Town and Country Property Services - Worcestershire & North Warwickshire Estate Agents, Lettings Agents & Financial Services

As an estate agent we are almost always paid by the seller ("the vendor") of a property to find a buyer for them and to oversee the sale of that property in whatever way necessary. Under estate agency law, we must act in the best interests of our client ("the vendor") and we are not obliged to point out negative things to you although, we will never mislead you. We have a difficult job to do in helping you find the right property and in acting in the best interests of the person selling. However, we are committed to matching the right people to the right property and you can be assured of our commitment to doing that for you.

As a professional estate agents we belong to the Ombudsman Scheme for Estate Agents (OEA) and National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). Member agents of these governing bodies must comply with these strict codes of conduct or face fines and penalties.

1. Find your property with our help
2. Finance your property. Speak to our or your own financial advisor.
3. Instruct a solicitor - ask us for a recommendation based on service and price.
4. If you are having a mortgage, the mortgage company will send out a surveyor to inspect the property. If you are unsure as to the condition of the property you can ask this or your own independent surveyor to do a more thorough survey.
5. The Vendor's Solicitor will supply a "draft contract", title deeds and other information on the property to your Solicitor
6. Your solicitor will arrange for local searches and raises queries with the Vendor's solicitor.
7. Once you and your solicitor are satisfied with all of the paperwork and comments from the Vendor's solicitor you need to sign contracts and agree a completion date .You provide the Vendor with the deposit via your Solicitor (this can come from the deposit being paid on your house if you are in a chain).
8. Contracts are exchanged by your solicitor (usually over the telephone with the Vendor's solicitor) Once the contracts are signed you are generally legally and financially committed to buying the property and you should arrange buildings and contents insurance
9. Completion takes place on agreed date and your solicitor pays remainder of purchase price to Vendor's solicitor. Once everybody is happy that the money has changed hands, the keys are yours and you have a new home!

This is not an exact science and you should obtain quotes wherever possible but, these are the headline costs that you must consider:

1. Solicitor's fees
2. Solicitor's disbursement (local authority searches etc)
3. Stamp duty land tax
4. Part payments on council tax, ground rents, service charges depending on the property
5. Purchase deposit (typically 10-20% of purchase price) but, this may come from your own property if you are selling and in a chain.
6. Property insurance and house contents insurance
7. Mortgage fees although in most cases these can be added to your mortgage
8. Surveyor's fees either as part of your mortgage application or separately depending on your needs
9. Removal firm - these vary considerably so do ask for quotes / recommendations
10. Insurance - this may include buildings, contents and life depending on your requirements

Freehold

Freehold property is where you have the total rights to both the property as well as the land it is built on. This means that once you have bought it - it's yours to do as you wish. However, you have to stay within the limits set out by the planning laws and legislation of course but if you are ever in doubt you should contact your local council before you make any drastic changes to the land. This is one of the major benefits of having freehold property because everyone would like to claim that they completely own the home and land they live in/on, it will also mean that there are no future ongoing costs involved.

Leasehold

Leasehold: You only own the property for as long as is stated in the lease; you are granted the right to live there by the freeholder. At the end of the lease the property ownership reverts to the freeholder.

Many leases are set for 999 years. Mortgage lenders are unlikely to lend for a lease with less than 60 years to run. Most lenders require that at least 20 years left on the lease after the end of the mortgage term. The lease stipulates:

1. Who is responsible for maintaining and repairing different parts of the property.
2. The rules you must adhere to as a resident.
3. The ground rent due to the owner of the land (the freeholder)

For further information visit the Leasehold Advisory Service

The home buyer's survey you will need depends on the age and type of property you are buying and the lenders requirements:

• Mortgage Valuation Report - This is carried out by the mortgage company to determine that they are prepared to lend you money to buy the property.
• Home Buyer's Report - This was made available by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in the 1980's to bridge the gap between the basic Mortgage Valuation Report and Full Structural Survey.
• Full Structural or Building Survey Report - This survey can be a very detailed report depending on what is agreed with the surveyor. It goes a few steps further than the Home Buyers report and is often recommended for property that is particularly old.

The solicitor is pivotal in making your purchase happen once you have had an offer accepted. As agent, we will work with you to make the necessary things happen. When the buying processes begins the Vendor's Solicitor will obtain the property title deeds from the Vendor's Building Society or Bank in order to prepare the contract of sale. The buyer's Solicitor will then examine the papers and raise any queries based on the title deeds, and related matters about the property.

When your Solicitor is in receipt of the following you can proceed to exchange of contracts: replies to queries, a satisfactory local search, a copy of a mortgage offer, a signed contract, deposit monies.

Exchange means the transaction is legally binding, at which point you are obliged to proceed with the sale. At exchange, a deposit of around 10% of purchase price will be transferred to the Vendor's solicitor. This may be funded by someone buying your property if you are in a chain so don't panic and speak to your solicitor early in the transaction process.

Completion is normally 1 to 4 weeks after the date of exchange but it can be sooner or later as required. It is possible to exchange and completion on the same time if desired. On completion your Solicitor hands over the remainder of the purchase money to the Vendor's Solicitor.

At completion, not before that exact time, you can move into your new home. Keys will be handed over by the Vendor or estate agent or in some cases you may meet the Vendor at the property that you are buying.

• Arrange removals- The British Association of Removers (est. over 100 years) can give you a list of removal firms in your area - http://www.bar.co.uk
• Arrange insurance - Buildings & Contents - You will need to arrange insurance for your property usually when contracts have been exchanged. Your solicitor will be able to advise you.
• Services, Maintenance Contracts and Council Tax - It is important, in order to avoid unnecessary costs/avoid disconnection, that you notify the service authorities - gas, water, telephone, electricity - of the date that you will be moving from your property to a new property.

We are developing a Log Me In service for all of our buyers and sellers this will offer a huge range of personalised services all in one place. Your account will offer you the following services of which many are already available on this site:

1. RSS NEWS feeds giving you up to date information on new instructions
2. Property alerts the way that you want them – EMAIL or SMS
3. A property basket for your "saved searches"
4. Details of your viewing and the ability to talk directly to us via your account.

The Estate Agents Ombudsman Scheme (OEA)

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)