The home-buying process is a long and winding road, and one of the next checkpoints is to find a property which ticks all of your boxes and then make an offer on that property. This box can then be ticked off and you can proceed through the next stage of the transaction.
Do not be hasty, though. There are several boxes which need to be completed before the keys are handed to you. Once the sale is agreed with the seller then there are a vast array of processes which are kick-started and boxes to be completed. Here’s a summary of the process post-sale agreed and what you now need to do.
Cease all Marketing
First, you should ask the seller (or their estate agent) to take the property off the market and cancel any further viewings. Make your offer conditional on this happening straightaway. The estate agent has a legal duty to report any offers received to the seller. You must try to take away any chance of someone else making a higher offer and getting the property.
Share details of Solicitor
You need to give the estate agent the details for your property solicitor or licensed conveyancer who will take ownership of this sale for you – they will need to be in touch with the seller’s lawyers to get the process moving from the contract stage right the way through to sale completion.
To speed the process up, it is a good idea to undertake this research well in advance of your offer being accepted so that, when the time comes to move, you have already taken conveyancing quotes and be ready to choose a good local solicitor to act for you.
Get in touch with the Lender
It is usual these days for estate agents to require a buyer to have a mortgage agreement in principle before they can accept an offer although it’s not the same as the loan being approved. As soon as the property is secured then contact your mortgage company with the details of the property. They will then do their mortgage valuation to make sure the property is worth the price you’ve agreed to pay for it before approving the mortgage. It doesn’t matter if you’re a first-time buyer or have a mortgage already on a property you’re selling, you must have a good communication pathway with the lender and clear advice on what to do.
Book a Property Survey
The lender might want to prepare a mortgage valuation for the property, but this is really on their behalf not yours – only an independent survey, carried out by a RICS surveyor, will knowledgeably summarise the property’s condition. This is your chance to do your research and make sure this asset is a worthwhile investment. We will be pleased to discuss your requirements to help you select the most appropriate report for your particular needs, and provide you with a competitive quotation.
An experienced surveyor from the team will soon identify any potentially serious building defects such as damp, timber decay or subsidence. There may be issues that you are not able to see but that will have a material impact on the price you are willing to pay, or on whether you want to proceed at all.
Preparation of Contracts
Once you have instructed your solicitor, they will start to prepare the draft contract by gathering key information that is typically included in a contract before it can be finalised and formally exchanged.
Some of the things the solicitor will include in this process are the agreed price, the percentage deposit, the dates for exchanging the contract and completing it, and which fixtures and fittings are included. This stage can be extremely time-consuming and there may be issues or delays with this process which displays that this is known to be one of the most stressful stages of the house-buying process. Your conveyancer will also need to complete a range of checks and searches including local authority searches, environmental searches, water authority checks, mortgage offer conditions, title checks and many more. These can again take time to be applied and potentially throw up unforeseen issues.
Exchange of Contracts
Once all the legal checks have been completed and any enquiries have been satisfactorily answered with all issues resolved, your solicitor will tell you they are ready to exchange contracts. At this stage, the deposit is paid and the transaction is now legally binding.
Right up until the point of contracts being exchanged you and the seller can have a change of heart and can withdraw from the sale and purchase. This can be hugely frustrating if a seller suddenly pulls out and leaves you without a property to buy after you have spent money on enquiries and surveys when in the same breath it can also be a relief to be able to walk away from buying a property once dealbreaker problems have been discovered.
