Doing the deal: do you need a solicitor to buy a house and what do they do?
While waiting for the seller’s solicitor to issue the contract, help things along by ensuring that your solicitor knows how you wish to communicate — for example, by email to your personal email address with hard copies to your office marked “private and confidential”.
The engagement letter would have asked you for a payment on account of search fees — pay this into your solicitor’s account to avoid delays.
That way, as soon as your solicitor is ready to proceed, the searches can be commissioned.
DO YOU NEED A SOLICITOR TO BUY A HOUSE?
As well as the contract for sale, your solicitor should receive from the seller’s solicitor copies of the title deeds and, in the case of a leasehold property, a copy of the lease plus protocol forms completed by the seller, comprising:
- The property information form, which provides a brief history of the property;
- The fittings and contents form, which lists the items included and excluded in the sale price and may offer some items for sale;
- The leasehold information form if the property is leasehold;
- Copies of planning consents and electrical and gas certificates and the like may also be included with the contract package
- For a leasehold property your solicitor should raise leasehold property enquiries (Form LPE1), which the landlord or managing agents should complete.
- Your solicitor should provide you with copies of the documents and explain them to you. If you do not understand anything, do ask questions.
- Having considered all the paperwork, your solicitor will now raise enquiries of the seller’s solicitor and requisition searches.
WHAT IS A PROPERTY SEARCH?
If you are a cash buyer, you are not subject to the requirements of a lender and so it is entirely up to you whether you have searches carried out. It is, however, prudent to do so.
Searches depend on the locality in which the property is situated and a solicitor should carry out searches appropriate to the property — for example, whether former industrial land is contaminated.
The usual searches that should be undertaken in every transaction are:
- Local land charges and local authority search. These reveal matters such as compulsory purchase orders, tree preservation orders, planning enforcement notices, planning and building regulations consents, proposals for road schemes, village greens and so on. The results of the local search only relate to the specific property you are buying and not to neighbouring properties;
- Drainage and water enquiry. This confirms if the property is connected to the main water supply and main drainage and shows the location of public sewers within the boundary of the property, which could restrict further development.
- An environmental search. You need to know if there is a risk that the land on which the property is situated could be contaminated. If a local authority does determine the land to be so and the person who caused the contamination cannot be found, the current owner or occupier will be required to remedy the contamination. This could be an expensive process.
- Other common searches are a chancel repair search — which confirms whether the owner of property may be liable to contribute towards the cost of repairs to the chancel of a parish church — and a flood risk report. Your solicitor will advise you on any necessary additional searches.
REPORT ON TITLE
Your solicitor will prepare the report on title once the replies to enquiries raised and search results are available.
It should explain to you the title to the property including obligations, restrictive covenants and rights — ie burdens to the property (such as rights of way) and benefits to the property.
Essentially, it pulls together in one place the information relevant to the property that your solicitor has collected to date.
Once your funding is in place and, in the case that you are getting a mortgage the offer has been issued and your solicitor has received mortgage instructions from your lender, provided you and your solicitor are happy with everything and your solicitor can satisfy any conditions in the mortgage offer, you can now prepare to exchange contracts.