The buying process

Firstly, make sure you register with us! You will be notified of any suitable properties currently available. You will also be informed of any new listings that meet your needs.

Mortgage

It is advisable to get a mortgage agreed in principle as early as possible, as this will speed up your mortgage application. Contact a financial advisor or mortgage provider to assist with this.

Arrange a viewing

The next exciting step is to arrange viewings of suitable properties. Contact us to arrange a viewing on the property of your choice.

Make an offer

Once you’ve found a suitable property, we'll put your offer forward to the seller. Any offer is subject to a contract being signed. There are no legal obligations on either side until the contract is signed.

Sale agreed

Once your offer is accepted, you will need to choose an advocate and forward their details to us as soon as possible, so that we can draw up the Memorandum of Sale for all parties. This is also the time to contact your financial advisor/mortgage provider to inform them of the agreed price and property address, and to instruct them to proceed with your mortgage application. The mortgage provider will then instruct their surveyor and make arrangements for a survey.

Draft contract

This will be drawn up by the seller's advocate and sent to your advocate, who will raise some preliminary enquiries and make a Land Registry search.

Planning searches

Contact your advocate and pay for the searches. This will reveal, for example, planning consents granted for the property and any local issues.

Survey

A survey is carried out on the property by a surveyor on behalf of the mortgage provider to identify property condition and advise on the property's value. Within 3 days the survey should be retuned to the mortgage provider and hopefully your mortgage will be approved.

Contract approval

Once results of the local search and answers to the preliminary enquiries are received, the draft contract is approved by your advocate providing there are no further enquiries.

Formal mortgage offer

This document will be sent to your advocate for you to sign. Once signed and returned your mortgage is in place and you are ready to agree dates for exchange of contracts and completion of the property. Exchange and completion dates are normally 2 weeks apart.

Exchange of contracts

The contract is signed by you and the seller. The deposit (usually 10% of the purchase price) is telegraphically transferred or paid by the buyer's advocate in the form of a banker's draft.

Completion

This is generally set a few days to a few weeks after exchange of contracts, depending on each parties' personal requirements. Residual monies (usually 90%) are now transferred from your advocate to the seller's advocates account.

You are now the legal owner of your new home. Congratulations!