Making your move
A client guide on buying & selling property
Protect your investment
For most of us, our home is the largest financial investment we will ever make. This alone would make buying property a stressful situation. When you add into the mix, dealing with estate agents, banks, building societies, local authorities, surveyors and others in the chain, it can also become a difficult and complicated process. With good legal advice from the start, you can be assured that your interests are being looked after, both now and for the future.
We are proud of our reputation as specialists in this field so, whether you are buying, selling, re-mortgaging or have landlord and tenant issues, our residential property team, will guide you through the process, giving you clear information about your transaction and the costs involved.
The cost of moving
Solicitors’ costs are only one small part of the expenses you should budget for.
Don’t forget:
- Mandatory costs such as stamp duty, local authority search fee and land registry fees.
- Lender’s charges on redemption of an existing mortgage and administration charges on a new mortgage.
- Removal charges, survey fees and estate agents’ fees.
- If you are buying a leasehold property, there will be landlord’s agent’s fees.
Surveys
It is advisable to contact a surveyor for advice regarding the need for either a housebuyers’ report or a full structural survey. Any survey or valuation undertaken by your mortgage lender cannot be relied upon as to the structural condition of the property.
Legal Work
When we start work, we send you our standard client care letter which sets out what the legal work will consist of and, if you are obtaining a mortgage, lets you know that we will also be acting for your mortgage lender. It is important that all work is carried out thoroughly to ensure the legal title to the property is sound.
Keeping in touch
When you instruct us, we will immediately contact the estate agent and your buyer’s and/or seller’s solicitors and we are always happy to speak to you on the telephone to answer any queries, or to offer advice. We will keep you informed at all stages.
If you are selling
We will ask you to complete questionnaires on your property and the fixtures and fittings. This will enable us to provide the buyer’s solicitors with the complete package of documents, including the sale contract, that they will require to proceed with the buying process.
We will obtain a copy of the Title to your property and a statement of the amount you will have to pay to redeem any existing mortgage.
As the legal process advances, we ask you to sign the sale contract and agree a completion date convenient to you, and all the other parties in your chain.
Contracts signed by both you and your buyers will be exchanged, at which time their solicitors will send us the deposit money. On completion day they will send the balance of the money and we will redeem your current mortgage.
If you are buying
We will act for you, and for your lender if you are obtaining a mortgage. We will ask you for the fee to enable us to obtain a local authority search, keep in touch with the estate agents and keep you updated as the transaction progresses. As it advances towards exchange of contracts, we will provide you with a detailed report of your new property including important matters relating to the legal title.
As the legal process advances, we will ask you to sign the purchase contract and agree a date for completion (and all other parties in your chain). We ask you to let us have the money to pay the agreed deposit to your seller. When exchanging signed contracts with your seller’s solicitors, we will send them the deposit money and arrange for your lender to send us the mortgage money to be paid on completion.
- Once contracts have been exchanged, you are legally contracted to complete the transaction on the agreed date
- Completion usually takes place two weeks after exchange of contracts Completion is the day you can move
What Thomas Dunton can do for you
We have a team of specialist property lawyers who take pride in giving straightforward legal advice to their clients.
