Service provided by an estate agent

Estate agents do not take any fees from the purchasers; they introduce the purchaser to the vendor’s property and oversee the sale by liaising with all parties including solicitors. An estate agent will act in the best interests of the seller, and is not obliged to emphasize any negative aspects of the property to the purchaser, but at the same time will do their best to assist both parties, purchaser and seller as fairly as possible.

Steps involved in buying property

1. Find a suitable property

2. arrange a mortgage

3. Instruct a solicitor

4. The lender will send a surveyor to carry out their valuation on the property

5. Purchaser is advised to instruct a surveyor to carry out a home buyers report or full survey

6. The Vendor’s Solicitor forwards sellers property information forms, a draft contract and title deeds on the property to the purchaser Solicitor

7. Purchaser solicitor will obtain for local search and raises any enquiries with the Vendor's solicitor.

8. Once both parties solicitor’s are satisfied they will proceed to exchange contracts and a completion date is set unless this is simultaneously done in one day

9. The purchaser solicitor will transfer the deposit to the vendor solicitor

10. The Vendor Solicitor forwards Signed contracts to the purchaser solicitor which are then forwarded to the purchaser

11. Contracts are exchanged, the purchaser arranges buildings and contents insurance

12. On agreed date, by all parties completion takes place

13. Purchaser solicitor pays remainder of purchase price to Vendor's solicitor

14. The Vendor’s solicitor arranges keys to be handed over when completion of sale is confirmed

15. The purchaser can now move in! (The best and easy bit)

When you purchase a property you will naturally incur these costs:

Solicitor's fees (this includes stamp duty, local authority searches)
Part payments on ground rents, council tax, service charges
Deposit purchase
Property insurance and house contents insurance
Mortgage (Can be added to the loan, including indemnity premium and fees)
Surveyor's fees
Removal company
Services (reconnection of any utilities, redirect mail)
Life assurance and mortgage insurance (if applicable to your requirements)

The difference between a freehold and leasehold property

Freehold: The property will be solely own by you and all the property maintenance and repairs are fully your responsibility

Leasehold: The lease state’s how long you own the property; the freeholder grants you the right to live there. Property ownership reverts to the freeholder at the end of the lease.

Lots of leases are set for 999 years. Any lease’s with less than 60 years to run are unlikely to be accepted by mortgage lenders to lend. A majority of lenders require that the mortgage term has at least 20 years left on the lease.

The lease specifies:

Person responsible for maintaining and repairing different parts of the property
As a resident, rules you must follow.
Ground rent due to the freeholder

Type of home buyer’s survey you will need?

The home buyer’s survey you require depends on the lenders requirements and the type and age of property you are purchasing:

Mortgage Valuation Report is carried out by the lender to decide if they are prepared to lend you money to buy the property.

Home Buyer's Report was made available by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in the 1980's to bridge the gap between the basic Mortgage Valuation Report and Full Structural Survey.

Full Structural or Building Survey Report can be a very detailed report depending on what is agreed with the surveyor. This is done in more depth than the Home Buyers report and is often recommended for property that is particularly old (listed).

Solicitor’s role involves

The purchasing process begins with the Vendor's Solicitor obtaining the property title deeds from the Vendor's Bank or Building Society so the contract of sale can be prepared. The purchasers Solicitor will then examine the papers and raise any enquiries based on the title deeds, and any related matters about the property.

When your Solicitor is in receipt of the following you can proceed to exchange of contracts: replies to queries, a copy of a mortgage offer, a satisfactory local search, a signed contract and deposit monies.

The ‘exchange’ and ‘completion’

Exchange means, you are obliged to proceed with the sale as the transaction is now legally binding. At the point of exchange, a deposit of between 20% - 30% of purchase price will be transferred to the Vendor’s solicitor.

Completion can be sooner or later as required but is usually 28 days from the date of exchange. If necessary It is possible to exchange and completion on the same time. The remainder of the purchase money is handed over by purchaser Solicitor to the Vendor's Solicitor on completion.

On the exact point of completion, keys will be handed over by the Vendor or estate agent which means you can move into your new home.

At exchange of contracts the purchaser need to arrange:

Arrange removals – we have a removal company that can assist you with your move at a very competitive price, you can contact us to help you arrange this on 0208 986 7373.

Arrange insurance, normally when contracts have been exchanged, your solicitor will be able to advise you further. You will need to arrange insurance for your property, Buildings & Contents.

Maintenance Contracts, Services and Council Tax, You are advised to notify the service providers – water, gas, electricity and telephone, with your moving in date to your new property in order to avoid unnecessary costs or disconnection.

Why choose Big Move?

Big Move is a professional Estate Agent who take pride in the work and services it provide. With strong knowledge and experience of the property market, we are totally committed to delivering the results you expect, as a client offering the best advice whether you’re a first time buyer or adding to your property portfolio.

Our experienced and professional staff will assist you in finding you your perfect home. We understand every client has different requirements as well as the whole process can be a worrying and frustrating experience, this is why we are on hand every step of the way to guide you through the sale of your property from start to finish.

Once instruction is received to find a sale property, we will carry out a free extensive search of the properties we currently have on our database, to ensure we find the best property for you.

We offer a variety of properties of all standards, sizes and areas of Hackney and surrounding areas in London, this will include digital images and property specifications with floor plans to help you make your decision.

Having an excellent advertising campaign we market all available properties on the biggest property websites around (Rightmove, Findaproperty, Primelocatio, Propertyfinder and Hotproperty)

Once registered with us, you will also be able to browse our property database, which is updated daily with the latest properties - 24 hours a day.

Helping you find your dream home!