Our industry blog
What does a mortgage valuation involve?
If the mortgage valuer 'downvalues' your property it could blow the whole deal out of the water. Banks and Building Societies normally appoint chartered surveyors to carry out valuations for mortgage lending purposes. This is a crucial stage because until the...
Surveys and valuations – Why go naked without a survey?
The only law that applies when buying property is the law of the jungle - better known as "Buyer beware". Why book a survey? If you buy a cereal bar and it turns out to be stale or mouldy, the full force of the law will be on your side. You can demand your money back,...
What if the property you’re buying isn’t registered?
If a property isn't 'registered' you could be in for a nasty surprise! Unregistered properties The vast majority of UK property is ‘registered’. This means that ownership is officially recorded at the Land Registry in London and guaranteed by the State. But on rare...
More On The Law – Title Deeds
Understanding the legal process - conveyancing - is key to a successful house purchase. TITLE DEEDS Buying and selling property depends on your conveyancers digging out information from official records or registers. The first thing to note is that property is legally...
Reason Number 2 – why house purchases often crash
Delays with the legal process - the conveyancing - are the second common cause of property deals falling apart. Here's how to improve your chances of success. SPEEDING UP THE LEGAL WORK A good, experienced solicitor/conveyancer can make all the difference to achieving...
Two Big Reasons Why Deals Collapse
Statistically there are two major culprits when it comes to deals falling through – mortgage problems and legal delays. Here are some tips to improve your chances of success by speeding up your mortgage (the following blog covers legal delays) . GETTING A QUICKER...
Speeding up your purchase – before the deal falls through!
You now have one single overriding objective: to get to exchange of contracts as quickly as possible. Once you’ve exchanged you’re pretty much legally home and dry, and can afford to relax a little, but until then every extra day of unnecessary delay means a greater...
Sealed bids – What they are & playing the game to win
Agents have another trick up their sleeves that’s guaranteed to boost prices when several buyers are after the same property. Going to ‘sealed bids’ involves asking all the hopeful purchasers to formally submit their ‘best and final offer’ confidentially in writing by...
How To Find The Right Property For You
Finding the right property isn't as easy or as much fun as it sometimes looks on TV shows. Snooping around other people’s houses promises at the very least to provide hours of cheap entertainment (judging by the number of programmes devoted to the subject). But the...
When To Consider Paying A Higher Price For A Property
When can you justify paying a higher price for a property? A higher sale price is sometimes justified by sellers who make a point of telling you how much they’ve spent on various improvements. But as we saw in previous posts, what’s been spent doesn’t necessarily...