Our service is simple: list your home with us and you only pay if we sell it. It is as simple as that. We do not ask for a sole agency tie-in period, putting the onus on us to provide excellent customer service and a successful sale at the right price.

Our team of trained property professionals is on hand 8am to 8pm 7 days a week to guide you through all the steps from listing to completion. We handle negotiations, arrange viewings, help with conveyancing and we manage your completion chain. We are with you every step of the way.

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We’ve decided that we need to find a bigger house than our current three-bed semi to accommodate our ever growing family. I’ve seen in the press about Home Information Packs, and whether they are required or not. Can you shed any light on this? Cheers, Dave.

Thanks for the question, Dave, and congratulations on your new arrival!

Home Information Packs (more commonly known as HIPs), are designed to make the process of purchasing a house safer for a buyer, and are currently a requirement for all houses on sale with three or more bedrooms.

As a seller of your own property, you will be required to get a HIP made. Your estate agent may be able to help you with this and obviously he/she will charge you for the pleasure! Alternatively, there are online companies that can get this setup. The cost for a HIP is in the region of around £500, and marketing a house without one will result in a hefty fine of up to £200 a day.

As you are also a buyer, the good news is that you will also get a HIP from properties you are looking at. Within the pack, you’ll find the Sale Statement, Evidence of Title, Standard Searches and an Energy Performance Certificate. This certificate will detail the energy efficiency of the house and let you know of areas of improvement.

Hopefully this has gone some way to answering some of your questions.

Summary:

1. As a buyer (of property with 3 or more bedrooms), you MUST receive a HIP as part of the negotiation.
2. As a seller (of property with 3 or more bedrooms) you MUST supply a HIP as part of the negotiation.

In almost every case, we recommend strongly that you get a more detailed report on the condition of the property to protect not only your lender’s interests, but your own as well. Make sure that the surveyor you use is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors or the Incorporated Society of Valuers and Auctioneers.

There are two kinds of surveyor’s report beyond the basic valuation:

• A House Buyer’s Report comments on the condition of only those parts of the property which are easily accessible or visible. The surveyor will recommend any further investigations he thinks are necessary – for example if he thinks the wiring needs checking or there is the possibility of some structural problems.
• A Full Structural Survey involves a more extensive investigation. A full survey is more expensive than a house buyer’s report, but should tell you much more about any work that may need doing on the property if you buy it. Full surveys are recommended in many cases, particularly if you are buying a property that is more than 100 years old or the building is more than three storeys high.

When you view the property yourself, look out for any signs of problems like cracks or damp patches so that you can point these out to the surveyor later for him to inspect properly.

When you set out on the home-buying process, you should budget for the cost of more than one survey. You might find the surveyor’s report on your first property uncovers serious faults (such as subsidence or rot) which mean you want to withdraw your offer. Even if there are no problems with the property itself, another bidder could step in with a better offer at the last minute.

Either way, you will have to start the whole process again, and that includes organising a survey for the next property where your offer is accepted.

Where the survey does reveal serious problems, you are free to withdraw your offer. If the problems can be fixed, you may be able to use the survey results to negotiate a reduction in the sale price to compensate you for this extra expense.

If you are selling and buying you will need a solicitor for both parts of the transaction. Most lenders will be prepared to accept your choice of solicitor, as most experienced solicitors will have acted for the lender in question before. If you use the desktop lawyer you get a conveyancer whom is able to keep you informed over a secure Internet connection or by the more traditional means of telephone and post, as you prefer.

Conveyancing can take longer than you had imagined, as the solicitor assembles all the necessary information and searches; but don’t be tempted to rush matters. Your new home is probably the most expensive thing you will ever buy, so it is important to be sure there are no nasty or expensive surprises.

The solicitor will research and undertake the following tasks:

• Obtaining the legal documentation (deeds) which proves legal ownership;
• Researching just where the property’s legal boundaries lie and who bears the responsibility of maintenance;
• Preparing a schedule of fixtures, fittings and contents. It is important to clarify whether or not carpets or kitchen appliances are included in the purchase price;
• Asking the vendor if they are aware of any material structural, environmental or other defects that you should know about;
• Passing you a draft contract for sale prepared by the seller’s solicitor, which sets out the terms of your purchase;
• Carrying out a search of local planning information to uncover details of any developments, such as a new road, which could affect the property’s value;
• Obtaining mining reports if your new home is in a coal mining area;
• Agreeing a date for completing which suits both you and the property’s seller;
• Checking with the environment agency to establish details of any contamination issues;
• Checking to see if there are any flooding problems or coastal erosion issues that may affect your new home.

The process is mostly the same if you are moving to a new home but the solicitor will be preparing your contract for sale.

Exchanging Contracts

When you get to exchange contracts you should have your survey safely completed and both you and your mortgage company should be happy with it.

You can now get a formal mortgage offer, which will detail all the conditions and details of the loan. Please read this carefully and get your solicitor or mortgage adviser to explain anything you do not understand. Care should be made to check what redemption penalties there may be and how long they are applicable for.

At this stage your solicitor should have a draft contract ready for you and the seller to sign. Once you have signed the contract, there is no going back and the contract is binding, so be very sure you are happy with all the sale arrangements before you sign.

At exchange you will have to put down a deposit of around 10% of the purchase price. You should make sure that your new home is insured, as you are now legally obliged to buy it; the lender or your solicitor will help make sure that this happens.

Check List:

• Local searches are complete
• The surveyor’s report is complete and acceptable
• You have a formal mortgage offer, which you understand
• You have the deposit available
• You have agreed an completion date and this date is in the contract
• There are no outstanding issues remaining, with no ambiguity about what carpets, fixtures, appliances or fittings are included in the sale price

When you have signed the contract, your solicitor will deliver it to the seller in exchange for the contract he has signed. From this point onward, both you and the seller are committed to the deal.

Swapping your mortgage to another supplier could significantly reduce your monthly outgoings.

If you are considering improving or extending your home then one of the most cost-effective ways of funding extensions and improvements is by re-mortgaging and releasing some of your equity in the house.

Mortgage products vary significantly and there is bound to be a product that matches your requirements. The array of mortgages available these days include:

• Discounted rates
• Capped rates
• Fixed rates
• Cash back
• Flexible reserve

This list names a few of the products available from most High Street lenders.

Our advice is to speak to an independent broker who can advise on the best product to suit your requirements.

An efficient broker will have the current mortgages listed on computer and can advise which would suit you and also advise if there are long tie-in penalty clauses that you need to be aware of.

Before you re-mortgage it is worth finding out if there is a penalty period with your existing lender and, if so, the cost of early repayment. It is possible that you could make a significant saving even after having repaid the previous lender’s penalty.

REMEMBER – YOUR HOME IS AT RISK IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR OTHER LOAN SECURED ON IT.