First time buyer help!

ALacoste

I have had my offer accepted and I am waiting for the memo of sale to come through before I request my solicitor to undertake the searches. My broker has submitted the mortgage application. 2 questions. My solicitor us asking for an upfront fee do I pay this and get the ball rolling or do I wait for memo of sale to come through before I part with my money. Secondly from submitted the mortgage application how does long does it take to get approved? I am going with natwest.
I have also heard natwest also offer a basic homebuyer survey, is it recommended to get a upgrade to L2? The house i am purchasing is in ok condition, but I am looking to do a extension on the rear before I move in. Which survey to do and why? I have heard the structural is a waste of money. Any advice would be appreciated

powerful_Rogue

1) Up to you, the solicitor won't do anything until they have been paid upfront. I would personally wait.

2) How long is a piece of string! Everyones circumstances are different.

3) Again personal choice. I've never had a survey carried out, others swear by them.

K_S

ALacoste said:

I have had my offer accepted and I am waiting for the memo of sale to come through before I request my solicitor to undertake the searches. My broker has submitted the mortgage application. 2 questions. My solicitor us asking for an upfront fee do I pay this and get the ball rolling or do I wait for memo of sale to come through before I part with my money. Secondly from submitted the mortgage application how does long does it take to get approved? I am going with natwest.
I have also heard natwest also offer a basic homebuyer survey, is it recommended to get a upgrade to L2? The house i am purchasing is in ok condition, but I am looking to do a extension on the rear before I move in. Which survey to do and why? I have heard the structural is a waste of money. Any advice would be appreciated

@alacoste

1. I would at least wait for the memo of sale before starting conveyancing as a buyer. Most of my clients wait for the mortgage offer before incurring any property-specific costs.

2. NatWest's current average service levels can be seen here
https://www.intermediary.natwest.com/intermediary-solutions/service-levels.html
This thread should also help give you an idea
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6230386/natwest-mortgage-timescale-2021#latest

3. Were they wish to do a survey, most of my clients instruct one of their own after receiving the mortgage offer. 

eddddy

How much do you know about the seller's onward plans - i.e. the onward chain?

Does your seller need to buy a home to move to? If so, have they found somewhere and had an offer accepted?

For example, it may take them a month to find somewhere and get an offer accepted, then their sellers might take a month to find somewhere and get an offer accepted, then another month for their seller, etc, etc.

Sometimes people don't start the conveyancing process until the chain is complete.

If your seller tells their solicitors not to do anything until the chain is complete, then your solicitor can't do anything anyway.


Assuming an EA is involved in your purchase, it might be worth asking them about the seller's plans, before moving too far forward.

snowqueen555

I'm waiting on the valuation, it's 3 weeks away. I've paused the conveyancing because I don't want to pay anything as nothing matters until the bank is okay to lend on it.

Tiglet2

The upfront fee will be to pay for searches and AML checks, but the monies will stay in the Client Account until your solicitor receives the draft contract pack before getting the searches ordered.  So, preliminary ID checks and opening the file in preparation can be done to start the ball rolling but little else.

But, as others have said, you should enquire about the vendor's onward plans, whether they have found somewhere to move to and is it the end of the chain or are there further onward purchases?

Up to you regarding surveys, but unless the house is new and you are happy with the condition, buying a property is an awful lot of money to spend if the lack of survey means you miss something important once you've moved in. 

ALacoste

Thank you all. The property is empty and there is no onward chain.

RAS

Is it either a probate sale or a couple splitting up?

Tiglet2

ALacoste said:

Thank you all. The property is empty and there is no onward chain.

In that case, probably best to put your solicitor in funds.  Mortgage offers generally have a 6 month expiry and conveyancing takes around 4 months, so if you do decide to wait for the offer before paying for searches, you could need an extension on the mortgage offer if conveyancing takes longer than the average. 

Obviously no chain and being empty ought to be easier, but the conveyancing timescale may be affected by other issues, such as title issues, probate, divorcing couple, breaches of covenant, etc.

jenni_fer

Firstly, Congratulations!
Hopefully you'll have a nice straightforward journey to house ownership.

I'd echo the advice above, memorandum of sale should be imminent, get the mortgage applied for and the solicitor started.

Survey wise, depends on the property, in previous purchases we've been able to upgrade our mortgage one to the level we wanted...not sure what Nat West do though. 

trakky14

Start everything now, I would!! Apparently natwest take ages, at least a month so get the ball rolling with everything. 

If you want to extend you should definitely get at least a level 2 survey, ideally 3. The basic valuation the bank does will tell you nothing. However I'd wait for  the survey till you know about the mortgage outcome in case