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Introduction
Your home is likely to be the most expensive purchase you ever make.
This booklet explains in plain language the complex procedures your
solicitor will deal with for you and acts as a guide and reminder to
the steps you need to take as the transaction progresses.
We
have a team of professionals whose sole object in life is to get your
move done as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Conveyancing is their
speciality and many of them have many years‘ experience of doing
just that. Many of our clients come back for subsequent house moves
as well as other legal services in between. We monitor client feedback
very closely and constantly seek to improve our practices to provide
the best service to all our clients.
Buying
or selling your home
It doesn‘t really matter at what stage you instruct us. It may
be that you will come to us once you have chosen your house and arranged
your mortgage or put your present home on the market but, as we provide
a fixed price service, by instructing us before you do anything else
we can help you choose an estate agent (not all give the same level
of service), estimate the costs involved in a sale or purchase (or both)
from the start, and recommend a financial adviser who can give independent
advice on the type of mortgage schemes available if you need to arrange
a mortgage.
If
you are buying a home with a relative, friend or partner to whom you
are not married you must think ahead to what will happen if you fall
out or one of you dies. We will need to word the documentation to take
your intentions into account. Anyone involved in a property transaction
will certainly be advised to think about making or amending their will
to reflect their change in circumstances. If you have dependants you
must consider providing for them if the worst happens. In fact, we provide
a discount to clients who instruct us to make or amend their will within
one month of completing a sale or purchase of a property.
Your mortgage
There are many mortgage schemes on the market these days. Some lenders
are willing to lend more than you could comfortably afford to repay
and in these days of ever increasing property prices it‘s tempting
to think ‘we‘ll manage somehow.‘ Ask your mortgage provider
for sample repayment figures for higher interest rates to make sure
you can continue to make the payments if (or when) interest rates rise.
Make sure you are completely happy with your mortgage scheme before
you sign on the dotted line.
Searches
While we are acting for you in your purchase, we will also be wearing
another hat and be acting on behalf of the building society or bank
from which you are taking your mortgage. They will instruct us to do
searches against you to ensure you are worthy of their business. We
will also do searches against the property you are buying to make sure
there are no outstanding debts registered against it and that there
are no local authority plans that will affect it in the foreseeable
future, such as a bypass, a compulsory purchase order or a public footpath
through your garden! The searches we do will depend on where you intend
to purchase your house, for instance you won‘t need a coal mining
search in Lincolnshire but you probably will if you‘re moving ‘up
north.‘
It
can take a little while for us to receive the results of searches, and
if the results aren‘t quite what we expect we have to make more
enquiries which can take time. We understand how frustrating this can
be but we cannot and will not allow a transaction to go ahead that isn‘t
in your best interests.
The survey
There are several types of survey, and it may be sensible to have a
more comprehensive but costly survey which can save you money in the
long run. If you are having a mortgage your bank or building society
will organise the survey but you will choose the type. If you are lucky
enough to be buying without a mortgage we can recommend a surveyor if
you wish.
Don‘t
panic when you receive the survey report - no survey report ever comes
back with a completely clean bill of health for a property! If there
are problems, get in touch with us and we will advise you - it may well
be possible to renegotiate the price of the property or arrange for
the vendor to pay for the problems to be put right. If there are problems
your bank or building society may withhold some of your mortgage money
until they are put right. Don‘t be afraid that the vendor may immediately
pull out and put the property back on the market as any subsequent purchaser‘s
survey will reveal the same faults and the vendor will be back to square
one.
Exchange of contracts
When all searches and enquiries are satisfactorily completed you‘ll
usually be asked to come into the office to sign the contract. At this
stage we will go through all the documentation with you and answer any
questions you may have. Remember you can ask us questions at any time
by phone, fax or email.
The
next stage is that contracts will be ‘exchanged.‘ That literally
is what happens - the contract you sign will go to the other side‘s
solicitor and they will send us the contract signed by their client.
This is the ‘point of no return‘ when the deposit is paid
and you are committed to the sale or purchase. If your property transaction
forms part of a chain (and most of them do), exchange and completion
will have to dovetail in with the rest of the chain. This is probably
the most aggravating part of buying and selling a house as everyone
involved in the chain has to be ready to exchange and complete at the
same time. When you get to this stage you‘ll be worn down by the
number of forms you‘ve filled in, boxes you‘ve ticked and
enquiries you‘ve made but bear in mind everyone in the chain has
been on this same trek and you‘ll understand why there can be delays.
A serious problem anywhere in the chain holds everyone up.
Once
contracts are exchanged you can go ahead and make plans in earnest,
as there‘s no going back now and that home you‘ve set your
heart on is soon going to be yours. Book your removal firm, start notifying
everyone of your change of address and get packing!
While
you‘re attending to all of this we‘ll be finalising the paperwork
and ensuring the finance is in place ready for completion.
Completion
This is the Big Day when the house becomes yours. You will not need
to come in to see us today because everything will have been prepared
beforehand and you‘ll have plenty to do without running around
after solicitors.
You
will need to have arranged beforehand what to do about handover of the
keys for your new home (and also the house you‘re selling if you‘re
not a first time buyer). Do not hand over the keys before you hear from
us that the finance has gone through and completion has actually taken
place. Likewise, do not expect to be handed the keys to your new property
until your vendors have heard from their solicitors that they are able
to do so.
If
you are part of a chain or there is any delay in the banking system
it may be quite late in the day before you finally take possession of
your new home. Try and plan the time of your move accordingly. Removal
firms often schedule their delivery vans to do more than one move during
the course of a day and they won‘t welcome an enforced break outside
your new home while you wait for that all important call or your vendors
are still packing their van.
After it‘s all over
While you settle into your new home we‘ll be tidying up the legal
loose ends - dealing with registration at the Land Registry, paying
bills and stamp duty etc. If you have a mortgage, the bank or building
society will keep your deeds as security. Before we send them off we
will make you a copy of the main documentation so that you will not
incur the bank or building society‘s charges for releasing the
deeds if you need to refer to them to clarify a point in the future.
If you don‘t have a mortgage we can keep your deeds safely in our
strong room. There is no charge for this.
Jargon
and Legalese
terms and their meanings
Principal
Contact John
Arnold
Direct Dial: 01522 781470
Profile
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