Guide to Buying

Collating the Home Information Pack and Initiating the Sale

The seller’s solicitor gathers information about the property via a Home Information Pack (HIP). There are a number of legal documents that go into producing a HIP and it is best that your Lawyer is involved in its production as they are best placed to bring together these items on your behalf.

Compulsory documents include:

• An Index
• An Energy Performance Certificate
• A Sale Statement
• Standard Searches including a Local Authority Search, and a Drainage and Water Search and Office Copies
• Evidence of Title

In the case of a leasehold property further information will be required, including:

• A copy of the lease
• Any regulations or rules that apply to the property that aren’t mentioned in the lease and any proposed amendments to same
• Statements or summaries of service charges covering the previous 36 months
• Where appropriate, the most recent requests for payment of service charges, ground rent, insurance against damage for the building in which the property is situated, and insurance in respect of personal injury caused by or within the building during the 12-month period before marketing began
• The name and address of the current or proposed lessor, and details of any managing agent that has been appointed or proposed by the lessor to manage the property
• A summary of any works being undertaken or proposed that will affect the property or the building in which it's situated

Thereafter, optional documents include:

• A Home Condition Report
• A Legal Summary
• Home contents and Home use forms
• Other documents, which can include additional searches such as Mining Searches, Ground Stability Searches, Environmental Searches as well as guarantees and warranties for work carried out on their home

Once all these documents have been collated and brought together in a HIP, the buyers solicitor will likely request a copy to commence the conveyance process.

The buyer’s solicitor after being instructed will make enquiries in respect of the clients purchase. This process will determine if there is anything affecting the property, which a buyer is entitled to know.

Upon receipt of a satisfactory offer on the property, the seller’s solicitor will contact the buyer’s solicitor. The seller’s solicitor will identify the buyers ability to progress the transaction and determine whether there are any difficulties, such as a delay in the buyer selling his own house or obtaining a mortgage.

The seller’s solicitor will prepare the contract and send it to the buyer’s solicitor. The buyer’s solicitor may raise any queries at this time.

The buyer needs to be satisfied that all the information relating to the property has been obtained, and that a mortgage has been organised.

Exchange of Contracts

The seller and buyer are required to sign separate but identical contracts. The solicitors then exchange the contracts. At this stage the buyer has to pay the agreed amount of deposit to the seller’s solicitor. The buyer and seller are now legally bound to complete the transaction.

A completion date will be arranged at the time the contracts are exchanged. This usually takes around two weeks, but can be sooner if a special prior arrangement has been made.

The documents to transfer the ownership of the property and any mortgage documents will be prepared and signed.

The buyer’s solicitor will request the mortgage lender to provide the money in time to be handed over to the seller’s solicitor on the completion date.

The buyer will be asked to pay to his solicitor the balance of any money (if any) required to complete the purchase including the legal fees and other payments due on completion.

Completion and Beyond

On the day of completion the buyer’s solicitor will pay over the balance of the purchase money. The seller’s solicitor will collect the balance of the sale price of the seller’s existing home. Legal completion then takes place. If a related purchase is to coincide with the sale, the money needed to complete the payment due on such a related purchase will be transferred to the seller’s solicitor.

As soon as payment of the balance of the purchase price has been made, the keys of the property will be released, and the buyer can move in.

The buyer’s solicitor pays Stamp Duty, where applicable, on behalf of the client and registers the change of ownership with the Land Registry. This may take several months.

If the buyer has a mortgage, the property deeds are then deposited with the mortgage lender. If there is no mortgage the deeds are then available to the buyer or can be stored in our secure deeds store free of charge.

Your conveyancer will raise additional enquiries based on the original package of information provided together with any points that you may have detailed as being of particular concern.