What we do before Contracts can be Exchanged
ARTICLES AND FAQS
Some of the things people ask and problems they have, with our comments and answers.
Basically we make sure that:
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The seller is legally able to transfer the property to you;
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There are no legal liabilities related to the ownership of the property, or those that exist are acceptable in general, but we will explain them to you; and
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If you are obtaining mortgage finance to purchase the property, any legal conditions of the mortgage offer can be complied with.
The First Stage is to obtain a draft contract package from the seller's solicitors. Typically this comes a week or two after the transaction is first "agreed subject to contract".
Once the draft contract package is in, as a Second Stage we will:
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Send off the Searches which provide information from records about the property, and in some respects, it's neighbourhood. Searches are not to be confused with a Survey carried out by a qualified surveyor which will tell you about the condition of the property itself.
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Go through the papers and see whether there is any missing information or documents, or apparent inconsistencies in the information supplied. We will usually make some Additional Enquires about such matters or simply to obtain information that an average buyer may want.
If you will require a mortgage to purchase the property, typically two to three weeks from when you submitted a Mortgage Application, we will receive Mortgage Instructions from the lender with a copy of your Mortgage Offer. We will then check to make sure that any conditions of the offer can be met.
Once we have:
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All necessary searches back and any further investigations consequent upon the results have been carried out;
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Satisfactory answers and copy documents in response to Additional Enquires made by us; and
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Mortgage Instructions (if necessary) and we are able to confirm all mortgage conditions can be met
the Third Stage is to provide you with a Pre-Contract Report with copies of the relevant legal documents and the contract and other documents for you to sign. If there is a related sale, we might not supply the report until it is clear that the sale is also getting close to exchange of contracts.
When:
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the documents back from you signed,
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(if necessary) a Deposit from you, and
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if there is a related sale and we know your buyer and any chain below him is ready
we can proceed to Exchange of Contracts. Click here to go to a page about this.
Go to the page about What a Buyer needs to do before exchange of Contracts
Back to main Buying Process Page
Copyright: Richard Webster & Co 2010
Richard Webster & Co 30 Leigh Road Eastleigh Hampshire SO50 9DT
Conveyancing Solicitors for the Southampton area, South Hampshire and Wiltshire.
Page Last Revised 01/02/11