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A B Cs of buying a house.

Stage one

You have found the property of your dreams, obtained a copy of the HIPs information pack now it's time to study the pack carefully scrutinising the energy performance certificate and all the other information contained within that pack.

If after examining the Home information packs and had your offer accepted you need to make plans for yours and their legal representative i.e. solicitor/conveyance to start the processes, a memorandum of sale should be drawn up at this point and this can be done in consultation with your The solicitor of the buyer should now gather together all the information and contracts needed to send to the buyer's solicitor for them to begin the searches etc, they will then bring together a list of enquiries based upon the information provided by the sellers solicitor, this is called due diligence.  .

Both solicitors will make contact with each other at this point, and your solicitor will begin the process of drawing up a contract, this will include the property information forms, fixtures and fittings, the Home Information Pack, Also Information such as major structural changes, guarantees and warranty, copies of planning permissions and building regulation approvals will also be included.

Now is the time for you to inform your lender of the terms and purchase price that has been agreed by you and the seller so they can begin the mortgage process, if the mortgage had been applied for previously all checks pertaining to you would have already been completed i.e. income, credit rating and savings.

Stage two

The solicitor of the buyer should now gather together all the information and contracts needed to send to the buyer's solicitor for them to begin the searches etc, they will then bring together a list of enquiries based upon the information provided by the sellers solicitor, this is called due diligence. The solicitor is duty-bound by the mortgage provider to carry out checks and ensure that the buyer will be purchasing a property free of problems. Once this process is complete and the mortgage provider is satisfied with the results, the buyer would now have to provide a surveyor's report, this is a very important part of the process as many potential sales have been stopped at this point due to expensive structural defects or the surveyor has values the property significantly below the asking price.   

Stage three

This stage of the process would mainly be the domain of the solicitors and mortgage provider, providing all is well with a surveyor's report the mortgage provider will begin the process of drawing up a formal mortgage offer, this could take up to weeks two produce, this part of the process is called the OYEZ which is a standard legal form outlining all the enquiries made to this point.

Stage four

At this point of the process (around the fourth week Mark) you should expect the legal work to be pretty near completion and your mortgage lender to be ready with your agreed mortgage, you should now have received the terms and conditions of the loan offer, this should include the total repayment, the repayment plan, the type of interest along with the rate of interest. Once all the above is in place you are nearing the point of the exchange of contracts.

At around the five week Mark your solicitor should have received from your lender the mortgage offer, if at this point the solicitor is satisfied with all the legal aspects of the mortgage offer and satisfying that it matches your offer, the solicitor will arrange for you to sign the necessary paperwork and he should make sure you have a full understanding of what you are signing, this is the point at which you would need to produce your deposit at whatever percentage was previously agreed (1%/ 5% /10% deposit).

It is the solicitor’s duty to make sure you understand all aspects of the legal paper work that has been carried out; also it is his legal duty to make sure you understand the terms of the mortgage offer, only then should you be asked to go ahead with the signing of any contract and mortgage offer.

Now it is time your solicitor to contact the seller’s solicitor to exchange contracts and to arrange a completion date, this is the date the buyer takes over official ownership of the property.

As a completion date nears you will be asked for any outstanding deposit and or fees, on the day of completion the deposit and the mortgage offered to the buyer from the mortgage provider will be transferred into the seller’s solicitor account, once this is completed all that should be left to do is to collect your new set of keys.

You will be put on notice, if you fail to make any of the final payments, on notice means you have 14 days to come up with any outstanding monies, you will also be charged any reasonable cost that the seller may incur due to the buyer’s defaulting and interest may be paid on the outstanding amount of money, this would also apply to any other purchaser if the property being bought is part of a chain. More than likely you will be sued by the seller.