Do you want to climb the property ladder in York? Making that move to buy your first property in the UK is a worthy decision. Owning property in York comes with a lot of challenges. If this is your first home, you want to watch every step you take, from making an offer to moving.
When buying property in York, you should hire a conveyancer or a property solicitor to hold your hand. A property solicitor will help you review the legal process of buying property in York. Here is what the legal process of buying property in York entails.
Table of Contents
Step #1: Make an offer
There are many places in York where you can buy property, like North Yorkshire and Escrick. When purchasing property in York, you should research places to buy in York. Find a home in an established area and make an offer.
If you’re buying in a new place, plan to work with a local estate agent. This way, you find an offer that matches your budget. An estate agent will help you find a home and a seller in your preferred area. Remember, it is not a requirement that you must work with an estate agent when buying property.
Step #2: Seller accepts an offer
Once you make an offer, the seller should accept it before you can proceed with other legal processes. The seller can accept or reject your offer depending on your quote amount. For instance, if you are not ready to move and the seller wants to sell urgently, they may not accept your offer.
Step #3: Hire a property solicitor
The next step to buying property is instructing your property solicitor in York such as AVRillo. Once you have the offer, you should instruct your solicitor to start carrying out the legal work in purchasing the property. When hiring a solicitor, you should check their legal fees.
For work involving property sales, it will cost you between £500 -1,500 and the VAT. Property solicitors charge different fees, so you should find out if you can afford them before instructing.
Step #4: Get a survey
When buying property in York, it’s important to ask your conveyancer to conduct a survey. Arrange for a valuation survey before you can proceed with the contracts. Doing a survey helps you find out issues in the property that can reduce the price or offer of the property.
You can do local authority searches, building and structural surveys, RICS homebuyer reports,
and RICS condition reports. Getting a property survey is vital before you can proceed to make the purchase.
Step #5: Finalize the mortgage and the offer
Once you have commissioned a survey and new issues emerge, you should negotiate the property price in line with this new information.
Suppose you’re buying property on a mortgage. In that case, you should also ask the lender to consider valuing the property at a lower price – your mortgage lender is most likely to reduce the amount they are lending when the property has issues.
Once you finalize the offer and the lender accepts it, you have to pay for the deposit and finalize the mortgage.
Step #6: Complete the sale
After an exchange of contracts, your property solicitor will transfer the money to the seller’s solicitor account. At this point, you will get the keys to your new home. You have to pay any outstanding solicitor fees and mortgage fees. Your property solicitor will register this sale with the Land Registry and pay the Stamp Duty.
Final Thoughts
The legal process of buying property in York may be complicated if you are handling the process alone. Therefore, you should hire a property solicitor to guide you through this process.
