Homesswitch

These notes are intended to serve as an introduction to the property purchasing process. They are intended as a basic introductory guide - primarily for first time buyers.

In addition to straight forward property purchases, we deal with the full range of property related transactions, including buying and selling leasehold and freehold land, preparing leases and short term tenancies and preparing and advising on mortgages.

We hope that you will find the notes helpful, but please be aware that they are not intended to replace our individual advice to you, and that if you have any queries you should feel free to contact us.

Some of the following information may already be known to you, but the notes are prepared in response to the questions which are asked of us by our clients frequently.

We need to take instructions from you fairly early, so that we have details of who is to purchase the property, where the finance is coming from, and so that we can meet you, if K.J. Commons & Co. has not acted for you before.

We will usually be told by the Estate Agent who is selling the Property that you intend to buy it, but the sooner you can come and speak to us the better.

At your first appointment we hope to be able to give you an indication of the timescale of the transaction. If there is no chain involved and the property is either empty or can be vacated at short notice, we would expect to complete the purchase in about six weeks.

However, if there are several other parties involved in the chain, ten weeks would be a more realistic estimate.

There are so many variables at the start of the procedure that it is often not possible to estimate the timescale until later in the transaction.

Our job is, basically, to check that the person who is selling the property actually owns it, and has a right to sell it.

We will also check that the property is not affected by anything which is not immediately apparent - such as a compulsory demolition or purchase order.

To do that we carry out a search of the local authority register to reveal either of the above, or details of any planning permissions affecting the property, orders restricting smoke emissions, conservation areas and the like.

We need the search before contracts are exchanged, there is a fee to pay. We will need this money from you at the beginning of the transaction.

As soon as we know which solicitors are acting for the Seller we write to them for draft contract documents.

The Seller's solicitor also provides information about the property obtained from the Seller, such as whether there are any guarantees for work done, or whether there have been boundary problems.

There should also be a Fixtures and Fittings list which we send to you for your approval, giving details of what is to be removed from the property and what is to be left behind. Provision of this list avoids any arguments on completion about missing fittings or other items.