For most people, the decision to buy a property will likely be one of the biggest they will ever make. Notwithstanding its importance, there will be a lot to consider in deciding on your perfect property: the location, the specification and the price. While it is likely that taking possession of the property will be exciting for most, the process of organising for the purchase can be quite challenging to understand when not handled by professionals familiar with working in the field of conveyancing.
At McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors, we have been involved in helping clients to purchase property for many years. Our detail-oriented and efficient team of property lawyers are here to help you navigate the process of finding and buying the property of your dreams. We place affordability and professionalism at the heart of all that we do. If you need advice on buying a property, please contact the McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors team. Click here for residential conveyancing in Annan.
Get help understanding the process involved in buying a property
At McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors, we are routinely sought by clients to provide guidance on what the process of buying a property involves. Contrary to what many believe, there is a great deal more to purchasing a property than simply paying the purchase price:
Looking into the condition of a property in Ayr, Troon, Kilmarnock, Irvine and Glasgow
If and when you find a property that interests you, you must by law be provided with a detailed overview of the property. This information is contained in a document called the ‘Home Report’. A Home Report is made up of three different pieces of information:
Single Survey - this document identifies what the value and condition of the property are. As a prospective purchaser, it is advisable to organise a separate survey of the property to be completed, providing you with a second opinion. This can be very useful when considering how much you are prepared to spend on purchasing the property.
Energy Report – this document outlines the environmental impact that the property you are interested in has, i.e. how friendly to the environment it is. The report will also include information on how energy efficient the building is.
Property Questionnaire – this is the final part of the Home Report. It is essentially an overview provided by the seller of other important information regarding the property, such as the council tax banding, any restrictions on the use of the property, either upon purchase or in the future.
Only after you have taken the time to carefully review the detail of the Home Report should you consider taking any further steps to purchase a property. At McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors, our property solicitors are highly experienced in assisting clients to understand the terms of the Home Report, and in advising on whether or not there will be anything that will interfere with their use of a property in the future.
Deciding on how to pay for a property in Ayr, Troon, Kilmarnock, Irvine and Glasgow
If you are satisfied that you have found a property that meets your needs, and there is nothing in the Home Report that concerns you, your next step will be to plan on how you will fund the purchase of the property. As a matter of procedure, you will normally only make an offer to buy a property once you have finalised how the purchase will be financed, which is usually done by either:
Borrowing money from a lender
This tends to be the most popular way of buying a property. It is more commonly known as getting a ‘mortgage’. This involves your approaching a lender (commonly a bank), and asking them to provide you with the money to buy the property. Most lenders will require you to undergo a rigorous number of checks, in order to establish whether or not you will be able to make the repayments of the loan. Furthermore, it will likely only agree to give you a loan if you provide it with some form of security. In practice, it will normally ask to hold a legal right over the property that you hope to purchase with the money it gives you: if you fail to make the repayments, it will take steps to sell the property and recoup its money from the sale.
The amount of money that a lender will be willing to provide you with will heavily depend on your ability to repay the loan. It is important to keep in mind that when looking to secure a mortgage for a property, whatever sum you ask to be loaned must be enough to cover the price of the property, and any deposit that is required to be paid.
Using personal funds
The second method of financing your purchase will be to use your own money. In practice, very few people will have enough money readily available to cover the asking price of a property. It may be the case that you have some savings that you can use to contribute to the price of the property – this can reduce the amount of the loan you need from a lender.
Deciding on how you wish to finance a purchase is a very important decision, and one that should be taken carefully. At McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors, we are acutely aware of the fact that people may not fully understand the legal consequences of securing a mortgage for their property. We will be able to advise on what this means for you, and the property that you are interested in.
If you have successfully sourced finances to purchase a property, you will then be able to make an offer to purchase it.
You should keep in mind that it is not guaranteed that your offer will be accepted in every instance. Where a property is being sold at a ‘fixed price’, most sellers will accept an offer for this sum. The situation is different with a property that is being sold for ‘offers over’ a certain amount, where it is open to the seller to decide precisely how much they are willing to accept for their property.
If your offer for a property is accepted, you will then need to go about the process of organising for ownership of the property to be transferred. In Scotland, this is known as ‘concluding the missives’, where the conditions of the sale are negotiated and agreed, and a document known as a ‘disposition’ is prepared that will name you as the new owner.
The process of finalising your purchase of a property can involve a lot of paperwork. The disposition itself needs to be drafted by an expert property lawyer, who will be able to explain to you exactly what the document means. At McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors, our dedicated, partner-lead property law team will be able to organise all of the administrative work to finalise your purchase of a property. With over 200 years of combined experience and an intimate understanding of the property market in the West of Scotland, McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors can provide you with high quality, professional legal advice on buying a property.
The property lawyers at McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors are specialists in the field of conveyancing, and are often sought to help clients who are in the process of buying a new home. We operate across Ayrshire, and our team of dynamic lawyers will be happy to assist you in respect of any part of the conveyancing process. If you are interested in buying a new property, or need guidance on how the process works, please contact us.
Making an offer to buy a property
If you have successfully sourced finances to purchase a property, you will then be able to make an offer to purchase it.
You should keep in mind that it is not guaranteed that your offer will be accepted in every instance. Where a property is being sold at a ‘fixed price’, most sellers will accept an offer for this sum. The situation is different with a property that is being sold for ‘offers over’ a certain amount, where it is open to the seller to decide precisely how much they are willing to accept for their property.
If your offer for a property is accepted, you will then need to go about the process of organising for ownership of the property to be transferred. In Scotland, this is known as ‘concluding the missives’, where the conditions of the sale are negotiated and agreed, and a document known as a ‘disposition’ is prepared that will name you as the new owner.
The process of finalising your purchase of a property can involve a lot of paperwork. The disposition itself needs to be drafted by an expert property lawyer, who will be able to explain to you exactly what the document means. At McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors, our dedicated, partner-lead property law team will be able to organise all of the administrative work to finalise your purchase of a property. With over 200 years of combined experience and an intimate understanding of the property market in the West of Scotland, McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors can provide you with high quality, professional legal advice on buying a property.
Contact our Conveyancing Lawyers Ayr, Troon, Kilmarnock, Irvine and Glasgow
The property lawyers at McLennan Adam Davis Solicitors are specialists in the field of conveyancing, and are often sought to help clients who are in the process of buying a new home. We operate across Ayrshire, and our team of dynamic lawyers will be happy to assist you in respect of any part of the conveyancing process. If you are interested in buying a new property, or need guidance on how the process works, please contact us.
