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Key stages in the home buying process

Buying a property can be a stressful business. Understanding what the process involves ensures there are fewer surprises along the way. Property Lawyer Claire Simmons has some tips.

The residential conveyancing process involves legally transferring home ownership from the seller to the buyer.

The first stage involves instructing a solicitor who should discuss with you the importance of having a survey carried out in respect of the property you are purchasing, in addition to the valuation report being provided by any mortgage lender and also the different grades of survey that are available.

The principle of “Buyer Beware” applies to a purchase transaction and, as such, there will be no legal comeback on the seller following an exchange of contracts. Therefore, the buyer should carry out all necessary surveys, investigations and enquiries and obtain all relevant searches.

The seller’s solicitor will prepare the draft Contract and will send these to your solicitor with supporting documents including a form completed by the seller which provides information such as the responsibility for the boundaries and details of any alterations that may have been made to the property during the seller’s period of ownership.

This form will usually be a fixtures, fittings and contents list detailing which items the seller will be leaving at the property and those which will be removed on completion.

Your solicitor will then approve the Contract or make any necessary amendments and return it to the Seller’s solicitor with any pre-contract enquiries that may be required on the title to the property or the forms completed by the seller.

Your solicitor with then do a set of legal searches against the property. The usual searches carried out include a local authority search, which would reveal any planning enforcement notices, building control history, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; a drainage search to find out whether the property is connected to the mains water and whether the property is connected to the public drainage system, together with an environmental search which would reveal if the property is situated on a former landfill site and any location-specific searches such as a coal mining search.

You will also need to get your mortgage in place. Once your mortgage is approved your solicitor will go through the conditions of your mortgage offer with you.

Before exchange of contracts can take place, your lender will require you to get buildings insurance for your new home. This is because you will be responsible for insuring the property as soon as contracts have been exchanged.

Since receiving the draft Contract from the seller’s solicitor, your solicitor will have been in contact with you to report to you on the results of the searches title and mortgage and will send you the Contract together with any supporting documents required for signature.

Your solicitor will then ask you to send a deposit of 10% of the purchase price to them and this will be the deposit used on exchange of contracts. Your solicitor will exchange contracts over the telephone for you. This is usually done by both solicitors reading out the contracts over the phone to make sure the contracts are identical, documenting their phone call and then immediately sending them to one another in the post.

Once you have exchanged contracts you will be legally bound to buy the property with a fixed date for moving. This means that, if you do not complete the purchase, you will lose your deposit and
the seller could sue you for breach of contract.

Between exchange and completion your solicitor will ask you to send any balance of funds required to complete your purchase and will request your mortgage lender to send the funds to them in time for completion.

Completion takes place when the seller’s solicitor confirms they have received the monies that are due. Once confirmed, the seller should drop the keys at the estate agents for your collection.

For more information on the issues raised by this article, please get in touch.

Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.

This page may contain links that direct you to third party websites. We have no control over and are not responsible for the content, use by you or availability of those third party websites, for any products or services you buy through those sites or for the treatment of any personal information you provide to the third party.

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