The Property Buying Process Explained

You find the home you wish to buy. You agree the price via the estate agent with the seller. If you are having a mortgage you now apply to your chosen lender with the property details. (You will probably have a mortgage promise already at this point.)

Contact our Client Service Advisors for an estimate of costs to help decide which solicitor you would like to instruct. Once you have decided you need to pass the solicitor’s details on to the estate agent and your lender. The estate agent will issue a Memorandum of Sale to both the seller’s and buyer’s solicitor.

We will issue you with a Client Care Pack which includes our Terms of Business, a request for proof of identity and payment on account for searches. You will need to sign and return the Terms of Business and provide the requested information to enable us to start work on your purchase.

You ensure your mortgage application is moving along and your lender is arranging the survey on the property for valuation purposes. You may also want to consider arranging your own survey at this stage.

The seller’s solicitor will send us a Contract together with a copy of the deeds and a Property Information Form and Fittings and Contents Form which will be checked (and copied to you) and we will raise any queries necessary.

We will order the searches to be undertaken on the property. Searches are compulsory if you are having a mortgage. They are advisable on a cash purchase also but not compulsory. We will review the search results and again send any enquiries necessary to the seller’s solicitors.

When you receive your formal mortgage offer we should receive our copy at the same time. We will draft the final completion statement and include details of any charges and payments required. At this point we would advise the lender of any 3rd party payments’ (e.g. parents gifted deposit) and discuss with you if a co-ownership agreement is needed.

Once we receive all search results, your mortgage offer and replies to any enquiries raised we will prepare a Purchase Report for you.

We will send you the Purchase Report, the Completion Statement, and any documents you may not have seen as yet, and will ask you to make an appointment to see us to discuss the matter in detail, sign the documents required, discuss payment details for the deposit/balance due and finally, agree a completion date to suit you.

We will contact the seller’s solicitor to agree the completion date.

Once we are in receipt of deposit funds from you and the completion date is agreed, Contracts will be exchanged and the completion date is fixed.

We will request the mortgage funds from your lender – they usually require 5 working days notice. Any final balance due from you will also be requested at this time.

Completion Day: We will send the purchase price to the seller’s solicitor by bank transfer. Once received by them they will release the keys and we will inform you at that time by telephone.

After completion we will arrange payment of your stamp duty (if required) and also apply to HM Land Registry to register the property as yours. Once this is finalised you will receive a copy of your Title Information Document from us and your lender will also receive a copy.