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Step by Step Guide to Buying your Home

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Buyer Advice

Residential Property

Step By Step Guide to Buying your home

It is always best to speak to a Financial Advisor before you start your search for your new home. They can calculate how much you can afford to spend based on any savings, your salary and your outgoings. They can help you with your mortgage application in advance and secure a mortgage offer for you so that you are in the best position to proceed once you have found your dream home.

Once you have found your dream home, make an offer to the Sellers estate agent based upon the selling price and your affordability. The Estate Agent will put your offer to the seller and either negotiate with you if the offer is rejected or accept the offer on behalf of the seller. The Estate Agent will issue a memorandum of sale to both sets of solicitors so that the legal side can commence.

Once your offer has been accepted the legal work to complete your purchase can begin. A memorandum of sale will be sent out by the Estate Agent to both the seller solicitors and your solicitor so that both sets of solicitors have the others details.

Once you have instructed us to act on your behalf, a file will be opened and you will receive our client care letter and various information forms to complete and return to us. This will include documentation in order to verify your identity and evidence of proof of funds for any money you are putting into the purchase.

Once we have received a contract pack from the other solicitor, we will ask you to make a payment on account. This is to cover the cost of searches which are required as part of the transaction. It is up to you when the searches are ordered. If you prefer to wait until you have a mortgage offer before spending this money then just let us know.

The searches are carried out on behalf of you and your mortgage lender and include the following

Local Authority search, drainage search, environmental search and possibly a mining search depending on the area the purchase property is in.

Once you have made your mortgage application, your proposed lender will instruct a surveyor to make a valuation of the property to ensure that it is acceptable to the lender for the amount of loan they will be offering.

It is important to note that this valuation is done on behalf of the mortgage lender and unless there are obvious defects in the property these may not be brought to the attention of the lender. If you require a more detailed inspection of the property then you should instruct your own Home Buyers Survey to be carried out. This type of survey goes into far more detail than the one provided for the lender but it may be possible to ask for the same surveyor to do both reports which could potentially reduce the cost

Not all lenders let you have a copy of their valuation report. This is for their purposes only and unless there is anything requiring attention on it you may not see this.

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Once your mortgage application has been approved and the valuation carried out a mortgage offer will be issued. A copy will be sent out to you and a copy to us.

We will then check through this to make sure any special conditions in there can be dealt with and provide a report to you on the contents of the offer, which will include amount of loan, repayment term and interest rates.

If there are any special conditions to be brought to your attention then this will be done in that report.

Once the seller has completed all his paperwork for his solicitor, we will be sent a draft contract pack. This will include the contract, evidence of the title and any title documentation with covenants and conditions. We will also receive a property information form and fixtures fittings and contents list.

Once this is received, provided we have your completed paperwork we will check through the title and raise any enquiries that may be necessary.

We will send a title report to you with copies of the documentation, an explanation of the contents, and the contract and transfer deed for you to sign. Once signed these documents will stay on our file until we are ready to exchange.

If you have any queries on any of the paperwork this is the time to raise them with us so that we can raise further enquiries. The fixtures and fittings list will show what items are being left in the property and if this is different to what you believe, again you should let us know.

Once we have a contract pack from the other solicitor, your payment on account and your authority to request searches, all the searches will be requested.

A full report on the contents of the searches will be provided to you once all the results are received.

We will ask you for a suggested completion date and this will be put to the other solicitor for agreement. Once a date is agreed, we will request your deposit and arrange to exchange contracts with the other solicitor.

Once contracts have been exchange the agreement to buy and sell is binding on both parties and the date cannot be changed and neither party can withdraw from the transaction without facing severe consequences.

There is no set period between exchange and completion but ideally a couple of weeks would allow all parties adequate time to organise themselves for moving day.

Your documents should be signed where indicated and returned to us as soon as possible.

Once contracts have been exchanged we will request your mortgage money from your lender and any balance from you so that we have the full amount due on our client account for completion.

We will also carry out our Land Registry searches and bankruptcy searches

On the day of completion, we will have received all your funds and your mortgage lender funds and we then transfer money from our client account to the seller’s solicitors client account. Once they have confirmed the funds have been received the keys will be released to you and you can move into your new home.

There will be a time in the contract which is normally 1.30 which means that strictly speaking even if the money has been received at say 10am the seller has until 1.30 to finish moving out of the property

Once you are in your new home you can hopefully forget about the legal side. It doesn’t stop for us. Once the matter is completed we will submit the Land Transaction Return form to the Inland Revenue and if necessary pay any stamp duty due. Once the signed Transfer deed is received from the other solicitor we will submit an application to the Land Registry to put the property into your name on the title register. This process can take anything up to six months depending on the Land Registry but once it is completed we will send a copy of the completed registration to you for your records and our job it done.

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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.

Don’t just take our word for it

Customer Testimonials

Conveyancing Testimonial

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Good morning,

I just wanted to send an appreciation email! People are often quick to complain but not as quick to give appraisal.

This is the second time that I have used Vincent’s solicitors and I have yet again been very happy with the service received. Any queries I had were always answered efficiently & I never felt that I asked too many questions (or that they were silly to ask!). Nothing was too much trouble. Joe, also a great point of contact with again great communication and always very helpful.

Thank you so much for making this a stress free process, and I will continue to recommend Vincent’s Solicitors & the team there.

Happy Monday & have a great week!

Kind regards,
Jessica

J Leech, Lytham Lytham Residential Conveyancing Test

Conveyancing Testimonial

Clear Advice Feels Better

Nicole, Sarah, Daisy

A belated thank you from me for all your support , patience and hard work on getting the purchase over the line.

As ever, a first rate service from you all – you are by far the best conveyancing team I have ever experienced and as this was property transaction no 18 for me that gives you some context !

Kind regards

Alison

A Wood, Lytham Lytham Residential Conveyancing

Residential Conveyancing

Clear Advice Feels Better

Following completion on my property sale I just wanted to show my appreciation for Vincents conveyancing services and in particular the support provided by Kerry Rankine.

Kerry was efficient, responsive and proactive throughout the transaction, her efforts made what could have been a stressful process straightforward and stress free, please pass on my personal thanks.

Now that this property has been sold we need to sort out our Wills & LPAs and I would appreciate an introduction to a suitable contact within Vincents, our preference would be to visit the Garstang office.

Regards
Adrian

Adrian P, Chorley Chorley Residential Conveyancing

Conveyancing Review

Highly Recommended

I highly recommend Vincent’s solicitors for their exceptional conveyancing services. June and her team were not only friendly but also displayed extensive knowledge, delivering an excellent service for the selling and purchase of my new property.

C Mould, Chorley Chorley Residential Conveyancing

Conveyancing review

Efficient and Reliable

We have used Vincents now on two occasions and cannot fault them. They are efficient, reliable as always. And as for solicitors, I will not use anybody else going forward. Amazing service and would recommend them to anybody!

H Green, Chorley Chorley Residential Conveyancing

Conveyancing Testimonial

Extremely Responsive

My wife and I have used Vincent solicitors for conveyancing since 2005 and for every property I’ve bought they have provided a consistently great service. They are always extremely responsive which helps enormously to speed the transactions along and they have always shown a high level of expertise. That expertise was especially useful in our most recent house purchase, which saw us move from a city centre property in the South East, to rural Cumbria. For this purchase June Caunce was our conveyancer and she helped guide us through the intricacies of easements, septic tanks, boundary issues and more! These are all elements we had not encountered before and so having a local and knowledgeable firm helping us was vital in covering off those elements, ensuring the purchase went smoothly.

A Owens, Chorley Chorley Residential Conveyancing

Conveyancing Testimonial

Clear Advice Feels Better

Good morning,

I just wanted to send an appreciation email! People are often quick to complain but not as quick to give appraisal.

Thank you so much for making this a stress free process, and I will continue to recommend Vincent’s Solicitors & the team there.

Happy Monday & have a great week!

Kind regards,
Jessica

J Leech, Lytham Lytham Residential Conveyancing Test

Conveyancing Testimonial

Clear Advice Feels Better

Nicole, Sarah, Daisy

A belated thank you from me for all your support , patience and hard work on getting the purchase over the line.

As ever, a first rate service from you all – you are by far the best conveyancing team I have ever experienced and as this was property transaction no 18 for me that gives you some context !

Kind regards

Alison

A Wood, Lytham Lytham Residential Conveyancing

Residential Conveyancing

Clear Advice Feels Better

Following completion on my property sale I just wanted to show my appreciation for Vincents conveyancing services and in particular the support provided by Kerry Rankine.

Kerry was efficient, responsive and proactive throughout the transaction, her efforts made what could have been a stressful process straightforward and stress free, please pass on my personal thanks.

Regards
Adrian

Adrian P, Chorley Chorley Residential Conveyancing

Conveyancing Review