Without a solicitor, purchasing a new house can be extremely confusing and stressful as well as possibly leading to legal problems.
In the process of moving home solicitors provide a link between the buyer and the seller. The purchaser’s solicitors work to ensure that their client get what they paid for, that the property has no legal or structural strings attached, and that if they do, then they ensure that the client is aware of all that they are buying into.
Often in the process of buying a house, individuals forget the importance of researching certain elements, and the importance of their contract exchange. Ward & Rider Solicitors has a team of specialists in property law and conveyancing, offering a strong hand to lead you into your new home.
There are many key elements we can help with during your journey to your new home, including:
Prior to Exchanging Contracts
Searches
Carrying out a ‘search’ involves us as your conveyancers contacting the local authority to determine if there is anything they are aware of which may affect a new property owner, this can include:
- Planning Permissions
- Planned Developments (including roadworks)
- Disputes
- Rights of Way
- Utility Provider
In addition, we can carry out Land Searches on your prospective property to determine if there are any additional flooding, contaminated land and mining history they are aware of.
It is important to carry out this conveyancing to determine if there is any additional information that you are unaware of prior to entering into any agreement, especially if they could affect the value of the property in the future.
If the property you wish to purchase is Leasehold, there will be terms and conditions that will need to be carefully reviewed, in particular, to determine what costs you may be required to pay.
Mortgage Deeds
We can assist you in understanding your mortgage deed set out by your lender. All aspect of both your offer letter and conditions need to be considered carefully before entering into an agreement.
Contract Signing
Anything we find in the ‘searches’ will be relayed back to you prior to any contract signing. If you still wish to purchase the property after this then we can move forward and draw up the finalised terms of the contract for you to then sign. At this point, you will be required to provide your deposit, normally between 5 and 10% of the property purchase price.
Exchanging Contracts
The exchanging of contracts is a critical point of progression during the purchase of a property and allows for the setting of the date to complete the transaction. At this point, we will exchange your signed contract with the sellers, following which any withdrawal from the buying or selling of the property may result in financial penalties.
After Exchanging Contracts
Final Balance
During the period between exchanging contracts and completion, we as your solicitors will obtain the mortgage money from your lender and the additional finance from yourselves. In addition, we will prepare the transfer deeds, complete the final search as well as communicating with the seller’s solicitors to organize paying existing mortgage upon the property.
Completion
At this stage, we will transfer the money for your purchase to the sellers’ solicitors and retrieve the deeds. Often, there is a chain of transactions during the completion day as the seller will no doubt be retrieving deeds to their new property around the same time, because of this here at Ward and Rider we keep you up-to-date on the progress of the transactions up until the handover of the keys.
Other Considerations
Often there are other legal matters that come to light following the purchase of a property, including the need to enter into a deed of trust if you and your cohabitee are not married to each other or updating a Will to include the new property.
Ward & Rider Solicitors can give you legal advice as to other areas you should be considering following the property purchase, incorporating these additional services into your case. Contact us today.
