Buying a Property
Generally speaking, the timescale from receiving your instructions to completion of your sale or purchase, can take between 6 and 12 weeks. It can be quicker or slower, depending on the parties in the chain. For example, if you are a first time buyer, purchasing a new property with a mortgage in principle, it could take 6 to 8 weeks or if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, between 10 and 14 weeks.
In a straightforward transaction, with no unusual problems arising, our procedure (briefly) is as follows:
Before signing & exchange of contracts:
We take your instructions.
We contact the Estate Agent (if any).
We obtain a draft Contract from your Seller’s Solicitors.
We make a search of the Local and County Authority (this can take two weeks to be returned).
We make any further searches required and raise enquiries on the Contract and legal papers (boundaries, disputes etc).
We liaise with the Building Society / Bank arranging your mortgage.
We attend upon you to discuss the paperwork and answer any queries you may have.
At the same time your Seller’s Solicitors and Buyer’s Solicitors will be carrying out the same procedures for their clients.
When all the above matters are completed and if your Seller and Buyer are ready you will be in a position to exchange Contracts (this will legally bind both of you and your Seller and Buyer to complete the transactions). At this stage we will ask you to sign the Contracts and then discuss proposed dates you would like to move, bearing in mind that we need on average a further seven days from exchange of Contracts to finalise our preparations for completion and to request monies in readiness for completion. If two or more people are buying together we will advise as to the methods of ownership; ie Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common.
After exchange of contracts & before completion:
You will now have a date for completion and you should make arrangements with your removal firm and with your Seller and Buyer to have the gas and electricity meters read and the telephone transferred etc on completion day. You should also deal with Council Tax, Water and Sewage Rates. We continue with the transaction as follows:-
Completion Day (Moving Day):
You should not need to see us on the moving day. Your Buyer’s Solicitors will arrange to transfer the purchase money to us and in exchange we hand over your deeds. We then transfer your purchase money to the Sellers Solicitors and obtain the deeds to your new house.
A key and access to your new property is usually available between 12.00 noon and 2.30 p.m on the date of completion (although this is often dependent on what time the monies are sent/received by all involved in the chain).
Following completion we notify HMRC of the transaction and pay any Stamp Duty Land Tax which may be payable and register your ownership of the property at the Land Registry.
We prepare the final legal documents of transfer and mortgage.
We carry out final searches (bankruptcy etc).
We report to and obtain the advance from your Building Society/Bank (they require on average at least five working days notice).
A few days prior to completion we shall arrange for you to sign the Transfer documents and your Mortgage Deed and pay any further monies to us if there are insufficient funds available from the sale and purchase.
Please note that for all of our conveyancing transaction we act on a “No Move No Fee” basis, this means that if for any reason you are unable to proceed with your sale or purchase, we will make no charge for the legal work undertaken on your behalf. Please bear in mind however that if, for example, you are purchasing a property, you may already have incurred disbursements for search fees etc.
Client Feedback
“It became a complicated purchase but you guided us through it and we felt confident”
“Please thank all your staff for the excellent service received!”
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“It became a complicated purchase but you guided us through it and we felt confident”
〰️
“Please thank all your staff for the excellent service received!” 〰️ “It became a complicated purchase but you guided us through it and we felt confident” 〰️