Thank you for instructing Barrett & Thomson in connection with the purchase of a new property.  This information sheet is designed to give you an indication of the key stages and actions which will take place during the course of the purchase.

First Contact

We will receive details of the purchase from the estate agents.  A copy of their Memorandum of Sale will be sent to all parties involved – you, your seller, us and the seller’s solicitors.

First Action

We will ask you to let us have proof of your identity – this is a statutory requirement.  We will also ask you to let us have money on account of costs in order that we can immediately instigate the necessary searches as soon as we receive paperwork from the seller’s solicitors.

You will need to start making arrangements for any required mortgage finance and also arrange to have a survey carried out on the property.

The Draft Contract

We will receive from the seller’s solicitors a package of documentation including a draft contract for approval, copies of the deeds and a Sellers Property Information Form and Fixtures and Fittings list.

We will consider the paperwork provided, approve the draft contract and raise any additional enquiries which are considered necessary.  We will also put in hand an application for the local authority, water and environmental searches.

Please note that it may be necessary for further additional enquiries to be raised once the results of the searches are received.

Pre Exchange of Contracts

Once we are satisfied with the replies received from the seller’s solicitors and the results of all the searches, and we have received your mortgage offer, we will prepare a report for you on the documentation.  You should read through the paperwork carefully.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if there is anything which you do not understand or if you require further clarification on any of the issues raised.

You will then need to sign the contract and the mortgage deed and return them to us, together with funds in respect of the deposit. If you are also selling a property the deposit from the sale will be used in connection with your purchase.

Exchange of Contracts

Once we are in possession of the signed documentation and the deposit we will be in a position to proceed to exchange of contracts.  At this point all parties become legally bound to proceed with the transaction and a completion date (moving date) is set.

There is no set period which has to elapse between exchange and completion.  However a certain amount of time is required to enable us to give the relevant amount of notice to your mortgage lender to draw down the mortgage funds.  Lenders usually require between 4 and 7 working days notice to release funds.

Between Exchange and Completion

Immediately following exchange we will request mortgage funds from your Lender.  We will also prepare a completion statement for you showing the financial transactions involved.  Any balance due from you needs to be with us as cleared funds the day prior to completion.

We will prepare a draft transfer which will be sent to the seller’s solicitors for approval and signature by the seller.

We will also put in hand the last searches which are required.

Completion

On the day of completion we will arrange for the balance of the purchase monies to be sent to the seller’s solicitors by electronic transfer.  Once this is received the seller’s solicitors will authorise the estate agents to release the keys to you.

It is usually the case that the sellers will be in a position to provide vacant possession of the property by lunchtime on the day of completion.

Post Completion

After completion we will receive the deeds and documents relating to the property from the seller’s solicitors.  We will deal with the payment of stamp duty and the registration of your interest, and that of your mortgage lender, in the property at HM Land Registry.  It is not unusual for registration to take some time to be completed.

Once we receive the deeds back from the Land Registry we will forward a copy to you for your information and retention.  The originals will be sent to your mortgage lender as security for the loan you have with them.

Timescales

It is difficult to give an indication as to the length of time the transaction will take as it is dependant on so many factors, including the speed of the other parties in the chain and the length of time it takes for both the searches and your mortgage offer to be processed.  As a very rough guideline an “average” purchase will typically take between 10 and 16 weeks.  Please telephone us if you wish to discuss your particular requirements.

We hope that the above is of assistance to you.  If you have any specific queries however please do not hesitate to contact us.

*please see our  Conveyancing Fixed Fees  and Residential Conveyancing Servives for more details.