Quick Guide to Purchasing

A handy step- by-step guide to explain the stages of your transaction.

Stage One: Pre-exchange of Contracts

Upon receipt of your instructions and money on account for searches, we will contact the sellers solicitors and request the draft contracts papers. As soon as we receive a title plan indicating the extent of the boundaries to the property you are purchasing, we will submit a request for searches. We will review the Contract papers and title information and raise enquiries with the seller to ensure that the property is being sold with good title on completion.

When we have received your search results and replies to our enquiries, we will prepare our report to you on the legal title to the property you are purchasing and advise if this is a good and marketable property for you to buy. The report will also contain a Contract, Transfer Deed and Stamp Duty Land Transaction form for you to sign should you wish to proceed.

Throughout this process we will also have received your mortgage offer, if applicable, and we will send you a mortgage report together with a Mortgage Deed for you to sign.

Upon receipt of your signed documents and deposit monies, we will be in a position to exchange contracts.

Before the next stage (exchange of contracts), a completion date must be decided upon by both parties. On this date you are free to move in. It can take up to two weeks from exchange of contract to completion, or it can be done on the same day. If you are both buying and selling or if the sellers are, making what is known as 'a chain', then this can take longer.

Stage Two: Exchange of Contracts

Once Contracts have been exchanged, you are legally bound to purchase the property. We will therefore contact you to take your authority to enter you into a Contract prior to exchanging. The exchange of contracts will happen when both solicitors agree the terms of the contract between themselves (following your agreement), usually over the phone. Any deposit monies are then sent to the seller's solicitor pending completion.

We will request that the balance to complete is sent to us at least a day before the next stage, the completion day.

Stage Three: Completion

On the day of completion, the purchase monies are sent by us to the seller's solicitor. As soon as the seller's solicitor receives the purchase monies, legal completion has taken place. The seller's solicitor will release the keys with the estate agents and you can collect them when you are ready. Congratulations, you will be the owner of your new home!