Buying a Property - The Process

1. Before you involve a solicitor (but by all means Get A Quote from us now!)

A. Arrange the Finance.  

You may be able to buy a property from money that you already have, but many people have to arrange some kind of mortgage finance.   You may be finding some of the price of your new property from selling another property, and it will generally be necessary to have found a buyer for it who can proceed, before many sellers will consider you as a serious buyer.

B. Choose a House or Flat to buy

Once you know what you can afford, then look for a property to purchase.   The link in this heading gives some hints about things to look out for.  As properties come new to the market from 14th December 2007 they should all have a Home Information Pack, which will provide more information about the energy efficiency of the property and copies of some of the legal documents and some searches. Whether these will really assist buyers in making a decision remains to be seen.

C. Make an Offer and Negotiate if necessary

If your offer is accepted subject to contract then the process really gets going!  Then you will want to consider a Conveyancing Quote and How to Choose a Conveyancing Solicitor. The next section links you to pages about what happens during the legal process.

2. The period up to Exchange of Contracts.

Once you are happy with the Conveyancing Solicitor that you have chosen then you will need to complete any forms he provides and usually provide a cheque for initial search fees etc.   The rest of this explanation assumes that you have instructed this firm and explains how we approach matters, but most firms work in more or less the same way.

We will not do any work at all for you until we have been formally instructed and we have carried out the necessary anti-money laundering checks.

Quite a lot needs to be done now and this is explained on pages about:

When all this has been done we get to Exchange of Contracts Stage.  Click the link for more details of what happens.

3. After Exchange of Contracts

You will need to be making some final arrangements about removals, insurance, and any further funds needed, and we will be making final searches and making sure everything is ready for completion.  A page about Pre-Completion Matters for Buyer and Solicitor gives more details.

4. Completion

Have a look at a page about What happens at Completion.

After completion we should receive a pack of documents form the seller's solicitors.  We send off the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) form (which has to be completed and sent even if no tax is payable) with any tax payable.

When we have certificate from the SDLT office that they have had the form, the documents from the seller's solicitors and evidence that the seller's mortgage lender has discharged his mortgage, then we can send the documents to the Land Registry to register you as owner and your lender's mortgage as well.

Go to Selling Process

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