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A GUIDE TO BUYING YOUR HOME
The Solicitors that GIPS are in partnership with, on your behalf, provide a quality Conveyancing service at a fair price. First and foremost, the levels of integrity and professionalism you expect of a traditional solicitor are intact with them. A qualified solicitor and experienced support staff will look after your case. You'll never phone up and be told the solicitor is "in court" and if your solicitor is engaged for some reason, someone else on the team will be able to help.
A Modern Service for Busy People:
Although ours is a personal service - you can of course choose to visit our office and meet your solicitor, we also recognise that most of our Conveyancing clients don't want to take time out during the working day if it can be avoided.
We have all the latest technology and can communicate by phone, e-mail, post and fax.
First Contacts are Important: New Business
We think we offer the sort of legal service that people need today. At your first contact with us our legal fees will be notified to you in writing. You will be given contact information and we will ask you to let us have whatever information we need to get started.
The Conveyancing Team
Our lawyers are here to make sure that the legal work relating to your sale, purchase or remortgage is undertaken efficiently and without fuss. We are of course ready to help with information if you ask and will keep you informed automatically of developments at key stages. Below we have outlined in general terms the key elements of the work we will be doing for you in your sale purchase or remortgage.
Our Job
There's no secret to what we do, yet few people outside the law understand the Conveyancing process. However, the responsibility we carry is high and the consequences of error can be considerable. We have implemented systems and procedures based on many years experience to avoid problems and pitfalls.
There are two main elements of the work that we do. They are co-ordination and legal work.
Co-ordination
We have to make sure that if you are buying and selling, the sale and purchase are co-ordinated to take place when you want, usually so you can move out of one property and into another on the same day
We have to make sure that with your authority we bind you into the sale of your old house and purchase of the new in such a way as to avoid you ending up with two houses [or none!] On completion day we must be sure that we have enough money from you and your lender and the new proceeds of the house you are selling to complete the purchase of your new house, and that we can pay off your existing mortgage.
Often there is a "chain" of Conveyancing transactions. This can lead to some hectic activity especially as most house buyers like to complete on a Friday!
In most remortgage cases the co-ordination element is less critical as most remortgages are on a "soon as possible" basis.
Legal Work
This sometimes involves what most people probably expect the solicitor to be doing in house sales and purchases - studying dusty and complicated old deeds going back hundreds of years! In truth this usually only happens nowadays if there is a legal problem. As you will see below there is plenty to be done even in a straightforward transaction, without researching ancient legal titles!
Your Lender
Your lender plays an important role. Whether you are buying or remortgaging, your lender needs to be sure that if things go wrong they can sell the property and get their investment back. The lender usually asks us to act on their behalf as well as yours. Lenders are big organisations, usually banks or building societies and their requirements are stringent. Sometimes it is the legitimate requirements of the lender that can cause delay in Conveyancing. We receive a copy of your mortgage offer. Increasingly these are complex documents running into many pages and often incorporating terms and conditions in further documents. If you have a query about your mortgage offer your first port of call should be the lender or your intermediary. The mortgage market changes all the time and is very competitive. There are often strings attached to mortgages that have cheap rates such as early redemption penalties and you need to be sure that you understand the implications of your loan before you accept it.
Surveyors
Your lender will instruct a surveyor to visit the property you are buying or remortgaging. This is to make sure amongst other things that the value of the property covers the amount to be borrowed. It is not a survey for your benefit. Whether or not there is a lender involved, if you are buying a property you should get in it both valued and structurally surveyed. Most surveyors will undertake a house buyer's survey, which is usually sufficient, but the surveyor should advise you on this. We can recommend a surveyor, please ask.
Searches and Enquiries
There are questions to be asked about the property, which sellers must reply to. There is the seller's property information form and fixtures fittings and contents form. This is the place to make clear if you are removing anything from the property you are selling that is attached to it especially light fittings, fitted furniture, shelves, carpets, curtains rails and so on. Buyers should not assume that fitted in items like the hob or built in oven would be left behind. Sellers must reply truthfully and with complete accuracy as misleading information given by a seller can result in the buyer being awarded compensation by a court!
We have to look at the Legal title to the property. Sometimes people try to sell land they don't actually own, or which are subject to rights of others or limited as to use. There are literally dozens of potential legal problems that can arise.
Even if the property has been registered at the Land Registry the title to property always has to be investigated by a qualified lawyer trained to identify problems and resolve them. If we are acting in the sale of property and there are problems with the title these problems would have to be rectified. Additional legal costs could be incurred if this happened, but we would always discuss this with you first.
Other Searches and Enquiries
On purchases and remortgages there are searches and enquiries to undertake. These include searches of the local authority records - For example, was that house built without planning permission or building regulations approval? Is there a smoke control order? Is a by-pass road about to be constructed through the back garden? Can your next-door neighbour walk across your back garden as an access way to his own? Where appropriate, we also undertake searches for coal mining, brine works, radon gas, company searches and so on. We also search against the seller or the seller's title, depending upon whether the title is registered or not. If a lender is involved they make us undertake a bankruptcy search against our own client as well!
Legal Documents
We have to prepare the legal documents that give effect to the transaction. Where there is a lender there will be a mortgage deed. This binds the borrower to the lender's terms and conditions, especially the consequences of failure to keep up the payments! The seller's solicitor draws up the contract of sale.
Nothing is binding on seller or buyer until both have signed the document, which is provided in duplicate, and then they are exchanged between the solicitors. This binds seller and buyer and will include details of the completion date and all other agreed terms.
There are some legal choices to be made too if you are buying with another person - are you holding the property in equal shares or unequal shares? Who gets the property if one of you dies? It may pass automatically to the survivor [confusingly called a "joint tenant" even in freehold land cases]. You may want to hold the property as " tenants in common" in equal or unequal shares when your share would pass to whomever you left it to in your will or under the intestacy rules.
We will clear this up before completion but make sure that your lender knows of your intentions as to who is to be a registered owner. Late changes will result in a new mortgage offer being required. Lenders usually require all joint owners to sign up to the mortgage deed. Make sure that the mortgage offer contains the correct information - the purchase price is particularly sensitive and must be correct, matching the figures in the Contract and Transfer.
Exchange of Contracts
"Exchange of Contracts" is the crucial point at which there is no going back without very expensive consequences usually, for the defaulting party. It is extremely rare for a Conveyancing transaction to fail after exchange of contracts for this reason. The buyer pays a deposit on exchange of contracts. This is 10% of the purchase price but often is negotiated to some lower figure, perhaps the deposit received on the buyer's own sale. The buyer's solicitor usually prepares the transfer document and this is signed by the buyer and seller and passed over to the buyer's solicitor on completion with all the title deeds. The completion monies are sent by bank transfer - we cannot use cheques and this is a reason why we always need "cleared funds" in our hands in time for completion. Remember, due to the obscure meanderings of our laws, the buyer is responsible for insuring the property being bought from exchange of contracts - especially important to remember to put in place if you either have no lender, because you are a cash buyer or you are not using your lender's block policy.
Removals
If you are using a removal firm you will need to give them a date for completion as soon as possible. Best to give a tentative date first and confirm it on exchange of contracts. In years gone by exchange of contracts and completion would be often four weeks apart but now this is the exception rather than the rule. A good removal firm will understand your problems but do book early!
Completion Day
This is the day you get your remortgage money, move house etc. We need to get your completion done as soon as possible. If there is a sale and related purchase we cannot pay out on your purchase until we have received the monies from your sale - this all has to be done "on the fly" as the completion day unfolds. 99 times out of 100 it all goes smoothly. There may be five or six houses or purchases all in the same chain. We must have a phone number to contact you on completion day. A mobile phone can be a boon! As soon as the money has been paid over you don't own the house you are selling and you do own the house you are buying. You are entitled to the key. Keys are usually either left at the estate agents or handed over direct. You should not let a buyer into your home until we have advised you that the purchase price has been paid. We will be ensuring that all the paperwork is in place and the monies received and paid out as required. All the receipts and payments are usually made on the completion day.
Completion Day Trips
Make sure that you have got the meters read and accounts transferred for electricity, gas and water. Tell the council you are moving so that council tax can be apportioned. Cancel your existing house insurance - we recommend keeping the property insurance on both buildings and contents to the day of completion. Make sure your new house and contents are covered. Get your phone disconnected. Take the phone number with you if you are not moving too far. Tell the post office you are moving and get your mail redirected. Don't forget to stop the standing order on your old mortgage if selling or remortgaging.
Stamp Duty and Registration
After completion, in all cases we have to pay stamp duty to the government for you within 28 days on all purchases over £60,000. Stamp duty is currently charged at 1% of the purchase price up to £250,000, 3% up to £500,000 and 4% over this. In every case of a purchase or remortgage, we must register the details of the transaction at the Land Registry. When the transaction has been registered at the Land Registry we will forward the deeds to the new lender or if there is no mortgage, to you. We can keep documents safely for you at the office. Please ask.
We hope that this Guide will help you to understand the process of buying a property. However, we will always be happy to help if you would like us to explain any of the procedures in more detail and you should not hesitate to speak to us at any time.
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