Buying A House in the UK – The Basics
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Many people wonder why buying a house is such a time-consuming process. The answer is that all sorts of interested parties (buyer, seller, lender, solicitors, local and national government agencies etc) are involved and several different areas of the law (contract, land law, insurance, tax, planning) are covered.
All of this takes time – and paperwork! Probably the best advice that can be given to first-buyers who wish the process to be as smooth as possible is to place their affairs in the hands of genuine professional property lawyers with extensive local knowledge.
A decent local solicitor will have both the legal knowledge and the range of contacts to bring the process to a swift and satisfactory conclusion. Once you have secured the mortgage the solicitor will contact your lender, preparing and legal-checking all contracts, supervising the mortgage transfer and dealing with necessary local authority checks. Your role will be to secure adequate insurance for the property, arrange a survey and find a removals company if required. Again, a practised local solicitor will usually be able to advise on these services, or arrange directly on your behalf.
After all the appropriate documents have been checked and signed by relevant parties, contracts can be exchanged. At this point a deposit is lodged with the seller’s lawyers, final searches are conducted and a title certificate is sent to your lender subject to the mortgage advance being received. As a buyer your insurance cover should be activated and your removal arrangements confirmed.
A financial statement will be prepared by your solicitor and once a completion date is agreed, you can arrange with the estate agent to collect the keys. Your solicitor will then receive the balance of the mortgage from your lender and transfer these monies to the seller’s solicitors, obtaining title deeds and accompanying documentation in return.
Any surplus funds agreed with your lender are released to yourselves. It's now time to get the keys and begin moving in, while the solicitor sorts out stamp duties and registers ownership with the Land Registry.
And that’s it: you’re now a homeowner.
