Once you have found a property to purchase, our Conveyancing Team will obtain a Contract pack from the Seller’s Solicitors. We will aim to report to you within 5 days from receipt of the same.
The contract report will be drafted once we are in receipt of your signed terms of business letter, identification and money on account for searches. The next stage of the transaction from receipt of the contract pack will be to raise enquiries with the Sellers Solicitors and instruct searches.
They will also arrange a Search Package to be carried out against the house you wish to buy, this will provide you with information about the property and its surrounding area. The title to the property will then be checked to ensure that it is good and marketable, and raise any necessary enquiries with the Seller’s Solicitor.
Upon receipt of satisfactory replies, our receiving clear search results and our being in receipt of signed mortgage (if using a mortgage) and contract documentation, we will then be in a position to negotiate completion dates (subject to the Sellers position).
If you are obtaining a mortgage to fund the transaction they will also check your Mortgage Offer and advise you on the terms and conditions of the Offer. If you are a cash buyer, you will need to ensure that cleared funds are available in time for exchange and completion.
Once all of the above are in place, our Conveyancing Team will provide you with a report on the property and ask you to sign the necessary documents.
Once all documents have been signed, and a completion date agreed between all parties in the chain, an exchange of Contracts will take place. This is the point that the Contract becomes binding, and neither party can back out of the transaction without incurring financial penalty.
We would estimate the purchase to complete within 4-6 weeks from receipt of the contract pack from the Sellers Solicitors (the estimated time scale is likely to be longer by about 4-6 weeks if the property is a leasehold flat).
If you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease this can take longer by between 3 and 6 months. In such a situation further legal costs will be incurred and we estimate the same to be £900 + VAT at 20% and the landlord will also require his/her legal costs to be paid which we estimate to be £900 + VAT at 20%.
On the date of completion, which is the date you obtain the keys to the property and ownership is transferred to you, our Conveyancing Team will ensure that the completion money is transferred to the Seller’s Solicitor as quickly as possible. The Seller’s Solicitor will then authorise the keys to the property to be released to you.
Our Conveyancing Team will then deal with the post completion payment of Stamp Duty, if applicable, and also register your title to the property at H M Land Registry. Once the registration formalities have been completed, we will forward a copy of the H M Land Registry Property Register to you for your information.