Before you start looking for a specific property, it makes sense to choose a defined area and check it out. Try to visit a couple of times, look at all of the transport links, investigate local schools if appropriate, and look up other amenities that are important to you.
The first step
Then sign up with a number of local estate agents and give them as tight a brief as possible. Tell them what your maximum budget is (they will almost always try to get you to view properties which exceed your budget, but remain firm). Tell them exactly which area you want to live in, what the property MUST have (eg minimum number of bedrooms) and what you would like it to have (eg south-facing garden).
Viewing property is a time-consuming business, and you do not want to waste precious time being dragged around properties that don't interest you.
Viewing property
The golden rule is: take your time. Do not be rushed or pressured, or put off if the current owner is hovering. Try to visit the property a number of times, at different times of the day.
Keep your eyes open for any obvious defects, such as damp, and don't be afraid to ask the owner for utility bills to get an idea of how much the property costs to run.
Making an offer
Remember that the sale price is what the seller hops to get, not what they realistically expect. Many buyers will put in an initial offer of 10 per cent under asking price - you can always increase the offer if they reject you at first. But your second offer should be a final, serious one.
Also, bear in mind that popular properties may go for asking price - or even above asking price - when the market is booming.
Make your offer subject to contract and subject to survey, so you can withdraw if problems arise.
If your offer is expected you may be asked for a deposit, but you are not obliged to pay it at this stage.
Surveys
Contact your lender. They will send out a valuer, or carry out an automatic valuation, to ensure that the property is worth at least the amount they are lending. You often have to pay for this valuation (typically about £300 on a £100,000 property).
The valuation is cursory, however, so you should also commission your own Homebuyers Report, which will cost about £200 extra. If the property is older, you could have a comprehensive buildings survey carried out, which will inspect every nook and cranny.
Legal work
Buying a home is a legal process, and a solicitor or conveyancer is usually used. The legal process of transferring property is called conveyancing.
The solicitor or conveyancer checks all the legal documents such as the title deeds. They also check with the local authority that nothing will impact on the value of your property. They will also check the lease of a leasehold flat, and what is included in the sale.
Once everything is in order, you sign a contract, which is exchanged with the seller, who signs an identical contract. You have to pay a non-refundable 10 per cent deposit on exchange. You are now responsible for insuring the property, so you must arrange buildings insurance, unless you are buying a leasehold flat in which case the freeholder is responsible for the insurance.
A date can now be set for completion, which is usually within four weeks. On completion day, the legal ends are tied up, you collect the keys and move in.
Home Information Packs (HIPs)
After much discussion and debate, Home Information Packs were fully introduced by the Government on 14 December 2007 with the aim of speeding up the homebuying process in England and Wales. They enable vital information about properties for sale to be presented to the buyer at the start of the purchase process so, in theory, the decision to buy can be made more quickly. The Government hopes this will then feed through to the rest of the process, resulting in quicker completions and fewer instances of buyers pulling out of deals at a late stage.
The costsThe packs cost around £300 and must be bought by the seller before the house is placed on the market. Currently, HIPs are available from estate agents, solicitors and specialist pack providers. It is also possible to sort out your own HIP, but be careful if your pack is not up to scratch, you could face a fine of £200.
A HIP must contain:- A HIP index, listing the documents within the pack and the reason for any that are missing
- An energy performance certificate
- A sale statement providing the address of the property, type of lease, registration details and whether or not the property is being sold with vacant possession
- Standard searches including the local land charges register, drainage and water services information and any other records of interest held by the local authority
- Official documents providing evidence of title
Home sellers can also include a Home Condition Report (HCR), but this is optional. It gives details of the property's condition, including any repairs that may be needed. A rating on a scale of one to three (one is best) is applied to indicate the seriousness of the repairs required. The home inspectors who prepare HCRs are qualified and covered by insurance.
Updating your packAs a vendor, once you have a HIP there is no need to update it while it remains on the market, unless you stop and then restart the marketing of your property for any reason. Even then, if marketing stopped because you accepted an offer that subsequently fell through, for example, you can keep the same pack if you start the selling process again within one year of the date marketing first began or within 28 days of the sale falling through, whichever is later.
Making a complaintHomebuyers and sellers can access redress for HIP-related complaints via approved independent schemes covering estate agents in England and Wales that market homes for sale with HIPs. The two schemes presently in place are run by the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Providers can also sign up to a HIP code, which sets out minimum standards that must be met. HIPs that comply with the code will carry the HIP code logo and you can find out if a provider subscribes by contacting the Property Codes Compliance Board (PCCB). Organisations that conduct the various searches involved can sign up to a search code that ensures quality standards. This may be useful if you are compiling your own HIP and, again, you can get a list of member organisations from the PCCB.
You can find out more about the packs by visiting the Government's dedicated HIPs website.
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