Purchase

Once we receive instructions to act on your behalf, we will make contact with the estate agents or seller’s legal advisors to ensure that the contract documentation is provided without delay. Upon immediate receipt of the required documentation, we will raise the necessary legal enquiries and request any necessary searches.

We will liaise with you and or your mortgage broker to ensure that your mortgage offer is sent to us without delay. At this stage, we will also report to you any potential issues with the property or legal title, or any other matters that may cause delay. We will send you a provisional report providing copies of the plan to the property for your approval and also the sellers fittings and contents form for your approval.

Upon receipt of your mortgage offer, we will report to you if there are any unusual aspects or requirements regarding your mortgage offer. We will also prepare and provide you with a draft completion statement confirming the monies required from you to complete the purchase.

Once we have everything in place, we will invite you to attend the office in order to advise you of any legal issues affecting the property and to sign the Contract, the Transfer Deed, the Mortgage Deed and Stamp Duty Land Tax Transaction return. Alternatively, provided that all the necessary Identification requirements have been satisfied, we can forward a full contract report to you, with all of the documents requiring your signature. These documents cannot however be sent electronically as the original documents are required to complete the transaction.

Upon receipt of any balance monies required from you to complete the purchase or the deposit required to exchange contracts, and confirmation from you as to what date you wish to complete we will proceed to exchange contracts. It is at this stage that you become legally bound to complete the purchase on the date agreed and stated in the Contract. We will request your mortgage advance and undertake the necessary checks to ensure that you and your lender are protected and that legal ownership will transfer to you on completion.

Upon receipt of your mortgage advance and balance monies required to complete, we will on the day of completion, transfer the purchase monies required to legally complete the purchase. The transfer of funds is undertaken first thing on the day of completion to ensure that legal completion takes place at the very earliest opportunity and that you are therefore able to receive the keys as early as possible on the day of completion.

Following completion, we are required to submit the Stamp Duty Land Tax Transaction return form and any payment due to the Inland Revenue. The Inland Revenue will thereafter return a Stamp Duty Land Tax certificate confirming that the relevant duty has been paid. We then prepare a registration application to submit to HM Land Registry and forward the Transfer Deed, Mortgage Deed, Stamp Duty land Tax certificate and other documents required by the Land registry to register the legal transfer in to your name and register your lender’s mortgage against the property you have purchased.

Once the transfer is registered by HM Land Registry, they will return confirmation and provide new title deeds stating your ownership of the property. We will then forward confirmation and copy title deeds to you and to your lender. At this stage, your lender will confirm whether they require the title deeds or not. If they do not require the legal deeds and documents, we can forward them to you for safekeeping or retain them on your behalf.

At every stage of the buying process, we will keep you informed of progress, we will continually liaise with the seller’s legal advisors, and ensure that any estate agents involved, maintain constant communication with all parties involved in the transaction or the chain so that completion may take place at the very earliest opportunity.

PURCHASE MILESTONES

1. Confirm our instructions with the selling estate agents and sellers legal representatives and chase contracts and supporting legal documentation.
2. Raise any legal enquiries and request any additional searches required.
3. Consider mortgage offer, if applicable.
4. Provide buyer with a draft completion statement confirming the monies required to complete.
5. Once satisfied with seller’s replies to enquires, that all searches are clear, and that the buyer and buyer’s lender are protected, invite the buyer in to the office to discuss the purchase in detail and to obtain buyer’s signature to the Contract, Transfer Deed and mortgage deed. Alternatively, a fully detailed Contract Purchase report can be sent out to the buyer if preferred.
6. Obtain buyers balance monies required to complete, agree a completion date and exchange contracts with the seller’s legal advisors. Request the buyer’s mortgage advance from their lender.
7. On the completion date, transfer the purchase monies to the seller’s legal advisors and await confirmation that the monies have been received and the keys have been released. Inform the buyer that the keys are available for collection.
8. Following completion, we are required to submit the Stamp Duty Land Transaction return form and payment to the Inland Revenue and to register the transfer of ownership in to your name at HM Land Registry.

Forward new title documents confirming the new buyers as registered proprietors of the property to the client and forward any deeds required to the buyers lender.