Property Buyers Guide

Moving home is often a stressful and nerve-wracking time for people. More often than not it is because buyers and sellers do not know what the procedure involves and are kept in the dark by their solicitors.

Here at Newmans believe that transparency and well-informed clients are the key to a successful solicitor-client relationship and so we have created the following step-by-step guide to help you understand and follow the process you and your solicitor will be involved in:-

BUYERS

1. Instruct your solicitor
2. Receive a client care letter from your solicitor confirming your instructions and setting out their fees and requesting any paperwork they need from you including proof of ID
3. Solicitor receives a sales memorandum from the estate agent detailing information (price etc.) about the property
4. Solicitor receives a draft Contract plus other documentation from your seller’s solicitor and goes through this carefully raising “enquiries” on matters arising from the paperwork and searches
5. Seller’s solicitors respond to the “enquiries” raised
6. Your solicitor raises further “enquiries” until all “enquiries” are satisfactorily answered by the seller’s solicitors
7. Your solicitor amends and approves the draft Contract and submits a draft Transfer Deed for approval by your seller’s solicitor along with completion “requisitions” (these are questions such as bank details of where to send the completion money to; where to go to collect the keys to your new property on completion day etc.)
8. Your solicitor receives the final form of the contract and answers to completion “requisitions” from the seller’s solicitor and reports to you with all the details uncovered in the “enquiry” process. If you are happy you will now be able to sign the Contract, send the deposit monies to your solicitor and instruct him/her to exchange Contracts
9. Exchange of Contracts. The completion date is now set
10. Your solicitor will send your signed part of the Contract with your deposit to the seller’s solicitor and will receive the seller’s part of the Contract
11. Your solicitor will apply for final searches
12. Your solicitor will prepare and send you the Stamp Duty Land Transaction Return to sign and will arrange final funding with you so that he/she is in cleared funds by completion date. Your solicitor will also by now have asked you to ensure that you have buildings insurance in place to start on the completion date and if you are taking out a mortgage you will have signed the mortgage deed and your solicitor will submit the “Certificate of Title” to your lender to request release of mortgage funds
13. Completion. Your solicitor sends the purchase money to the seller’s solicitor and once this money has been received the seller’s solicitor authorises the estate agent to release the keys to the property to you
14. The seller’s solicitor sends the signed Transfer Deed to your solicitor with all other deeds to your property
15. Your solicitor will send the Stamp Duty Land Transaction Return with your stamp duty fee to HM Revenue Customs for stamping
16. Your solicitor will receive confirmation that stamping is complete and will apply to Land Registry for your title to be registered
17. Once your title is registered your solicitor will report to you with your title deeds and the buying process is now complete