So you made an offer and it’s been accepted. Now, it’s time for the next stages in your homebuying journey. The legal side can be daunting, but the good news is that this will all be handled for you by a solicitor.
A solicitor is a vital cog in the homebuying journey. They’ll take care of the legal bits for you, including checking contracts, title deeds and other transaction documents, and make searches and enquiries on your behalf.
Once you’ve made an offer on your home, the next stages involve liaising with multiple parties to ensure both buyers and sellers are satisfied with the purchase. If you’re unfamiliar with the process, don’t have a lot of time, or feel overwhelmed, it’s best to hire a solicitor or legal advisor to work through these steps and ensure you can settle into your home as soon as possible.
When you’ve received your mortgage offer, you’ll need to contact your solicitor and make arrangements to sign the contract. If you need to sell your existing property to buy your new home, you’ll generally be only ready to sign the contract once your buyer is in a position to proceed.
2. Exchanging contracts
On every house sale, two identical contracts are prepared - the seller signs one, and the buyer signs the other. When the contract is exchanged, these two parts are dated with the same date and then ‘swapped’, meaning you and the seller are legally committed to purchasing your home. This is known as the exchange of contracts. In advance of the exchange of contracts, your solicitor will ask you to put their firm in funds to pay the contract deposit. This is then paid to us, or our solicitor. We’ll all do everything we can to exchange contracts within the reservation period to ensure things move along quickly.
3. Completion
Your solicitor will send you a financial statement letting you know the balance of any money that you will need to pay to him/her before completing your purchase. They will also provide you with details of your new home warranty and insurance provider, the warranty and insurance certificate, the schedule and details of the cover. On the completion day, your solicitor will transfer the balance of the purchase price to us or our solicitor by a same day bank transfer. When the money is received and the transaction document (the transfer deed or lease) is formally dated, we’ll give you the keys to your new home.
Buying a Persimmon Home? We can help!
If you'd like help with buying a Persimmon home or would like us to recommend an independent solicitor, please get in touch.
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