The Buying Journey – You’re buying a property! What now?

Now an offer has been accepted and you’re in the process of buying a property we will issue a Memorandum of Sale to you, the seller, your solicitor the sellers solicitor.

Mortgage process

• Now that the purchase price has been agreed and you are in the process of buying a property you need to let your mortgage advisor know and arrange for your full Mortgage Application to be submitted as soon as possible.
• When speaking to your mortgage advisor it is prudent to let them know which level of survey you require. If a HomeBuyers Survey is required by letting your mortgage advisor know at this stage they can make sure that both the HomeBuyers Survey and the Mortgage Valuation are carried out at the same time.
• The mortgage lender will instruct a surveyor to carry out the mortgage valuation and/or survey. The surveyor will contact us to arrange access to the property.
• Once the mortgage valuation and/or survey has been carried out you will hopefully receive your formal Mortgage Offer. If there are any concerns with the mortgage valuation and/or survey, please contact the office and we can go through them with you and offer you advice and our recommendations.
• Once you have your mortgage offer you need to sign and return it so your solicitor to request the funds to complete the purchase when required.

Conveyancing process

• You will shortly receive a Client Care Letter from your solicitor. It is vital that this is returned as soon as possible to avoid any delays. You will also need to comply with Identity Checks. Your identification needs to be provided as well in order to avoid delays.
• The sellers’ solicitor will provide your solicitor with information so that the Enquiry Stage can begin. Your solicitor will also raise enquiries to the Local Authority, known as Searches.

To avoid delays it is prudent to let your solicitor have monies for searches as soon as possible.

Your solicitor will only submit the Searches once they have the contract pack (or at the very least the Title documentation) from the sellers’ solicitors.

Your solicitor will always rely on the sellers’ solicitor to provide this information to cover them in the event of being sued.

It is important to remember that your solicitor is raising these enquiries to satisfy you and your mortgage lender.

• Once you and your solicitor are happy with the replies to enquiries a new contract will be issued and dates for exchange and completion can be agreed.
• In order for contracts to Exchange your solicitor needs a signed contract, Property Transfer Deed, mortgage offer and Deposit Monies. The sellers’ solicitor needs a signed contract and signed Property Transfer Deed from the sellers too. Typically the deposit is 10% but you can exchange on less, providing everyone agrees and depending on how much needs to move up the chain. Contracts can now exchange.
• In order for Completion to take place your solicitor needs to receive the mortgage monies from your lender and any remaining funds from you. The funds are then sent to the sellers’ solicitor and once received the sellers’ solicitor will confirm with us that keys can be released to you and the transaction has completed!

Mortgage and Conveyancing Terms Explained