Buying Your Property

Check the contract

The Seller's solicitor will provide us with a draft Contract together with copies of the relevant deeds. We will inspect these to make sure that the Seller owns the property and has the right to sell.

Enquiries

The Seller's solicitor will provide completed Property Information Forms which contain information such as details of boundary ownership, disputes, services, guarantees, alterations to the property and fittings and contents included in the sale.

When we have checked the contact and these forms we will ask the Seller's solicitors specific questions relating to the property. At this stage it is a good idea to let us have any questions that you would like to raise. Please feel free to talk these through with us first if needed.

Searches

For the fees quoted in advance we carry out the initial searches you need which include:-

• Local Search – this reveals important information about the property covering everything from compulsory purchase orders and financial charges affecting the property through to maintenance of roads and planning matters.
• Drainage Search – this reveals whether or not the property is connected to mains drainage and water (along with the routes of any pipes) and whether the connections are metered.
• Environmental Search – this reveals a number of issues including whether the property is built on or near contaminated land or in an area at risk of flooding.
• Chancel Search – this reveals whether the property you are buying has a heavy legal obligation to contribute to the upkeep of a church in the area.

Other specialist searches may be required depending on the location of the property. We will advise you accordingly.

Survey

We strongly recommend that you have the property professionally surveyed before

committing yourself, whether or not you are taking out a mortgage.

A good general survey can be obtained from a Chartered Surveyor and you can either choose a Homebuyer's Report or a more detailed Full Structural Survey.

Above all else please remember that a mortgage valuation is no substitute for a survey, which can save you a lot of money and hassle in the long run.

Check your mortgage

By this stage you should have made your mortgage arrangements. We receive a copy of the mortgage offer at the same time as you receive yours. We will deal with any special conditions raised and will advise you and your lender of anything you should be aware of.

When we have checked your mortgage offer we will send the Mortgage Deed to you to sign and return. By getting this signed and witnessed we can be sure we are ready to complete the purchase promptly.

Report

Once we have received satisfactory responses to all our enquiries and have received the results of all the searches we will then provide you with written reports together with the Contract which we will ask you to sign in readiness for exchange of Contracts. We will also ask you at this stage for the deposit, which is normally 10% of the purchase price (if you have a related sale we may use the deposit on this as a deposit on your purchase). If a smaller sum is negotiated the balance of the 10% will be due from you should you fail to complete.

We will also complete and send you a Stamp Duty Land Transaction Return for approval. This needs to be signed by all Buyers and returned to us before completion whether or not stamp duty is payable.