At some point in life, one may want to purchase a private home to satisfy a certain desire or want. One must take certain precautions to avoid fraud and other inconveniences. Even after acquiring the home, it is important to take measures that will help you maintain and manage the property. The following steps will help any individual buy a house in the UK. Red Kite are specialist Residential Conveyancing Solicitors who can offer the best guidance and legal support when buying a house.
Before you Decide to Buy a House
Save for a Deposit
It is essential that a prospective buyer finds out what they can afford before making any decision. This can be easily done by saving for a deposit. This will help the prospective buyer know what they can and can’t afford and hence it gives a foundation to the buyer on what they can easily acquire. There are certain tools that can help an individual save. They include: using a spending calculator that will cut spending and cost, following money-saving tips from financial institutions, and opening a regular savings account that will show any mortgage lender that you have a saving record.
Working Out Your Budget
After saving for a while, you will have to review your budget. This is important since it will give you a rough idea of how much you can spend on the mortgage repayment and any other costs involved in buying and maintaining a house. Some of the costs that will come with buying a house include stamp duty, legal fees, survey costs, engineers’ reports, moving costs, repairs, decoration and furniture. Costs that come with running a house include electricity, home insurance, maintenance and repairs, property tax, bin charges, and management fees.
Apply for a Mortgage and do Research
It is advisable to take this step after you have saved for your deposit. However, one can still do this even before you save for your deposit. Approach a lender and find how much you can borrow. It is also prudent to research available mortgages in the market and also the different types of mortgages. It is also important to take note of the interest rate. Try as much as possible to get a mortgage approval as this will make property sellers view you as a serious buyer. It would also be advisable to get mortgage protection insurance.
Get a Solicitor
It is important to find a solicitor when looking for a property so that all the legal work pertaining to the transfer of ownership of the property from the seller to the buyer is smooth. Red kite solicitors Bridgend are a friendly and knowledgeable team of solicitors that will provide legal service and guide you through any challenging patches, whether it is divorce or even death. Their main aim is to be your solicitor for life.
Start Property Hunting
It would be the right time to visit multiple websites, auctions, and estate agents. Even individual sellers can be useful at this moment as they advertise through websites and newspapers. It is advisable to check the Building Energy Rating (BER) which will show if the house is energy-efficient. Also, you should check if the home is in the location shown on its Radon Risk Map.
Do a Survey
If the seller has not revealed the defects of the house, you should get a survey. This will help you highlight any defects that you may have not been aware of. For example, a survey may reveal that the roof may need to be changed. As the buyer, you may use this as a bargaining chip in negotiations.
Buy the Property
Properties can be purchased in two main ways which include private treaties or public auctions. Let’s look at each of these options briefly.
A Private Treaty
This is where you either directly contact the seller or the seller’s agent so that you can come to an agreement on the sale. Private treaties can be completed faster than public auctions since there are no legal time frames for the transactions. However, they typically take more than six months.
Public Auction
These are mostly advertised in newspapers, websites or by a sign on the property. The seller or auctioneers will sell the property to the highest bidder. With public auctions, the property will be exchanged on the fall of the hammer, and the sale will then be completed within 28 days.
Signing the Contract of Sale
Both parties sign the contract for sale to mark the completion of the sale. The contract will contain the agreed buying price and the due date.
Closure of Sale
It mainly entails filling the requisitions on the title and later drafting the Deed of Conveyance.
Payment of Stamp Duty
The solicitor will then later calculate the stamp duty that is to be paid by the new owner of the house.
After the sale is completed, the buyer will collect the title deed and can move into the house at their convenience
