Guide to Buying a House
Buying a home is exciting, but we know the legal process can sometimes feel unfamiliar. This guide explains what happens at each stage and how we will support you from the moment your offer is accepted through to completion and registration.
1. When your offer is accepted
Once your offer has been accepted, please contact us and let us know the details of the property you are buying. You should also tell the seller’s estate agent that we are acting for you and provide them with our contact details.
2. Getting you set up
At the start of your matter, we will send you our engagement letter, Terms and Conditions of Business, and purchase questionnaires. These documents help us understand your transaction, confirm how we will work with you, and collect the information we need to begin progressing your purchase.
Our dedicated onboarding team will then guide you through the onboarding process step by step. You can complete this electronically, by post, or, where needed, through a face-to-face identity check. We will explain what information we need from you, help you provide it in the right way, and collate everything required to meet our regulatory obligations.
This will include proof of identity and address, as well as information about your source of funds and source of wealth. Completing this early helps avoid delays and allows our legal team to focus on the legal work needed to keep your purchase moving forward.
We will also ask for funds on account of searches in readiness.
Your legal team will still be in on hand to help with any legal queries you may have at this stage of the process.
3. Arranging your mortgage
If you need a mortgage, we recommend speaking to an Independent Financial Adviser as early as possible. They can review the mortgage products available to you and help you choose the option that best suits your circumstances. If you would like details of local advisers, please ask us.
4. Legal checks and enquiries
We will review the legal papers received from the seller’s solicitors and raise any questions we need to ask about the property. These questions are called enquiries. We
will also carry out searches with the local authority and other relevant agencies. In some cases, searches can take around four weeks to be returned.
Once the searches are returned, we will check the results carefully. If you are buying with a mortgage, we will also review the terms of your formal mortgage offer when it is issued.
5. Reporting to you and preparing to exchange
When our checks are complete, we will report to you in clear terms so that you understand the key points before deciding whether you are ready to proceed. If you are happy to move forward, we will arrange for you to sign the contract and, where applicable, the mortgage deed.
We will also confirm the deposit needed for exchange and prepare the Stamp Duty Land Tax return for you to sign. Before exchange, we will carry out any further searches required by your lender.
6. Exchanging contracts
Exchange of contracts is the point at which you and the seller become legally committed to the transaction. A completion date will be agreed at this stage. We will stay in close contact with you to help agree dates that work for you and for the other parties involved, including anyone in a chain.
If you are taking a mortgage, we will not exchange contracts until your formal mortgage offer has been received and checked. Contracts are usually exchanged by telephone between the solicitors, with the signed documents following afterwards.
7. Getting ready for completion
Completion is the day the purchase money is sent to the seller’s solicitors and you can usually collect the keys to your new home. Before completion, we will approve the transfer deed, which is the document that transfers legal ownership from the seller to you, and we will ask you to sign it so that it is ready for completion.
We will request your mortgage funds from your lender, if you have a mortgage. You will need to ensure that we receive cleared funds for any remaining balance needed to complete before the completion date.
Shortly after exchange, we will send you a completion statement showing the amount needed from you and when it needs to be received.
8. Completion day
On completion day, we will receive your mortgage funds, if applicable, and send the purchase money to the seller’s solicitors. Once they confirm completion, the seller or estate agent will arrange for the keys to be released to you.
After completion, we will pay any Stamp Duty Land Tax (England) or Land Transaction Tax ((Wales) that is due and register your purchase with HM Land Registry. Once the Land Registry has updated the title, we will send confirmation to you and to your lender,