Buying a Property

The information set out below provides a brief summary of the three stages that are usually relevant once you have found a suitable property to buy.

Stage 1 – Information Gathering

The first thing that we do is to take all the details that we need from you about the property, and about your financial arrangements. We will contact the estate agents dealing with the property and the solicitors acting for the seller asking for the contract paperwork. Our job is to obtain all the technical and non-technical information about the property as soon as possible and to advise you on this information. This includes the contract, property information forms, title information, searches and a contents list. In some cases other information needs to be gathered such as leasehold information, details of planning permissions, guarantees and by-law consents.

You will receive several reports prior to exchange on the contract and title, your mortgage offer and the searches. Included in these reports will be copies of the documents that you have to sign. We will, of course, not exchange contracts or bind you into any legal agreement, without your approval!

Usually the last bit of information that arrives prior to exchange is your mortgage offer. Generally we will receive a copy of that offer a couple of days after it is sent to you. We will check to ensure that there are no conditions that cannot be satisfied prior to completion of your purchase, as an outstanding condition could mean that the mortgage lender refuses to release the monies. For example there may be conditions relating to repair works or technical conditions that we, as solicitors, need to check. Usually we will be acting for you as well as the lender in relation to the purchase of the property.

Stage 2 – Exchanging Contracts

Prior to exchange, we will have reported to you on all aspects of the transaction and dealt with any queries that you may want to raise. You will have signed the contract, transfer and mortgage deed and provided us with your deposit for exchange (unless you are selling a property also, in which case we will use the deposit supplied by your buyer).

We will explain any points that have arisen and give you practical guidance on how we hope to proceed to meet your expectations as to completion (i.e. the date that you move in).

Once the rest of any chain are also ready we will telephone you for your authority to exchange. It is when we exchange contracts that you are bound to proceed, as are the sellers. Since, at that point in time, you have agreed to pay a very large sum of money for a property we need to be sure that:

you are absolutely satisfied with the property and its condition (see information sheet 3)
the information that we have given to you is correct
your finances
the moving date.

Generally exchanging contracts is achieved by us over the telephone using certain agreed procedures. We will always tell you as soon as we have exchanged.

Stage 3 – Completion

You can see that the critical step is exchange of contracts. There is usually a minimum period of five working days between exchange of contracts and completion but it can be up to one month or more or indeed in some circumstances less than five working days.

During this time we will get any mortgage monies from your lender, make final searches (which have a limited life span) prepare a financial statement showing the monies required to complete and collect these monies from you so that they are cleared in our bank the day before completion, to prevent any delay to you moving in on the completion date.

On the day of completion we will electronically transfer the monies to the account of the seller’s solicitor and they will telephone the estate agents to tell them that they can release the keys to you, usually around lunchtime on the day of completion.

After that you move in, unpack and relax. We deal with the production of documents to the Inland Revenue and registration of your title at the Land Registry. Once the registration is complete we will send you a copy of your deeds showing you as the registered owner.

NOTE: The above is only a general guide, please feel free to ask us if you have any queries on the above. Our aim is to make the process of moving as hassle free as possible. It is, after all, a very stressful time and paying attention to your concerns is one way of us helping to reduce that stress.

For those looking to buy a property to help a child get on the property ladder, click here.

For more information please click the right hand links, email us at conveyancingquote@warnergoodman.co.uk or phone us on:

Fareham: 01329 222097

Portsmouth: 02392 776549

Southampton: 02380 717439