Conveyancing

INTRODUCTION

At Norton Peskett our aim is to reduce the worry which might surround your move. You may take it for granted that all our conveyancers will provide you with a friendly and efficient service. If you have any queries at any time during your sale or purchase please do not hesitate to ask us.

This web page is designed to give you the information you may need as your sale or purchase proceeds, explains the terminology and summarises the procedures we are carrying out on your behalf.

PROCEDURE
Both a sale and a purchase are a two stage affair; exchange of contracts and then completion. The stages can be represented diagrammatically on these flowcharts.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Always put the phrase "Subject to Contract" on any letters between yourself and the Seller or his Estate Agents prior to exchange.
Do not rely on a Building Society or Bank Valuation for survey purposes. The Mortgagee is primarily only interested to learn if the property is worth more than the loan and its valuation is not a structural survey. We suggest you consider instructing the Building Society's Surveyor to carry out a "Home Buyer's" survey report or a full structural survey if the property is old or of unusual construction, rather than a mere valuation. We can advise you on who to appoint if you wish to instruct someone wholly independent.
Insurance - If you will have a mortgage from a Building Society or Bank on the property you are buying , then they will usually arrange insurance from exchange of contracts. If the property is leasehold, then usually the Landlord will insure.
Don't part with the keys to your purchaser until we let you know that completion is proceeding. Either deposit the keys with us or your Estate Agent.
If we need any money from you to complete your purchase, this should be paid to us at least 3 days in advance of the completion date. We will notify you of any sums required after exchange of contracts.

LEASES
Thus far we have assumed you have been selling or buying a freehold property. If you are buying a flat however, it will invariably mean the purchase of a Lease. These are complex legal documents and will be explained to you when we report to you on the Contract. If you are buying a Lease, remember that there may well be service charges to pay to the Landlord as well as the rent and also restrictions on your use of the property. When selling a Lease, please let us have copies of the Landlord's insurance policy (if you have it) together with receipts for the ground rent and any service charges as the Buyer will want to see them.

JOINTLY OWNED PROPERTY
When more than one person is buying a property, the parties must consider how they wish to own the same. Basically there are two methods:

Beneficial Joint Tenants - Where Buyers own their properties as Beneficial Joint Tenants then, in the event of the death of own owner, the remaining owner or owners receive the deceased's automatically. Thus if a husband and wife own the property as Beneficial Joint Tenants, as is normally the case, and one of them dies, then the survivor automatically becomes the sole owner of the property, irrespective of the deceased person's Will.

Tenants in Common - The situation is the reverse of that above, in that if one owner dies that owner can leave his or her interest or share in the property to whoever they wish. The owners shares are set out in the Deeds eg 50/50, 70/30 and can reflect the parties contribution to the purchase price.Please let us know which one you want, as it affects the way we draw up the Transfer.

COSTS AND DISBURSEMENTS
We can let you have an estimate of our fees and the incidental expenses involved at the outset of your sale and/or purchase. The usual incidental expenses include:

Local Search fees - these vary between District Councils for example electronic searches submitted as at January 2006 are
Waveney District Council £150.00
Gt Yarmouth Borough Council £158.00
In addition a drainage enquiry search with Anglian Water will cost £45.85 and a Residential Environmental Search will cost £23.50.

Stamp Duty - This is payable on purchases in excess of £120,000.00 at a rate of 1% of the purchase price (ie purchase price of £122,500.00 = Stamp Duty of £1,225.00) and at a rate of 3% for purchases in excess of £250,000.00 (ie purchase price of £260,500.00 = Stamp Duty of £7,815.00). The Chancellor of the Exchequer has recently introduced a Stamp Duty exemption that relates to the purchase of property within certain designated disadvantaged areas. This exemption relates to properties not exceeding £150,000.00. We will advise you whether or not Stamp Duty will be payable on your purchase.

Land Registry fees - these are payable on an ascending scale of between £60.00 for a £80,000.00 property to £220.00 for a £500,000.00 property.

Office Copy Entries - Copies of the HM Land Registry Title Documents Cost up to £15.00

Final Search fees - a Bankruptcy search for the Mortgagee and a search against the title or the Seller costs approx £7.00

WHAT WE LEAVE TO YOU
These are the things you should attend to:

a) Cancel or transfer the contents insurance and the building insurance if you arrange your own

b) Arrange for the reading of the gas/electricity/telephone meters on the day of completion and transfer the accounts or settlement thereof

c) Cancel the direct debit/standing order for your old mortgage as from the date of completion

SINCE IT HAS BEEN NECESSARY TO SIMPLIFY GREATLY MANY OF THE POINTS ON THIS WEB PAGE, THIS SHOULD NOT BE REGARDED AS A COMPLETE STATEMENT OF THE LAW. A MEMBER OF OUR CONVEYANCING DEPARTMENT WOULD BE PLEASED TO CLARIFY ANY OF THE POINTS REFERRED TO IN THE WEB PAGE AND GIVE YOU ANY ADVICE THAT YOU WOULD REQUIRE.

OTHER SERVICES

When you are moving house and you will be seeing your solicitors anyway, this is a good time to revise or make your Will. We will be pleased to do this for you.

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To send an Email to one of our Conveyancers click on the relevant branch to view their details:

Lowestoft Great Yarmouth Beccles Gorleston Southwold