Buying

Moving house is an exciting prospect.

Our experienced and dedicated Conveyancing team are here to advise and assist in your move every step of the way.

We will keep you updated and informed throughout the process.

Please consider our FAQ’s which deal with the most common questions we are asked.

Buyer FAQs

• I’ve had an offer accepted – what should I do next?

Once your offer has been accepted you should give the Estate Agent our contact details. They will then produce a document called the Memorandum of Sale which will contain the information of all the parties and their legal representatives. This will include the full purchase property address and the agreed purchase price.

If your purchase is a private purchase, with no estate agent, then please contact us directly with the details of the seller and their instructed solicitor so that we can commence the process.

We will then open a file and send you our initial client care documentation which outlines the information we require from you and details of the next steps.

We will immediately inform the Seller’s Solicitors that you have instructed Chris Stevenson Solicitors and request the contract paperwork.

• What are searches and do I need them?

Property Searches contain important information from external authorities such as the Local Authority, Water and Drainage, Environmental Agency and Coal Authority relating to the property you are buying.

If you are purchasing the property with a mortgage then it is likely that your lender will require you to obtain searches.

If you are a cash buyer, searches are not compulsory but we would still advise that you obtain them to ensure we can gather as much information about the property as possible.

Searches usually take 2-3 weeks from the point of payment and request but they can take longer depending on the location of the property.

What is the difference between freehold and leasehold?

Buying a freehold property means that you completely own the property and the land it sits on.

Buying a leasehold property means you own that property for a specific period of time that is set in the lease.

When buying with a partner or someone else, is the property always owned 50:50 ?

Joint Tenants

If you own a property as joint tenants this means you own the whole of the property together.

You would not have a specific share in the property and if you sell the property in the future it would be presumed that you both own the property equally. Upon death of one owner, their share would be passed automatically to the surviving owner.

Tenants in Common

If you own a property as tenants in common you will each own a share in the property which will be clearly defined.

For example; one person can own 60% of the property whilst the other owns 40%. This can be quite common in cases of cohabiting couples where one party has contributed more money towards the purchase price.

If you have a more complex arrangement for owning the property we can help you with a declaration of trust. Please refer to the FAQ for declarations of trust below.

• What is a declaration of trust?

A declaration of trust is a document that we can draw up to record specific terms of ownership of a property. These can be used to record many scenarios such as uneven contributions to a deposit or giving someone a beneficial share in the property even if they are not legally an owner. For more information please speak to our Conveyancing Team

• When do I need to pay my deposit?

You will need to send your deposit to us before exchange of contracts.

This happens during the later stages of the transaction and we will inform you when it is time to start preparing the transfer of funds.

• What is exchange of contract?
• Exchange of contracts is the point at which the purchase contract becomes legally binding. This means that the agreed completion date (moving date) is confirmed. If you withdraw from a purchase after exchange of contracts you will be at risk of losing your deposit.

• In order to exchange, all parties must have signed their contracts and be satisfied that they are ready to proceed with no further enquiries.

• You will become responsible for insuring the property immediately following exchange of contracts. You can therefore be held liable to any damage at or to the property following exchange of contracts.

If buying with a mortgage, it will be a condition of your mortgage offer that you have buildings insurance in place to the full reinstatement value of the Property from the point of exchanging contracts.

Due to our obligations to your Lender, we will therefore be unable to exchange contracts until we have received a copy of your insurance policy schedule/certificate.

What is the completion date?

Completion date is often referred to as ‘moving day’. Completion is the date that the money changes hands and you collect the keys for your new property (and hand over any keys if you are selling a property too).

On the completion day we will send your  purchase funds to the seller’s solicitors. Completion will officially take place once the funds are received by the selling solicitors. Once this has been confirmed we will notify you immediately and you can collect your keys from the estate agents.

If you would like more information in relation to buying property, please do not hesitate to contact our team on 01302 341243 or conveyancing@chris-stevenson.co.uk.

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