Buying a house - when do you start paying

steven589

Hopefully a simple enough question - me and my partner have had an offer accepted on a flat, and we are currently waiting for the approval for the lender, and we've just give our solicitor details to the estate agent.

the reason I ask when do we start paying, is that we are looking at another property tonight that has just come on the market, and I am wondering at what point in the process the solicitors will start doing the work (i.e. charging us) and therefore if we changed our mind, how long have we got before we start making a financial commitment.

Steve

reformedspender

I'm not sure this fully answers your question, but hopefully it is an indication. We started to buy a house a year or so ago but withdrew as there was access problems that couldn't be overcome. The solicitor charged us about 60 quid after about two weeks working on the legal issues concerned with access.

[Deleted User]

Normally when you instruct them to start the searches. But also you incur an immediate cost when you instruct your building society to send the surveyor. At the moment though, just putting an offer in and having it accepted should not penalise you in any way if you pull out immediately. Good luck and hope that one of these properties are what you both want.

spunkeyrich

you are only committed to buy a property after you have exchanged contracts. solicitors will understand if you cxhange your mind but may charge for work they have done. it is usually added to your final bill. I would phone them and tell them to hold off doing any more work until you contact them again and what charge so far. probably just a couple of letters. also, as long as the surveyor has not visited already you should be able to put a hold on that cost.

cheers

rich