So, you have decided you want to move house or indeed you have made the big decision to purchase your first home
You will have investigated how you are to finance the purchase. Most of us require a mortgage so you will need to speak to Hamish from Munro and Nobles Financial services on 01463 221 727. Then you are now ready to start looking for your ideal property, but not sure how to proceed.
You will need the services of a property solicitor or a conveyancing solicitor or both.
We conveyancers can assist you in the whole process from start to finish. We can help in negotiating the price, making an offer in Scottish legal form and ultimately conclude a legally binding contract for your purchase. We will examine the title deeds and searches, prepare the documents required for the transfer of title and the security for your chosen lender.( mortgage ) This whole process is known as the conveyancing, and it is our job to ensure that, in the biggest financial commitment you will probably ever make, using your hard earned cash, that you end up with the home of your dreams.
We conveyancers are also there to guide you through the whole stressful process. Moving house is the 3rd most stressful life event after death and divorce, and as conveyancers deal with sale and purchase transactions on a daily basis, we can try to ensure that the whole experience is as stress free as possible. We cannot promise there wont be bumps along the way, but in most cases the process is relatively painless and once you have your keys, hopefully any stress will immediately disappear.
At Munro and Noble, we are legal professionals but with a human touch, and will always make sure that our clients come first and attempt to make the lawyers ‘gobbledegook’ as understandable as possible. We are there to answer any queries you may have. There is no such thing as a silly question and chances are, we have been asked that same question before!
The property you are interested in may be so popular that the sellers agents have fixed a closing date. This occurs when several people are offering to buy after the same property. The sellers will confirm that everyone who wishes to do so, should submit their offer at a set time on a set day. Its is a blind bid, as you will have no idea what figure any of the other prospective purchasers will submit. You should simply put forward your best offer and then keep everything crossed!!
You may be fortunate and be the only party interested in that property, in which case your conveyancer can assist in negotiating a price which is acceptable to both you and the seller.
The whole conveyancing process starts when we submit a written offer to the sellers solicitor. This offer and the sellers solicitors reply, together with the rest of the letters going backwards and forwards between the two sets of solicitors form the contract, also known as the ‘missives’. The initial offer runs to approx. 30/40 clauses and comprises 2 parts. The first is the Scottish Standard clauses which are used by every conveyancer in Scotland and are a set of clauses which are used in every offer. Not every clause is applicable to every property. The second part of the offer will be tailored to the property you are offering for and will contain your details, the property address, the price offered and any other relevant conditions. The offer may be subject to your sale of your current property, subject to your mortgage being offered or any other condition relevant to the property.
The sellers solicitor will go through the offer clause by clause and respond with a written acceptance which will delete some clauses which are not relevant, accept some clauses or amend clauses.
Your solicitor will then go over this with you and advise which clauses in the acceptance should be accepted and which should not. There may be only one further letter in the chain or there may be several others until such time as every clause has been dealt with. This is know as conclusion of missives and commits both you and the seller to a legally binding contract. The price and the date of entry will then be set in stone. We would then proceed to do everything require so you are able to collect your keys on the agreed date of entry and can then move into your new home!