Buying a property

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Pre-contract stage

• Firstly, when buying a property, you must instruct us to begin work. You should do this as soon as you find a house to buy to avoid any delay. Initial details will be obtained about your purchase. You will need to supply us with original forms of identity to meet with strict money laundering precautions.
• We will receive the contract papers from your seller’s solicitor, which will include evidence of the land being sold by the seller and a draft contract for approval. We will check these documents for you.
• Searches will be done on the property being bought. The searches will vary depending on the location of the property. An upfront payment will be required before any searches are applied for. The cost will vary depending on the searches needed.
• On behalf of you and your mortgage lender we will check the content of the deeds and search results. Any queries will be dealt with directly between us and the seller’s solicitor.
• If you are obtaining a mortgage, we will ensure that this meets with your needs.
• The contract documents will only be signed by you once all enquiries have been dealt with and satisfactory search results have been received.

Post contract – pre-completion stage

• Only when the seller and buyer are ready to commit to the transaction will contracts be exchanged. It is customary for a 10% deposit to be paid by you when buying a property. The deposit acts as a statement of intent, i.e. proves that you are serious about the purchase and that you intend to fulfil your contractual obligations. The deposit is forfeitable if you decide to withdraw from the purchase after the contracts have been exchanged. Exchange of contracts confirms what the parties must do (for example how much is paid and when). It marks the stage at which the contract becomes legally binding, ensuring that neither party can withdraw without incurring penalties.
• Buildings insurance for the property must be in place from the date of exchange.
• We will then forward the draft transfer deed to the seller’s solicitor for approval. Whilst the contract states what the parties must do, the transfer deed carries it out, activating the contract and bringing it to life.

Post completion stage

• Completion occurs when all the terms of the contract have been met. We will forward the money to the seller’s solicitor and once it has been received by them, the keys for the property will be given to you.
• The keys will be handed to you by the estate agents or directly received from the seller of the property if you have made personal arrangements in this regard.
• We will then register the property and mortgage deed in your name and deal with any stamp duty payments on your behalf.