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First Time Buyer Advice

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Home > Conveyancing Advice > First Time Buyer Advice
Residential Conveyancing

First Time Buyer Advice

Buying your first home is an exciting time, however as a First Time Buyer you may not be aware of all of the costs involved in buying and indeed owning your own property. That’s why we encourage all First Time Buyers to call our team and get a full breakdown of what conveyancing costs they will incur when buying their first property. You can call one of our solicitors or complete our online Conveyancing Enquiry Form and we’ll get back to you.

How Can Vincents help First Time Buyers?

 We think that it’s important that all First Time Buyers have a full understanding of all of the cost implications of buying a property before they’ve even viewed their first house. There are also other considerations, because of the rise in house prices over recent years you may be thinking of buying with friends or another member of your family. Circumstances do change however, and we want you to consider what you would do if one person wanted to sell their share or how sale proceeds would be shared if one of you paid a larger amount of deposit for example. We ask all First Time Buyers to get some good legal advice from one of our Conveyancing Solicitors so that agreements can be drawn up in advance.

What are the Conveyancing Costs for First Time Buyers?

The government has helped First Time Buyers to get onto the property ladder by increasing the threshold for Stamp Duty for First Time buyers. You qualify as a First Time Buyer if you have never owned property or land before, both inside or outside the United Kingdom. If you are buying a property jointly and one of you has owned a property or land before then you will be subject to Stamp Duty. For more information about Stamp Duty you can read our Stamp Duty Guide or our Solicitors can give you full guidance. Other Conveyancing costs vary depending on the purchase price of the property. Conveyancing costs include Search Fees, Land Registry Fees, Stamp Duty and our Conveyancing Fee. Once you know how much you can afford to pay for a property we will work out all of the fees for you.

What other costs will First Time Buyers incur?

During the process of buying a house you will have to pay various costs. These will include:

  • Mortgage Booking Fee
  • Search Costs
  • Land Registry Fees
  • Survey Fee
  • Stamp Duty Fee may apply depending on Purchase Price
  • Your Deposit
  • Removals Costs

And this is all before you’ve even moved in! On top of your mortgage you’ll have other bills to pay too. Don’t forget about the Council Tax, it’s worth checking out what band your property falls in and how much it is in advance. Make sure that you’ve got enough left over after your mortgage and council tax each month for other bills and for emergencies!

Call our First Time Buyer Experts Now

Our friendly team of conveyancing solicitors will be only too happy to guide you through your first purchase and help you with any questions you may have along the way. Give us a call today and we’ll provide you with a full quote for your conveyancing costs, or you can complete our online conveyancing calculator to give you an initial cost indication.

For any enquiries regarding First Time Buyers Advice please contact our Conveyancing Solicitors department on 01772 555 176
Or enquire online here

After your offer has been accepted you can follow our step by step guide to buying a house but it is important, as you are new to this, that if you have any questions you ask either your lender, your solicitor or estate agent.

Help To Buy ISA

If you are a first time buyer and have been saving in a Help to Buy ISA account, you may be entitled to Government assistance by way of a bonus payment from the Government towards your first house purchase.

There are price limits and you cannot claim any bonus for a property with a purchase price over £250,000 outside London and the maximum bonus you can obtain is £3000. The amount of bonus will depend on the amount in your ISA account on the day it is closed.

If you have a Help to Buy ISA account then during the conveyancing process we solicitor will ask you to complete a first time buyer declaration and will require the closing statement for your account. You will not be asked to close this account until the matter is almost ready to exchange so that you do not miss out on any potential bonus payment. Once the matter is ready to proceed you should close your ISA account and give to your solicitor the final closing statement. Your solicitor will then apply to the Help to Buy Agency with the First Time Buyer Declaration and the closing statement and obtain the bonus payment on your behalf.

This bonus can only be used towards the purchase of your property. You cannot use it towards your deposit as, if for any reason the matter does not complete, this money has to be returned to the Government to reapplied for at a later date if appropriate.

Meet our team of experts

Residential Conveyancing

June Caunce

01 / 015
Call today 01772 555 176 Email junecaunce@vslaw.co.uk

June Caunce is Head of Residential Conveyancing and is part of the Senior Management team at Vincents. She also runs Vincents Chorley office.

Read June’s full biography here.

June Caunce, Vincents Solicitors
Residential Conveyancing June Caunce
Jemma Lloyd, Vincents Solicitors
Residential Conveyancing Jemma Lloyd
Luke Robinson, Vincents Solicitors
Residential Property Luke Robinson
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Frequently asked questions

A right to buy purchase is when you are exercising the right to buy your existing rented property from the Housing Association or local authority you are renting from.
When a property is purchased in more than one name there are two ways to hold the property in trust: Beneficial joint tenants which means the property is jointly owned and on the death of one the property is automatically owned by the survivor Tenants in common which means the property is owned by the parties in whatever shares they decided ie 50-50, 60-40 but when one party dies their share of the property must be dealt with in accordance with their will or the laws of intestacy, there is no automatic ownership by the remaining parties. Sometimes the division of ownership for tenants in common is more complex than merely a percentage split for instance if one person puts a larger deposit into the property than the other. In such a case we would recommend a Declaration of Trust be entered into between the parties. This document can be as simple or complex as necessary to reflect the wishes of the parties buying the property. There are additional fees for the preparation of a Declaration of Trust.
A remortgage is the transferring of your mortgage from one lender to another usually to get a better rate of interest. Once your new mortgage offer has been issued, we would obtain copies of your title, and a repayment figure from your current lender. Provided there are no unusual requirements in your new mortgage offer we would then apply for that mortgage advance, repay the current mortgage and pay any balance to you if appropriate.
Sometimes it is possible to buy a property which is shared ownership which means you buy a percentage share in the property and rent the remaining share from a Housing Association who own the remaining share. The percentage purchased can start at as little as 25% and you have the ability in the purchase to buy additional shares (called staircasing up) in the future should your finances allow. What percentage you could initial purchase would be dependant on the requirements of the seller. If you are buying an existing property which is shared ownership and advertised with an Estate Agent you would need to approach the Housing Association who own the remaining share to get their approval of you as a buyer. What this would entail would depend upon the terms of the initial shared ownership scheme. Some shared ownership houses are built as such because the property is in an area where it is difficult for first time buyers to get on the property ladder and in these cases it is likely that you must have some connection to the area.
When someone dies their property will either need to be sold or transferred. If the property has been left to a named person in a will then a form of Assent is prepared which is a document the Executors of the deceased estate sign to put the property into the name of the beneficiaries.. If the property is to be sold then the sale will be by the Executors who take out the grant of probate of the deceased person. Whilst the property can be advertised and a sale agreed it is important to note that the sale cannot complete until the Grant of Probate has been issued. We work alongside our own Private Client team as well as other firms of solicitors in these matters.
Taking the right advice and doing as much preparation in advance of the auction date is always advised. When you buy or sell a property at auction, unlike in a normal situation, there is no opportunity to ask questions of the sellers as once your bid is accepted and the hammer falls then the agreement to buy and sell is binding and a completion date is set. If you pull out of the purchase at this stage you will forfeit your deposit and be open to further action from the other party for compensation. Ideally you should ask us to check over the auction pack before the auction takes place so that it can be checked whether there are any title problems or other things that need to be drawn to your attention before you make a successful bid. If you require Vincents to check the auction pack and provide a report to you on the legal title then we would ask for a payment of 50% of our normal fee plus vat.  Should your bid be successful then upon completion the other 50% of the fee would be payable.
A transfer of equity is when a property is transferred from one name to another/one name to two/ two names to one. It is a simple process of putting an additional name on the title or removing a name. However if the property has a mortgage on it and this mortgage is not being repaid then you would need first to approach your lender to obtain their approval to the transaction. Once the lender agrees and the matter completes the person being removed from the title would also be released from the obligations under the mortgage.
Once you have instructed us, we will open a new file and issue our client care documentation for you to sign. Your client care pack details many important points relating to your matter, which include the scope of our instructions and estimated legal costs, our service and terms of business, data protection form and anti-money laundering forms. You will also be requested to provide ID and source of funds documentation, if applicable.
You need to speak to a firm who has experts in dealing with whatever particular problem that you have whether that be Divorce, Writing your will, Conveyancing or something more specialist like Medical Negligence Misdiagnosis Claims or Trade Marks and Patents. At Vincents we have specialists across 7 locations who are approachable, knowledgeable and speak in plain english. Try and call us today and find out if we are the right fit for you.

Conveyancing Client Reviews

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Conveyancing Testimonial

Dedication and Willingness to help

When a family member passed away, we needed to sell their property. I could not have chosen a better conveyancing solicitor than Vincents Solicitors for this process. It can be a stressful journey, but luckily, I had a cash buyer with no chain, which made it slightly less complicated. However, there were still many intricacies to work through, such as collaborating with my fellow executor in Australia, which Vincents handled with ease. Their team’s dedication and willingness to help with every hurdle made the process as smooth as possible.  Also, them being local to my home in Euxton made meetings and signing documents highly accessible, and I loved supporting a business in my area.  Vincents’ no-nonsense approach and friendly service gave me peace of mind throughout the entire process, and I would wholeheartedly recommend their services to anyone needing conveyancing support.

 

A Brown, Bolton Chorley Residential Conveyancing

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