The Housebuying Process In The UK: The Basics
Many people wonder why buying a house is such a time-consuming process. The answer is that all sorts of interested parties (buyer, seller, lender, solicitors, local and national government agencies etc) are involved and several different areas of the law (contract, land law, insurance, tax, planning) are covered.
All of these stages and interests take up time – and paperwork! Probably the best advice that can be given to first-buyers who wish the process to be as smooth as possible is to place their affairs in the hands of genuine professional property lawyers with extensive local knowledge.
A decent local solicitor will have both the legal knowledge and the range of contacts to bring the process to a swift and satisfactory conclusion. Once you have secured the mortgage the solicitor will contact your lender, preparing and legal-checking all contracts, supervising the mortgage transfer and dealing with necessary local authority checks. Your role will be to secure adequate insurance for the property, arrange a survey and find a removals company if required. Again, a knowledgeable local solicitor will doubtless be able to assist with some or all of these duties.
Once all applicable documentation is checked and signed, contracts are exchanged. At this point a deposit is lodged with the seller’s lawyers, final searches are conducted and a title certificate is sent to your lender subject to the mortgage advance being received. As a buyer your insurance cover should be activated and your removal arrangements confirmed.
Your solicitor will present you with a full financial statement and you contact the estate agent to arrange, subject to completion, collection of the keys. Your lender will transfer the balance of the mortgage to your solicitor, which is advanced to the seller’s solicitor, who returns title deeds once monies have cleared.
Any surplus funds agreed with your lender are released to yourselves. While you collect the keys and move in, your solicitor will pay any stamp duty owed, register your ownership with the Land Registry and send the title deeds to your lender.
Congratulations: you now own a house.
All of these stages and interests take up time – and paperwork! Probably the best advice that can be given to first-buyers who wish the process to be as smooth as possible is to place their affairs in the hands of genuine professional property lawyers with extensive local knowledge.
A decent local solicitor will have both the legal knowledge and the range of contacts to bring the process to a swift and satisfactory conclusion. Once you have secured the mortgage the solicitor will contact your lender, preparing and legal-checking all contracts, supervising the mortgage transfer and dealing with necessary local authority checks. Your role will be to secure adequate insurance for the property, arrange a survey and find a removals company if required. Again, a knowledgeable local solicitor will doubtless be able to assist with some or all of these duties.
Once all applicable documentation is checked and signed, contracts are exchanged. At this point a deposit is lodged with the seller’s lawyers, final searches are conducted and a title certificate is sent to your lender subject to the mortgage advance being received. As a buyer your insurance cover should be activated and your removal arrangements confirmed.
Your solicitor will present you with a full financial statement and you contact the estate agent to arrange, subject to completion, collection of the keys. Your lender will transfer the balance of the mortgage to your solicitor, which is advanced to the seller’s solicitor, who returns title deeds once monies have cleared.
Any surplus funds agreed with your lender are released to yourselves. While you collect the keys and move in, your solicitor will pay any stamp duty owed, register your ownership with the Land Registry and send the title deeds to your lender.
Congratulations: you now own a house.
Filed under News by on Dec 30th, 2011. 