We will try and contact you as soon as we have heard from the Seller’s Solicitor/Conveyancer that the purchase monies have been received so that you may collect the keys to your new home (usually from the Seller’s estate agents) and move in.

If funds are due to you on completion we will try to forward the same to you on the day of completion – Please see the note in our Terms Of Business

Points for you:

Please take meter readings for gas, electricity etc and set up accounts in your name with the utility providers. You should consider whether as a security measure you wish to arrange for locks on external doors to be changed.

STEP 7     AFTER COMPLETION

We will submit the SDLT Return to the Inland Revenue and arrange for the payment of any SDLT payable on your purchase transaction.

We will prepare and submit the application to the Land Registry for the transfer of the title to your new property to you and for the registration of your new mortgage if you have one.

If the property you are buying is a leasehold one we will notify the Freeholder/ Landlord/ Managing Agent that you have purchased the flat and if you have purchased with a mortgage will provide them with confirmation of your mortgage provider and contact details and pay any notice fee required.

We shall notify you when the registration formalities are completed and send you a copy of the updated Register Of Title for your records. If there are any papers relating to your property which your lender does not require these will be sent to you – this may include Guarantees, Fensa Certificates and the like – for you to retain.

We will try to keep you fully updated throughout your Purchase. Usually we will send you text messages and emails or telephone you upon developments to keep you fully in the picture as swiftly as possible. However we hope that you will not hesitate to contact us if you would like any further information or explanation. We try to avoid the use of legal jargon as much as possible but sometimes it is not possible to completely avoid some technical terms.

Most of our clients prefer to receive communications from us electronically. If you would prefer to receive hard copy letters by post please let us know.

If there is anything you do not understand in anything you receive from us or if there is anything about which you would like a further explanation please let us know and we will be happy to advise you further.

We try and arrange our diaries so that when you phone you will get through to either Helen or Ian directly. If Ian is dealing with your matter and is not available when you call Helen will try and assist you if she can. If not, she will arrange for Ian to contact you. Similarly if Helen is dealing with your matter and is not available when you call Ian will try and assist you or he will arrange for Helen to contact you.

If you telephone us and do not get a reply please leave a message on our answer service or else we will not know that you have called. We aim to respond to emails and messages left on our answer service within one working day.

We provide a service to your door and will call upon you by arrangement when meetings are required. We hope that you will find this level of personal service a very convenient way of conducting the legal side of your move.