House Purchase & Sale
Buying a new property
It might be that your purchase is a newly built house or flat on a new development by a housebuilder. Here, the price of the house or flat will likely be fixed, and no noting of interest or closing date procedure will be involved. Instead the housebuilder will send an offer in the form of a standard contract (called a builders’ missive) to your solicitor and expect you to sign up to this with no alteration of its terms. Your solicitor will explain these terms to you and seek to negotiate any necessary variations on your behalf.
Once terms have been agreed, the contract will then be finalised in the normal manner. The property will still need to be surveyed, and you will still need to arrange your loan, have the titles checked, have title to the property transferred to your name, complete the purchase, and insure the property in much the same way as described above.
However, there may be other important differences which you will need to consider: The new house or flat may not yet be built and so the date of entry may not be a specific date. If you are selling an existing property, you may have to buy your new property before you have sold your existing property, alternatively you may have to find temporary accommodation while your new property is being prepared. It is important to discuss with the builder the likely dates and consider what you will do if that date moves either forward or backward.
- Check carefully the plan you are shown at the time of reserving the property so that you are happy that this reflects what you are planning to buy.
- Housebuilders usually require payment of reservation fees and deposits as soon as missives are concluded. These usually require to be disclosed to the mortgage provider as part of the solicitor’s duties to the mortgage provider and in certain circumstances the value of these can affect how much you are able to borrow. Speak to your solicitor for detailed advice.
- They may offer special deals or packages, often with time limits and conditions attached.
- They may offer a variety of optional extras with the property. Consider carefully whether you wish to pay for these and communicate clearly with your solicitor about what you have ordered from the builder.
- Larger housebuilders offer ten year guarantees against major structural defects through the National House-Building Council (NHBC) or Zurich Insurance. You will be provided with information on these indemnities which you should read through carefully.
- Completion of construction can sometimes be delayed by factors outwith the builders’ control. In those scenarios, builders will not usually be liable for any costs incurred by you as a result of such delays so consider what you would do should there be a delay.
- Usually these matters will be discussed with you by the housebuilder’s sales staff at their show-home or sales office on site. Mailers can also help to guide you through the complexities of what is on offer.