Property Purchase Information Form
We recognise that buying a property can be a stressful time, but we aim to make this process as simple and straightforward as possible. This guide will concentrate on the mechanics of the purchase and will help you understand each step in detail.
Who can buy a property?
Anyone who is over the age of 18 and has the funds readily available to pay the asking purchase price.
What do I do?
Once your offer has been accepted, you need to advise the Estate Agent that we will be acting on your behalf. We will then receive a memorandum of sale from the Estate Agents.
What is the process?
Once you have instructed us to purchase a property on your behalf, we will write to you to confirm your instructions, and you will need to send to us 2 forms of identification from the enclosed list.
We will also require from you the sum of £600 on account to progress matters. This can be made by cheque payable to Dicksons Solicitors, by bank transfer or by card payment at our Reception.
Once we have received your identification documents, our terms and conditions signed by you and money on account of searches, we will request the contract package from the sellers’ solicitors, which will include the draft contract, legal title and property information forms.
This is the stage that often takes the longest. We are unable to provide you with a precise timeframe or completion dates. However, on average, transactions take between 8 and 12 weeks. Once you have exchanged contracts, the completion date is fixed, and all parties are legally bound to that date.
This is a questionnaire completed by the seller providing you with information about the property, e.g., any neighbour disputes, responsibility for boundaries, structural alterations, guarantees for any works such as damp proofing or double glazing, etc.
Please remember the existence of a guarantee does not necessarily mean it is valid. You should make enquiries directly with the company issuing the guarantee to ensure that it is valid and transferable, and we would urge you to contact them as soon as possible to avoid any delays. Please note we will not be making any such enquiries on your behalf unless you specifically ask us to do so. Such enquiries could lead to an increase in costs.
If you believe any of the sellers’ responses to be incorrect, please notify us as soon as possible.
Again, this is completed by the seller and lists any fittings and content which are included or excluded from the price of the property.
If you intend to purchase any fittings or contents from the seller, please ensure you have thoroughly tested them prior to exchange of contracts, as you are buying them in the state and condition they are in.
We will send to you a copy of the Title Plan showing the general boundary of the land registered at the Land Registry. Please check it carefully to ensure that is correct and outlines all of the land you are buying. We DO NOT view the property, and therefore it is important that you check the plan carefully and advise us if you think it is incorrect.
We will make the necessary enquiries to ensure the seller has the legal right to sell the property. We will also carry out various searches depending on the location of the property. All properties will require as a minimum a Local Authority Search and a Drainage Report. Depending on the location, some will require additional searches such as a Coal Mining Report or Chancel Check Search. We will require search fees to be paid “up front”.
This is a questionnaire sent to the Local Authority which should reveal answers to the following:
- Does the Local Authority maintain the road fronting the property
- Are there any road proposals i.e. a new bypass
- Is the property within 200 metres of the proposed HS2
- Are there any financial charges outstanding to the Local Authority
- Are there any planning permissions or building regulation approvals relating to the property
- Is the property affected by radon gas
Please note that the Local Search only relates to the particular property that you are buying and does not give any information relating to land in the vicinity. If you require such information, we suggest that you contact the Local Authority direct.
This is a report obtained from the Coal Authority which reveals answers to the following:
- Are there any mine workings in the vicinity of the property, past, present and future
- Are there any past/pending subsidence claims
- Has there been any opencast mining within the vicinity of the property
- Are there any disused mine shafts within 20 metres of the property
This is a report obtained from the local water authority and reveals the following:
- Whether the property is connected to the mains water supply
- The nearest surface water and foul waste drainage
- Whether the service is measured or metered
An environmental search will tell you about former uses of the land and possible future developments such as wind farms/fracking. It will indicate whether the property is built on an in-fill site and will indicate possible sources of contamination around the property to a radius of 500 metres.
If a property is near to a Church or is on land formerly owned by some of the older universities, there may be an obligation to contribute towards repairs to the chancel of the local parish church.
It is your responsibility to ensure that you are satisfied with the state and condition of the property you intend to purchase. As we have previously mentioned, we do not visit the property you are buying.
The legal maxim “caveat emptor” (let the buyer beware) still applies. This means that in most cases you will have no recourse against the Seller if you find the property is defective following completion. It is therefore important to have a survey of the property carried out by a qualified surveyor.
A mortgage valuation is merely a “valuation” of the property on behalf of your lender and in many cases is insufficient protection for you. It is therefore recommended that you require a homebuyer’s survey, which is a more detailed report as to the state and condition of the property and also provides a duty of care and responsibility to you from the surveyor.
If you are purchasing with the aid of a mortgage, then please ensure you have informed your mortgage advisor that we are representing you in the purchase. We will usually receive the mortgage offer a couple of days after you receive it. Once we have received the offer, we will report to you regarding any conditions attached to the offer.
Any incentives such as a gifted deposit will need to be referred to your lenders for approval before you are able to proceed. If you have not already advised us of any incentives, please do so as soon as possible to avoid any delays.
Before we can accept monies from you, we will need to see proof of funds, i.e. Three months bank statements if monies have been accrued through savings. The statement will need to show your name, address and account number.
Any funds coming from a third party will also need to be verified, and we will also require two forms of identification from them.
Once we are in receipt of a response to our enquiries and we have received the search results and your mortgage offer (if applicable,) we will send a transfer deed to the seller’s solicitors. This is the deed that is signed by the seller and is sent to the Land Registry after completion of your purchase. The sellers’ solicitors will approve or amend the transfer deed as necessary, which will then be required to be signed by you.
Shortly before the end of the transaction, we will report to you and invite you into the office to sign the documents. When you attend the office, we will ask you to sign the contract, the transfer deed and the mortgage deed (if applicable). If this is not convenient, documentation can be sent via the post for your attention.
At this time, we shall also provide you with a completion statement showing the amount which will be required from you in order to complete your purchase or due to you, if appropriate.
If you are required to make a payment to us of either a deposit to enable exchange of Contracts to take place or a balance to enable completion of your purchase, then any payment made by personal cheque, banker’s draft or building society cheque will need at least nine working days’ clearance. Payment by credit or debit card requires three days clearance.
Signing the documents does not commit you to the purchase. It is only when a process known as ‘exchange of contracts’ takes place that you are committed to the purchase. This is a procedure that we will deal with on your behalf once we are satisfied that all is in order, and a completion date has been agreed. Once exchange of contracts has taken place, you and the seller are committed to the transaction and legally bound to complete it. At this stage the seller is entitled to ten per cent of the purchase price from you as a deposit on the property. The completion date will also be set at exchange of contracts. In order to exchange contracts, we will require the balance of funds due from you to be cleared into our client account.
When we know the completion date, we will request your mortgage funds. The mortgage lender usually requires five to seven working days’ notice before releasing funds. We usually request receipt of the mortgage funds to arrive one working day before the completion date. This is to ensure that the funds are in our client account the first thing on the morning of completion.
Unless there are a number of weeks in between the exchange and the completion date, we will also undertake the final searches at this stage. The first of these searches is known as the official search and ensures that the title documents have not changed since we received them. The other search is the bankruptcy search against you, which we are obliged to do on behalf of the mortgage lender. It is therefore in your interests to inform us immediately if you are aware of any insolvency issues that affect you.
On the completion day we will send the purchase monies to the seller’s solicitors by telegraphic transfer. Once the monies have been received by the seller’s solicitor, they will release the keys to the property, which are usually with the estate agent. Please be aware that the purchase monies can take some time to be processed by the bank, and it is often lunchtime before the keys can be collected.
Stamp Duty Land Tax may be payable on the property that you are purchasing, depending on the purchase price. However, a stamp duty land tax form usually has to be submitted to the Inland Revenue, even if duty is not payable. Therefore, please ensure that we have your national insurance number and date of birth, as this information is needed for the form. We will submit the form on your behalf on the completion date.
After the completion date we will apply to the Land Registry to register you as the owner of the property, and we will register your mortgage (if applicable) on the title.
Once the Land Registry has registered you as the owner, we will send you a copy of the updated title to the property. We will also put together any important documents or additional deeds that may be required on a re-sale in a pack which you can collect from the office.
Please note we do not arrange your building’s insurance. Although the seller may maintain building insurance on the property until the completion date, you will be responsible for the insurance from exchange of contracts. You should therefore ensure that your building’s insurance policy starts from exchange of contracts.
How long does it take?
From receiving your initial instructions to completion, it usually takes 8 – 12 weeks. This timescale can differ depending on the transaction, and if we believe it will take longer, we will inform you in writing.
Note: The above is intended as a general overview for your information. It is NOT intended to replace proper legal advice. Each case is different and advice cannot be given without a proper analysis of your own circumstances.
