Buying a home is stressful, for first-time buyers. It’s wise to do some research to ensure you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. Conveyancing is the term that refers to the legal process of transferring one person’s property (the seller), to another (the buyer). Our team of conveyancing experts have put together this home buying guide for first-time buyers.
What does the first-time buyer conveyancing process involve?
The conveyancing process is as follows:
Be aware of your mortgage budget before you start attending viewings.
Find the property you wish to buy.
Put in an offer . Tell the seller what you’re willing to pay for the property. This is also the time to raise any conditions you have.
The offer is accepted. At this point, you’ll need a survey to check the condition of the property. Your solicitor will then be contacted to start the legal process and carry out the relevant checks of the legal aspects and submit various searches.
The survey will include a range of examinations of the property including its structural integrity, whether there are any signs of subsidence, dampness or damage and some general information that may impact the property.
The searches that your solicitor submits will obtain information from the local authority, and the water company serving the property. It will provide a detailed analysis of any environmental issues. Information will be obtained about common drains that serve multiple properties, any planning issues and whether there is any history of land contamination.
Your solicitors will also look at the deeds to the property, review some detailed questionnaires received from your sellers and raise relevant enquiries. Once all questions have been answered adequately you can move onto the next level – buying your first home.
The next two steps are exchange and completion.
- Exchange: This is when your deposit is paid to the seller via your solicitor. The contract that you have signed will physically be exchanged and signed by your seller. Your solicitor deals with these aspects on your behalf. The exchange process fixes the moving date known as completion. Once exchange takes place you cannot back out from the purchase without losing a lot of money.
- Completion: This is the day your solicitor has to hand over the rest of the money for the house to the seller’s solicitor. You will then receive the keys whilst the title documents are handed to your solicitor. At this point, the property is legally yours.
You should note that nobody is legally bound to complete the transaction until contracts are exchanged.
Top First-Time Buyer Conveyancing Tip
As part of the process, ask for a list of fixtures and fittings the seller is willing to include within the cost of the property. This is normally provided directly to your solicitor with the contract papers. This will enable you to manage your expectations and you will not have a nasty surprise upon entering the property the first time after completion.
What is Gazumping?
This term refers to another buyer offering more money to the seller than you have, and the seller goes back on the deal you made. Sadly, you can’t legally protect yourself from this happening if this occurs prior to exchange. However, it is always worth asking the seller to take the property off the market as part of your original offer. This reduces the likelihood of another buyer submitting a higher price.
What is Gazanging?
Gazanging is when the seller cancels the sale to stay in their property. This could occur when the market price shoots up as there’s a good chance the seller will make more money if they wait to sell in a few months’ time.
If this occurs just before the point of exchange, you may lose money. Typically both your solicitor and surveyor will have carried out a lot of work costing you both your precious time and money. All you can do is act quickly when it comes to finalising the offer and exchanging contracts as soon as possible. This will probably involve working with your solicitor and mortgage lender to speed things up.
First-Time Buyer Mortgage Guide
As a first-time buyer, you may want to skip straight to viewing properties. Before looking to buy a property make sure you have your finances in place. Going house hunting before you have researched mortgages could complicate the process.
Do not automatically go with the first lender you find as mortgage products change almost daily. There are so many mortgage lenders out there, all hustling for your business, especially if you’ve got an excellent credit score. Almost inevitably another lender will match any first offer you receive or even try to tempt you with a better deal.
Always aim to secure a personalised mortgage illustration. This should highlight the important features of your mortgage. Taking out this kind of loan is a massive commitment so do not sign up for anything you’ll regret later on. Remember that a mortgage typically lasts many years with 25 years being the normal mortgage term. This is a long-term commitment and not something to be rushed into without a great deal of careful thought.
Once you have your finances straight, it is time to…
Choose your first-time buyer conveyancing specialist
You need to instruct a conveyancing solicitor who specialises in property law.
In addition to handling paperwork and conducting searches, the solicitor’s task includes:
- Review the draft contract pack received from the sellers’ solicitors and raise any necessary enquiries.
- Investigate title to the property.
- Carry out searches and check these.
- Review replies given by the seller to our enquiries.
- For a leasehold property, review the lease, freehold title, and management information.
- Negotiate the purchase contract.
- Negotiate the transfer document.
- Consider our instructions from your lender and advise you on your mortgage offer.
- Prepare a report on the searches, title and, if relevant, lease.
- Manage the exchange of money between the buyer and the seller.
- Proceed to exchange contracts and then complete the purchase.
- Calculate the stamp duty land tax, prepare and send to HM Revenue and Customs the return – but subject as mentioned below – and the tax.
- Register the purchase and mortgage at the Land Registry.
Top Tips For First-Time Buyers
- Obtain a detailed all-inclusive quote from the solicitor you intend to use so that you can budget for hiring a conveyancing solicitor.
- Do not feel pressurised to use the solicitor recommended by the estate agent especially if their offices are in a different part of the country. Accessibility to your solicitor is key, both from a telephone and email perspective but also to be able to attend their offices to deal with the important aspects of a conveyancing matter.
- Often a lawyer recommended by an estate agent pays the agent a referral fee for the introduction, rather than on a meritocracy basis. This gives a clear clue as to the type of service you are likely to receive.
- Watch out for the hidden extras in the small print of a solicitors quote as these can add £100’s to your final bill.
- Use a solicitor as opposed to a licenced conveyancer as the level of qualification is very different.
We recommended that you find a solicitor who is familiar with conveyancing early on. This makes the process a whole lot smoother and helps to ensure everything goes through as quickly as possible.
If you are a first-time buyer and have more questions after reading our guide, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our expert team will do everything they can to support you through the journey of buying your first home. Click here to get in touch today.
This is not legal advice; it is intended to provide information of general interest about current legal issues.
