Archive for the ‘Cheap conveyancing’ Category

The Stages of UK Conveyancing

Jun 16, 2008 Cheap conveyancing, Energy Performance Certificate, Home Information Pack, Property insurance, Uncategorized

The stages of UK conveyancing ….

STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO THE LEGAL PROCESS OF BUYING A UK PROPERTY

The legal process of buying your New Home can be broken down into 3 main stages.

Stage 1: BEFORE EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS
Stage 2: EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS
Stage 3: COMPLETION

Stage 1: BEFORE EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS

Seller’s conveyancer

- Asks you to complete information formsSends out the contract to the Buyer’s conveyancer with legal information
- Answers additional enquiries (if any)

- Asks you to sign contract (and usually the Transfer deed) and agree a completion date

Buyer’s conveyancer

Where there is NO Home Information Pack available for the Property:
- Requests your instructions and a sum of money on account of expenses
- Receives the contract, title information, plan and other legal information from Seller’s conveyancer and asks additional enquiries if necessary
- Arranges for local authority and any other relevant searches
- Receives mortgage offer from lender where applicable
- Reports to you on the information gathered and sends contract for signature together with Stamp Duty Land Tax return; requests deposit (or uses deposit from sale, if any), agrees completion date with Seller’s conveyancer and confirms ready to exchange contracts

Where there is a Home information Pack available for the Property:
- Requests your instructions and a sum of money on account of expenses
- Receives the contract and Home Information Pack from Seller’s conveyancer and asks additional enquiries if necessary
- Receives mortgage offer from lender where applicable
- Reports to you on the information gathered and sends contract for signature together with Stamp Duty Land Tax return; requests deposit (or uses deposit from sale, if any), agrees completion date with Seller’s conveyancer and confirms ready to exchange contracts

Stage 2: EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS

Seller’s conveyancer

- Receives Buyer’s deposit and signed contract from Buyer’s conveyancer
- Obtains redemption (settlement) figure for your mortgage
- Approves Transfer deed and arranges for you to sign it before completion date if not already signed

Buyer’s conveyancer

- Sends signed contract and deposit to seller’s conveyancer
- Prepares transfer deed and mortgage deed and sends them to you to sign
- Carries out final searches
- Prepares final accounts and requests any monies payable by you before the completion date

Stage 3: COMPLETION

 

 

Seller’s conveyancer


-Receives balance of sale monies and notifies Seller and estate agent
- Pays off outstanding mortgage if any, and estate agents’ account
- Sends Transfer document to Buyer’s conveyancer
- Sends balance to you or puts towards purchase (if any)

Buyer’s conveyancer

- Sends balance of money to Seller’s conveyancer
- Pays Stamp Duty Land Tax (if applicable)
- Deals with all registration requirements at H.M.Land Registry
- Sends confirmation of registration to you and to your bank or building society (if you have a mortgage)

 To request an online conveyancing quote, go here..

 

 

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UK Conveyancing – Words explained

Jun 16, 2008 Cheap conveyancing, Currency News, Energy Performance Certificate, Home Information Pack, Property insurance, Uncategorized

Find out what the words mean in UK conveyancing….

Frequently used legal jargon explained in simple terms:

ADDITIONAL ENQUIRIES
These are extra enquiries over and above the standard property information form which a conveyancer deems it absolutely necessary to raise with the seller’s conveyancer.
APPORTIONMENT FOR FIXTURES AND FITTINGS
T his is the allocation of part of the price of a property to the value of contents that are being included in the sale. For example you might agree that of a £200,000 purchase price, £1000 was allocated to carpets and curtains and £199,000 for the house. The purchaser would then only pay Stamp Duty Land Tax on the sum of £199,000. However, please note that it is illegal to apportion more than the correct second-hand value of the goods in this way, and Inland Revenue operate a strict scrutiny over all such arrangements. It is now illegal to make an apportionment for anything classed as a “Fixture” -see below.
BANK TRANSFER FEE
Fee charged for transferring money electronically from one bank to another, usually on completion day.
BUILDMARK WARRANTY
The Buildmark Warranty is a ten year insurance policy which covers you in the event that the property has not been constructed in accordance with NHBC standards
COMPLETION DATE
This is the date when the sale or purchase of a property is finalised and the Buyer obtains the keys and can move in. It is therefore usually the same as the “moving date”.
CONTRACT
The legally binding agreement incorporating all the terms and conditions of the sale of a property made between the Buyer and the Seller.
DISBURSEMENTS
The word used by lawyers for the necessary expenses -such as search fees – to be incurred when buying a property.

EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS
This is the moment when the contract finally becomes legally binding. The builder will only give a firm completion date at this point if your New Home is already structurally complete. Otherwise see “Completion Date” .
FIXTURES AND FITTINGS
Fixtures are those permanently fixed items that can be regarded as part of the property itself, for example trees and plants, gates, kitchen/bathroom units, built-in cupboards, fireplaces etc. Fittings are essentially portable items that have been attached with a view to easy removal such as curtain rails, carpets, spice racks etc and which do not damage the property if removed. It is important to distinguish between them when making “apportionments” and when deciding what you may or may not remove when selling. A buyer is entitled to assume that no fixtures will be removed unless the contract specifically permits this to be done. Always ask us for advice if you are not sure.
HOME INFORMATION PACK
A Home Information Pack (”HIP”) contains important information that buyers and sellers need to know about a property. The Pack includes an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), containing advice on how to cut carbon emissions and fuel bills. Also included are documents such as a sale statement, searches and evidence of title. Packs are now required for the sale of four bedroom properties and larger. The seller orders and pays for the HIP at the point where a property is put on the market. It is provided to the Buyer free of charge. Buy your Home Information Pack online here.
LAND CHARGES SEARCH
Search made in Land Charges register to see if any land charge has been registered against a relevant party. Also includes compulsory Bankruptcy search against Borrower on behalf of Lender.
LAND REGISTRY
Central government body which maintains records of the ownership of land.

LAND REGISTRY FEES
Fees payable to Land Registry for registering changes of ownership and other matters affecting land.
LAND REGISTRY SEARCH
This is a final search carried out by the conveyancer at the Land Registry to check that nothing has been altered since the copy deeds were first produced to him e.g. no new mortgages have been registered.
LENDER
Usually Bank or Building Society that grants a loan by way of mortgage for the purpose of buying property.
MORTGAGE
Form of loan that is secured (attached) to your property. This means the property cannot be sold unless the loan is repaid in full. The Lender can also sell the property if the repayments are not made.
NHBC
National House Building Council: the independent regulator and standard setter for the new homes industry
REDEMPTION FIGURE
Final mortgage settlement figure sent to Conveyancer when completion date is known in relation to the SALE of a property.
STAMP DUTY LAND TAX
Tax charged by government when buying a property for £125,001.00 or more. Between £125,001.00 and £250,000.00 you must pay 1% of the whole purchase price. Between £250,001.00 and £500,000.00 you must pay 3% £500,001.00 and above 4%.
SURVEY
Report carried out by qualified surveyor on the physical condition of a property.
TITLE DEEDS
The legal documents that prove the ownership of property or land and contain details of rights and obligations affecting it.
TRANSFER DEED
Document used to transfer property between Seller and Buyer.

 

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Cheap Online Conveyancing – FAQ’s

Jun 16, 2008 Cheap conveyancing, Energy Performance Certificate, Home Information Pack, Property insurance, Uncategorized

Frequently asked questions about online conveyancing services…

What is a Home Information Pack?
A Home Information Pack (”HIP”) contains important information that buyers and sellers need to know about a property. The HIP Pack includes an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), containing advice on how to cut carbon emissions and fuel bills. Also included, are documents such as a sale statement, searches and evidence of title. Packs are now required for the sale of properties in the UK. The seller orders and pays for the HIP at the point where a property is put on the market. It is provided to the Buyer free of charge. If you are a seller, we can prepare a Home Information Pack on your behalf. For further details, contact us. Buy your Home Information Pack online here…

For sellers, providing a Home Information Pack upfront should reduce the likelihood of any nasty surprises in the selling process that could delay the sale, as buyers will be able to make more informed decisions about purchasing their home.
For buyers, the Home Information Pack provides essential information about properties they are considering buying, free of charge.

How long will it take?
Every property sale proceeds at a different pace. If a property is empty and a buyer does not require a mortgage, a sale or purchase can be completed in a few days, but this is not very common. It will be more likely that a mortgage will be required and a chain of properties will be involved. In this case, it will usually take between 4-6 weeks to exchange contracts and then 2-4 weeks between exchange of contracts and completion making a total of 6-10 weeks from start to finish.
We do our best to progress your transaction as quickly as possible, but time scales cannot be guaranteed by anyone!

When will I need to pay any money?
If the property you are purchasing has the benefit of a Home Information Pack (see above), your conveyancer will only need to ask you for approximately £100 at the outset of the transaction to cover additional search fees and incidental expenses that will need to be paid out on your behalf. The balance of the purchase price, including your legal fees etc. will be payable shortly before completion unless you are borrowing more than 90% of the purchase price, in which case it will normally be required before exchange of contracts (see also ‘How much deposit will I have to pay?’)

How much deposit will I have to pay?
It is normal for a deposit to be paid to the seller’s conveyancers on exchange of contracts. Many people think that 10% is required but this is not usually the case. If you are buying and selling we can usually use your buyers deposit in connection with your purchase so you will not have to find anything at all.
If you are buying only, the amount of the deposit will usually depend on how much you are borrowing from your lender (if any). If you are borrowing less than 90% of the purchase price then the maximum amount you will need to pay on exchange of contracts will be 10% of the purchase price. If you are borrowing more than this we can usually negotiate with the seller to accept whatever amount you are putting down or even just the amount of your legal fees and disbursements if you are borrowing 100% or more

Will I need a Survey?
If you are obtaining a mortgage, the lender will wish, for its own purposes, to have a valuation carried out. Although this may give you an indication of whether they think the property is worth the amount you have asked to borrow, you cannot rely on it if things go wrong.
For an extra fee, you can usually request that a Homebuyers Report be carried out and this will give you additional information about the property that you will be entitled to rely on.
If the property is quite old and you have a particular concern about its condition, you can obtain a full structural report which is much more detailed. Most surveyors will be prepared to quote you for this type of survey.
It is important to remember the old saying ‘BUYER BEWARE’, because after you have exchanged contracts you will be liable for any problems discovered with the property, unless you have been misled.
What Searches do you carry out and why?
Local authority search – If there is a Home Information Pack, ( HIP ), this search will be included in it. This search reveals details of matters such as the planning history, proposals for new road schemes, planning breaches, tree preservation orders, conservation areas and other matters over which the council have control and may affect the enjoyment or value of the property. Your mortgage lender (if any) will require you to have one of these.
Drainage search – If there is a Home Information Pack ( HIP ), this search will be included in it. This search will show whether or not the surface and other foul drains run into a public or private sewer.
Environmental search – It is now recommended that buyers also carry out an environmental search to check if there are any landfill or waste disposal sites in the area, if the property has been built on an old industrial site and whether there are any risks from contaminated land, toxic emissions, flooding, subsidence etc.
Chancel Repair Liability Search – This search is designed to check those records that are reasonably accessible to see whether the property is likely to be at risk of liability for contributions towards the repair costs of the church chancel. This is an ancient liability that can affect land in almost any geographical situation in England and Wales, often without the owners knowing about it.

Why do I have to supply personal identification documents and undergo “Anti-Money Laundering” checks?
As property lawyers, we have a statutory duty to ensure that we have checked your identity and are satisfied that we will not be handling money that represents the proceeds of crime or that furthers the aims of crime or terrorism. We are required by law to carry out certain checks and to report any suspicions to the Serious Organised Crime Agency. We hope that you will understand the reason why you are asked for identification documents, bank statements and other aids to establishing your “bona fides”. We are prohibited by law from proceeding with any transaction where this information is not forthcoming from anyone for whom we are acting.

When do I need to arrange Buildings Insurance?
Unless your lender is arranging the building insurance, or the property is leasehold and the insurance is dealt with by the freeholder, you must arrange buildings insurance from the day you exchange contracts.
The amount of cover should be the estimated cost of re-building the property if it burns to the ground, which is not always the same as the current market value. If you had a survey or you are obtaining a mortgage your surveyor or lenders valuer will usually have suggested a minimum recommended amount of cover in their report.

What happens with the keys?
These are usually left with the estate agents, and the Buyer collects them once the estate agents have been advised by the sellers conveyancers that the money has been paid over on completion day. If there is no agent, then the seller will hand them direct to the Buyer on the advice of his conveyancer.
Either way, it is important to make the arrangements in advance to prevent the Buyer turning up and waiting outside with his removal van.
Although we always try to ensure that everything is finalised as early as possible on the day of completion and usually it is dealt with by mid-day, there can sometimes be a delay – if for example your conveyancer is still waiting for mortgage monies to arrive or there is a long chain. If this happens please don’t panic or get upset because your conveyancer will almost always resolve the problem by early afternoon- if not sooner.

When will I get my money?
If you are just selling, or there is a surplus due back to you after completion of your sale and purchase, we will send this on to you the next working day.
Payment is usually made by cheque, but for larger sums we can arrange to transfer the money direct to your bank if you request this in advance and provide us with your account details. There will be a bank transfer fee for this service.

What should I do about Life cover?
We recommend that you arrange sufficient Life cover for your mortgage liability and this must be arranged before exchange of contracts. You should consult your financial adviser or lender.

Why does completion have to take place on a working day?
When the purchase monies are paid over for the property to the Sellers Conveyancer, the Buyer and their Lender expect to get vacant possession of the property in return, on the same day. At present, the banks only transfer money electronically on a working day, and therefore completion cannot take place at a weekend. Please note however completion does not always have to take place on a Friday and can take place any day of the working week.

Can a person be added to the Deeds and the mortgage at a later stage?
Yes but you will have to receive confirmation from your Lender that they are happy for that person to be placed on the mortgage and then a transfer of the legal title will need to take place. This is a legal document transferring the property from the sole name into joint names subject to the mortgage. You can alternatively remortgage with a different Lender but the Transfer will still have to be drawn up.

At what point is the sale or purchase of a house legally binding, i.e. when will I be safe from ‘gazzumpers’?
A sale or purchase is only binding once written contracts have been exchanged between seller and buyer. In most cases, a deposit, usually 10% of the purchase price, will be paid by the buyer to the seller at that time.

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