Our initial advice for anybody looking to buy a house is to know how much you can realistically afford to spend before you start looking.  On more occasions than not you will need a deposit however by speaking to a mortgage broker/lender they will be able to advise you accordingly.   There are many lenders out there so it is always advisable to get some independent financial advice so all the available market products can be explored. 

 

Once you have an idea of how much you can afford and have an offer in principle from a Lender, visit all the estate agents in your chosen area or look online to arrange viewings.  Be realistic about what you can afford as you must be able to make your mortgage payments on a monthly basis as well as live!  You will soon come to resent your property if you have no spare money to enjoy life as well. 

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When you have put an offer in for a property and it has been accepted, you will need to instruct a solicitor to act for you.  On our website we have an easy to use calculator of how much the legal side of your purchase will cost – THERE ARE NO HIDDEN EXTRA’S remember to take this into account if you are comparing fees between us and other Solicitors or Conveyancers.  Generally, the one thing you can compare firms on are their actual legal fees as the searches etc. should all be the same.  Be confident that you can speak to your solicitor/conveyancer when you have a question and that you will not just be a number.  All our clients speak to us directly as and when required.  There are no secretaries to leave your number with – you get US!

 

So once you have instructed a solicitor you tell your Estate Agent and they send what is called a Memorandum of Sale to the solicitors acting for both the seller and the buyer and the legal process officially starts. 

As a general guideline the following then takes place:

 

• Your solicitor will send you a Terms of Business advising you of all of their costs including the costs of anything else that you have to pay. This should not be anything that you were not told of originally. You will be asked to provide two forms of ID to your solicitor and this ensures that they adhere to the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations. Until you provide this generally no work will be started.

   

• You will then be asked for some money on account of costs which enables the solicitor to start the legal searches process for you. As a firm we generally ask for £250 - £300 on account of costs.

   

• The sellers solicitor will send the contract documentation to your solicitor and within this are forms completed by the buyer outlining areas such as what they are leaving at the property, what utility providers they use and what modifications they have made to the house etc. Your solicitor will send you a copy of these forms. Make sure you have a good look through them and if you have any queries, raise these with your solicitor straight away and they can raise them with the sellers solicitor on your behalf.

   

• Your solicitor will then start the following searches regarding your purchase:

  Local Land Search – this is through the Local Authority in which your purchase property is situated.  Currently the online price for Conwy County Borough Council is £90.40 Here at Nelson Myatt we always try to ensure that all applications are made online keeping the price to a minimum for clients. 

 

A Local Authority Search will disclose whether there are any Local Land Charges registered against the property, this could be anything from a tree preservation order or an order for demolition of the property to the terms of planning permissions and consents.  The Search will also tell us whether the property adjoins a publicly maintained road or not. 

It is worth noting however that the Search only relates to the particular property searched against.  It will not tell you whether a neighbour is planning to build an extension or whether or not there are any proposals to develop the open fields etc. near the property.  If you are worried about the future use of any adjoining land please tell us and we will ask about it, however the Local Authority may make an extra charge for this information.

 

• Drainage and Water Search – within North Wales this is provided by Dwr Cymru and advises on many aspects in relation to the water and drainage facilities at the property including foul water drains, public sewers and water supply etc. 

 

• Environmental Search - this report advises you on numerous aspects in relation to the property.  These range from contaminated land issues, flood findings, radon gas, ground stability to any other influential factors such as windfarms, overhead power lines and mobile phone masts in within a certain radius of the property.  

   

• Flood Report – it is crucial that you are aware of whether the property you are looking to purchase is in a flood area or not.  It is not necessary flooding from rivers or coastal areas that you need to be aware of, as surface water flooding can be a huge problem in some areas.   A Flood Report outlines everything for you.  Bear in mind that although you may not see a risk of flooding as an issue it will certainly mean insuring the property will cost extra each year. Remember also that when you want to sell the property on, your potential buyer will be highlighted to the risk.

   

• Chancel Search – this is generally something that very few people have ever heard of, however at Nelson Myatt this is always part of our package of searches offered to you.

 

Chancel repair liability is a legal obligation on some property owners in England and Wales to pay for certain repairs to the local parish church.  Where people own property within land that was once rectorial (part of a rectory or glebe), they may unbeknown to them have inherited a responsibility to fund repairs to the chancel of their local medieval-founded church. This can still be invoked by the church council of some parishes.

 

Chancel repair liability has been bought to the forefront over recent year by the “Wallbanks Case” where owners of a property received a bill of £100,000 to help with repairs to a local church.  Having lost their case in court they were left with a debt of £350,000. 

The search shows that based upon historical parish and title district boundaries, the property is within a tithe district or Parish which continues to have a potential chancel repair liability.  If so for a very small price, quite often under £20 but dependent on the value of the property you are looking to purchase, you can indemnify yourself against the liability for the duration of the time that you live in the property.  

If any further searches are required, your solicitor should advise you. 

 

• Once all of the search reports are back, your solicitor will consider them all along with the contract documentation provided by the sellers solicitor.They will then draft you a Report on Title which should contain everything that you legally need to know about your property before you go ahead and purchase it.Make sure you read this report carefully and anything you are not sure of query with your solicitor immediately.They can raise any queries with the sellers solicitors at this stage.

 

• Once you and your solicitor are happy with the purchase, remember your solicitor is more often than not acting for your Lender at the same time and will be looking after their expectations also, you will be provided with a Completion Statement and exchange of contracts will take place.Your Completion Statement outlines exactly how much is necessary to complete on the purchase and when the monies will be required for.

   

• You will be called in to sign contracts and other documentation in anticipation of exchanging contracts or if you do not live near to the office, these will be sent to you.The contract does not become legally binding once you sign it, it is only when it is legally exchanged between solicitors that it becomes legally binding.It is therefore usual on the day of exchange for your solicitor to call you to advise you that they are going to exchange and seek your permission to do so as from that time onwards you will be bound to buy the property or incur a financial penalty.

   

• A date for exchange and completion will be negotiated between you and the seller and your solicitor will order the mortgage funds to coincide with these.On the day of completion your solicitor will send the mortgage monies over to the sellers solicitors and then once these have been received they will release the keys to the property.Your solicitor will call you to advise that completion has taken place and that you can pick up the keys.

   

• After the day of completion your solicitor will file your Stamp Duty Land Tax return on your behalf and lodge the necessary paperwork with Land Registry to transfer the property legally over into your name(s).At Nelson Myatt the fee for these transactions are contained within our set fee – we do not charge extra for these services like some other firms.Furthermore these applications are always made online whenever possible to keep your fees to the minimum.

   

• Once registration has taken place, you will be called in to collect or sent a pack of documents regarding your ownership of the property and left to enjoy your new purchase.

   

We hope you have found this overview helpful and if you have any questions or wish to instruct Nelson Myatt to help with your purchase, please just give us a call.  We are always happy to give you individual quotes for our services.