10 STEPS TO BUYING A HOME IN ENGLAND

  1. Contact a solicitor. Buy Your Home have a panel of Solicitors covering the whole of the UK please telephone 0845 855 9900 and you will be referred to a Solicitors in your area.
  2. Work out your finances. The starting point for buying property is working out for yourself how much you can afford to pay for any property. How much free cash do you have to pay for a deposit?  How much guaranteed income do you have to first obtain a mortgage and make the repayments?  When you have these figures you can move on to the other steps in this process.
  3. Arrange for an “in principle” mortgage offer to be made to you. This involves usually seeing a mortgage advisor, sometimes lenders directly. During this process (see our 10 steps to getting a mortgage) you will find out the total amount you can borrow.   You will also find out the costs of a valuation and the costs of any higher lending fee (sometimes called an additional security fee) if you need to borrow a high percentage of the value of the house.
  4. Find the property you want to buy. This bit is the best fun!  Nowadays most property sales agents advertise their properties on the internet and using the internet is the quickest way of seeing what properties are on the market in your price range and in the area where you want to live. Newspapers of course also carry lots of property adverts and indeed sales agents offices display property details.  It is generally a quick learning experience for new buyers in the market to see what is on offer.  Get to know the market – it is not always the case that you can find something quickly that fits your criteria.  Many selling agents have ‘contact” or “mailing” lists.   These agents will send you details of properties which might suit you as soon as they come on the market.   Once you find a potentially suitable property the selling agent will arrange the viewing for you. Often it may take many viewings before you find a property you like and can afford.  Be patient.
  5. Offering for the property. In England and Wales (unlike Scotland which has quite different laws) the offer is usually made informally verbally to the selling agent.  There may be some negotiation on price – but not always.  If the price is accepted verbally you should move on to the next step – but at this stage even although you have reached verbal agreement there is no legally binding agreement and either party can pull out.  The verbal deal you have entered into is not legally binding till “exchange of contracts” which will not happen possibly for some time.
  6. Valuing the property.  At this stage your lender will want to value the property to confirm the actual amount which can be lent to you.  You have to pay for the valuation – and you may not see the report – although most lenders will tell you the main points in it.  It is often a sensible precaution at this point to have your own survey report obtained – many buyers are happy with what is called a “home buyers report” but fuller surveys are sometimes appropriate depending on the age and condition of the property.   Problems can sometimes arise at this stage – maybe the lender will not lend as much as you want – maybe the survey shows up serious repair work is required on the property.  In these cases maybe the price can be renegotiated or maybe the problems force the buyer to pull out.  It is also fair to say however that more often than not the survey result is not problematic and the deal can go ahead.
  7. Finalizing the mortgage.  If the buyer and lender are keen to go ahead – formal steps are now needed to ensure the mortgage is available.  An application goes in to the lender with the valuation result and the lender will make a formal offer of loan to the buyer.   This offer is called an “offer of advance” and it will contain all the terms and conditions of the offer including the agreed repayments. The buyer must accept the offer of advance and once this is done the lender is bound to go through with the loan unless the conveyancing process throws up any legal difficulties.
  8. Completing the Legal work.  The work involved in legally transferring the property to the buyer is called ‘conveyancing”.  It is usually carried out by solicitors or licensed conveyancers.  There is a lot of detailed work done now – but the buyer may not be involved in much of it.  The conveyancer will adjust with the sellers conveyancer the terms of the contract of sale, check the title to the property, check the sellers right to sell, check there are no adverse planning matters and so on. This is a complex process with lots of documents to be examined, searches to be made on registers, and this may be time consuming.  In due course the conveyancers will prepare contract outlining the agreed terms of sale and the buyer and seller then sign that contract.   The conveyancers then ‘exchange contracts” and at that point both the seller and buyer are legally committed to the deal – with the buyer now normally paying a 10% deposit on the purchase price – and usually becoming responsible for insuring the property.  The buyer’s conveyancer will usually also be acting for the lender and will have the buyer sign at this point the formal mortgage deed.
  9. Completion. The buyer becomes the true owner on this date which is usually agreed at the exchange of contracts stage.  The money is paid to the seller, the keys are transferred and the buyer’s solicitor will record the change of title with the Land Registry and register the mortgage deed.
  10. Taking occupation.  The buyer is now free to move in.  There is a lot to remember to do at this time. Be in touch with all the utility companies serving the property, let all your friends, families and all other necessary parties know your new address.   Well done – you’ve made it!

Confused by any of the terms used here? Try our jargon buster for an easy to understand explanation of some of the more complicated meanings.

Please view a list of our partners who can assist you with buying your first home in the UK

Caesar and Howie staff help buyers at every step of the way – we have guidance notes in polish and help throughout the process is given by our Home Buying Advisors.

 

Phone us now on: 0845 855 9900, or simply email us your questions.