Offer accepted, what happens now?

AubreyMac

I have a decision in principle and have viewed a flat I like.

I am due to view it again tomorrow in the day time (first viewed it after work when it was dark) before making an offer which I think is likely to get accepted.

Vendor wants to act quickly as it's been vacant for a while and he's losing money with no tenant in there (he is taking viewing for lets too).

As a FTB I can act quiker than someone who is in a chain.

Seriously, what do I first do when offer is accepted? Do I contact the people I have the decision in principle with or do I find a conveyancy solicitor to act right away? Even if I don't get that flat, I would need to know this for other flats I may like.

hcb42

contact solicitor and lender..they will take care of it all

AubreyMac

hcb42 wrote: »

contact solicitor and lender..they will take care of it all

Thank you. Do lenders normally recommend one?

I have a personally recommended solicitor from a relative who brought 2 years ago.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Instruct a solicitor and tell the EA who you are using. They will confirm offer and send memo of sale to all parties.

Once you have this and property is taken off the market, contact your lender and begin your mortgage application.

Solicitors will ask you to sign initial paperwork, probably take a deposit and will request contracts from vendor's solicitor.

Assuming there is no onward chain, you can either order searches and book survey immediately or wait for mortgage offer to come through first. If you're confident of getting the mortgage, ordering searches immediately will speed things up as local searches can take up to a few weeks depending on the LA.

Find a surveyor and book your survey. You might do this through the lender as an upgrade from a valuation survey.

Now a bit of waiting. Wait for searches, mortgage, survey and draft contracts/title.

Once the above are done it's basically in the hands of your solicitors. They will report on the title, mortgage, searches and send enquiries. You should tell them you are aiming for a quick exchange.

Assuming all is well, agree on a completion date and exchange.

LateStarter

You've got 2 separate things to do ; find a good solicitor and get your mortgage sorted.

Your solicitor will do a lot of things while waiting for your mortgage to be approved (local searches, land registry titles, getting the seller to answer a lot of questions). He'll also liaise with your lender after your mortage gets approved and get the funds transferred etc.

It's not one or the other - both are really equally important.

AubreyMac

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Instruct a solicitor and tell the EA who you are using. They will confirm offer and send memo of sale to all parties.

Once you have this and property is taken off the market, contact your lender and begin your mortgage application.

Solicitors will ask you to sign initial paperwork, probably take a deposit and will request contracts from vendor's solicitor.

Assuming there is no onward chain, you can either order searches and book survey immediately or wait for mortgage offer to come through first. If you're confident of getting the mortgage, ordering searches immediately will speed things up as local searches can take up to a few weeks depending on the LA.

Find a surveyor and book your survey. You might do this through the lender as an upgrade from a valuation survey.

Now a bit of waiting. Wait for searches, mortgage, survey and draft contracts/title.

Once the above are done it's basically in the hands of your solicitors. They will report on the title, mortgage, searches and send enquiries. You should tell them you are aiming for a quick exchange.

Assuming all is well, agree on a completion date and exchange.

Thank you so much for this, it is so helpful.

My budget is low so to convince EA's that I can act quickly will be in my favour. But of course I have to really act quickly when offer is accepted.

Can I ask though, when you say order searches what exactly does this mean? Is it one of those searches that tells you if there are building works planned for the block in the near future?

TheCyclingProgrammer

You're describing local searches which is one of them and the one that normally takes the longest.

There are also environmental searches and drainage/water searches which should be pretty quick.

Robin9

You don't do the searches yourself - that's what you pay solicitors for.

It all takes much longer than you expect -

kingstreet

House purchase process runs like this;-

Offer agreed
Solicitors instructed
Sales memorandum issued by estate agent
Purchaser applies for mortgage
Vendor's solicitor prepares and issues draft contract to purchaser's solicitor
Vendor completes seller's enquiry forms and returns to their solicitor
Valuation/survey carried out
Purchaser pays their solicitor for searches
Searches requested by purchaser's solicitor
Renegotiation of price due to survey findings - if required
Mortgage offer issued
Purchaser's solicitor receives seller's enquiry forms and raises any enquiries with vendor's solicitor
Searches returned to purchaser's solicitor
Responses to enquiries from vendor's solicitor to purchaser's solicitor
Purchaser visits solicitor to go through paperwork, hand over ID and deposit
Completion date agreed between all parties
Contracts exchanged
Purchaser's solicitor sends purchase funds to vendor's solicitor
Completion takes place
Vendor's solicitor receives purchase funds and authorises key release.