We can provide an all inclusive service from finding a suitable property and arranging the finance to delivering the keys. With our link to Glasgow Solicitors' Property Centre, we can input your specific requirements, be it price, area, type and number of rooms and obtain a print out of all properties being sold in Glasgow by solicitors which meet your requirements.
Once you have found a suitable property we shall notify your interest to the selling solicitor and advise you of any closing date. We shall arrange the survey for you. We shall then discuss the terms of the survey report with you and, if appropriate, instruct any further specialist reports which may be required, for example structural engineers or timber specialist (obviously if the surveyor reports that the house has more dry rot than a politician’s speech, we would not recommend you purchase it).
We shall then submit a formal offer on your behalf. Under Scot’s Law, the sale or purchase of a house requires to be in writing. This written contract is referred to as ‘the missives’. Once missives are concluded there is a binding contract unlike comparable situations in England. This prevents unpleasant Sassenach practices such as “gazumping”. Please check with us that there are concluded missives before making too many arrangements.
Our Financial Services Partner can arrange appropriate mortgage finance for you through their long standing connections with Building Societies, Banks and other lending institutions. This finance would be agreed in principal before an offer is submitted on your behalf. As soon as the contract is completed then the written mortgage application form should be completed.
Contrary to popular superstition, a mortgage does not entail selling yourself and family into slavery or wearing a ball and chain for the rest of your life – it is the normal modern way of raising money for house purchase.
Have you adequate life insurance to cover your mortgage?
If in doubt, we shall advise you and obtain the necessary quotations for you. If you have adequate cover it will be necessary to pass to us the details of the relevant policies. Our Financial Services Department can assist you in arranging your mortgage and any necessary insurance. It is not advisable to surrender existing policies. Where possible, it is best to arrange for a top-up policy if you need more cover for your new mortgage.
We shall receive the title deeds or Land Certificate from the selling solicitor. We shall scrutinise them to ensure they are in order and that the seller has a valid title (if he turns out to be a squatter or the real owner’s favourite nephew, bets are off!) We shall examine a number of reports from Land Registers to ensure that there are no charges against the property or inhibitions against the seller to prevent the sale proceeding.
We shall check the position under the Matrimonial Homes Act and obtain up to date Planning , Building Control Health, Roads and Sewage Certificates from your local authority just in case the M25 is destined to run through your back garden or the house is scheduled for demolition in 6 months time. We shall then revise the documentation – discharging any loans over the property by the seller and draft the actual transfer deed in your favour. Once this has been signed by the seller and delivered to us in exchange for the price, we shall register the deed in the Land Register.
Simultaneously we shall prepare the security documentation for your building society or other lending institution and report the position to them.
If you decide with the seller to change the date of entry, please let us know in order that we may notify your lender and adjust your paperwork accordingly. Avoid weekends for your moving in day.
On the day of entry, congratulations, you are now formally the home owner . Watch out for hints and pressure from friends regarding the house warming party. Once you are in your new home, please check that everything is at it should be, particularly items of a working nature such as central heating, white goods and lighting. Remember we only have three to four days to intimate any alleged claims under the missives to the seller’s solicitors.
After they are returned to us from the Land Regeisters, they are sent to Building Society or other lending institution. If there is no loan involved, then the Title Deeds should not be framed and hung on the living room wall, but preferably placed in the bank for safe keeping or lodged with us.
Yes it is a good idea, not because the strain of buying a house might prove fatal (we are hoping to shoulder that burden) but simply because it is a prudent precaution. It is good value too because we will advise you and draw up your Will free of charge.
Conveyancing, or buying or selling a house, is one of the most important events in your life. We want this to go smoothly for you and that is why we provide a conveyancing service with the emphasis on 'service'.
