Property and finance blog

Wow – your dream home has been located, it has everything that you have ever wanted, the complete package is just waiting for you to put an offer on by completing an Agreement for Sale and Purchase. 

 

Purchasing a home can be a very emotionally based decision and for most people one of the most important legal contracts they will enter in to will be the purchase or sale of a house. 

 

Therefore one of the most important recommendations to implement before you sign on the dotted line is discuss the Agreement for Sale and Purchase with a solicitor.

What can I expect from a Solicitor?

When you instruct a law firm on a property transaction you need to have confidence that:

• The contract terms and conditions meet your requirements
• Your interests will be protected, in other words the solicitor will work for you
• The contract will have a successful conclusion
• The solicitor is experienced in all conveyance matters and;
• You have the best representation available and not be disadvantaged if complex issues or disputes arise.

Once both parties (i.e. the Purchaser (buyer) and the Vendor (seller)) have signed the Agreement and all changes to the contract have been initialed by all parties the Agreement becomes binding in law and conditions cannot usually be changed after this point. 

 

It should be noted that if any of the purchaser’s conditions cannot be met the purchaser can cancel the agreement.

 

The different types of conditions that you can insert into your Agreement for Sale and Purchase can include:

• Title (your solicitor approves the certificate of title on the property)

• LIM (land information memorandum) report which provides all the information that the council holds on the property, including consents for work, and any remedial work required, it also give site information

• Finances (if you need a loan then the contract should be subject to a loan being approved)

• Valuation (to check if the property is fairly priced) and;

• Your solicitor could recommend other conditions that protect you, the purchaser in this transaction

The signed contract is sent to your solicitor and they will go through the stages involved in ensuring each condition of the Agreement is met; it is the solicitor’s job to check the title, liaise with your bank, the council and vendor’s solicitor if and when necessary. 

 

It is the work that the solicitor undertakes at this stage that is your protection against additional costs at a later stage.

 

When all the conditions have been met your solicitor will confirm the agreement, it is after the agreement is unconditional that you will need to pay the deposit. 

 

(Note that if the deposit goes into the Real Estate Trust account it is at this point they will deduct their commission).

 

If you are borrowing to purchase the property the bank involved will send the loan documentation to your solicitor and he will explain this documentation to you and get you to sign the loan agreement.

 

The final part of the process is called Settlement Day – your solicitor will draw down the monies to settle, and your solicitor attends to settlement with the vendor’s solicitor.

 

Once the monies have been transferred to the vendor’s solicitor, your solicitor will arrange for you to pick up the keys and finally your dream home is yours to move in to.

 

If you do not have a solicitor one can be recommended as part of the free service provided to you by your mortgage broker.