Residential Conveyancing Glossary of terms
These are some of the common terms used in property
transactions, if you require further information or clarification
on anything, please contact us direct through the "Contact"
section.
Additional Searches
We need to make enquiries
of various bodies to find out as much as we can about the property
you hope to buy before you commit yourself to a binding contract.
Which searches we make depends on where the property that you hope
to buy is. Some examples of additional searches are:
Mining Search will
be made if the property is situated in an area in which coal mining
takes place or has done so in the past;
Tin Mining Search would be carried out if you
were buying a property in West Devon or Cornwall.
Certificate of Title
This is the Certificate
that we send to a mortgage provider confirming that we have
investigated the property, that it is good and marketable and
requesting the mortgage advance.
Completion
Essentially this is your
"moving" date - it is the date that has been agreed between the
parties before exchange of contracts and the date that legal
ownership of the property transfers from the seller to the
buyer.
Sale- when we receive the monies
from the Solicitors acting for the purchasers of your property,
redeem any mortgage that you may have with any existing lender and
confirm to the agents that the keys may be released.
Purchase - when we
receive confirmation from the Solicitors acting for the sellers of
the property that they have received the purchase monies.
Remortgage - when
we receive the advance monies from your new lender and repay your
existing mortgage(s).
Completion-Statement
This is a breakdown of
the finances of the transaction - it will detail the monies due in
from you, how those monies have been spent and any monies due back
to you.
Contract
This is the legal
agreement between the Buyer and Seller of a property. It sets out
the terms that have been agreed between the parties e.g. the extent
of the property, the price. It also details the protection given to
the parties should things not go to plan. This document is not
legally binding until it has been signed and the seller's
Solicitors and the buyer's Solicitors have exchanged Contracts.
Conveyancing
Conveyancing is the transfer of legal
ownership of property from one owner to another.
Deed of Gift
This is the transfer of one owner's share of
the property to the remaining owner for no financial
consideration.
Deposit
The sum of monies paid by
the Buyer to the Seller on exchange of Contracts. On the whole this
is 10% of the purchase price although less can be paid (e.g. where
a buyer is obtaining 95% finance and only has 5% available).
However there is usually a provision in the Contract for the full
10% to be due to the Seller should the Buyer not proceed to
completion following Exchange of Contracts.
Disbursements
These are costs in addition to our fees which
you need to pay e.g.
Sale- copy entries and plan of
the official register at the Land Registry, money transfer fees to
redeem any existing mortgage or to transfer the balance of any
monies to you
Purchase - search
fees, the Land Registry registration fees, money transfer fees to
send the purchase monies to the Solicitors acting for the seller,
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Remortgage - copy
entries and plan of the official register at the Land Registry,
search fees, the Land Registry registration fees, money transfer
fees to send the monies to repay your existing mortgage, Stamp Duty
Land Tax, money transfer fees to redeem existing mortgage(s) or to
transfer the balance of any monies to you.
Exchange of contracts
This is the point when a sale or purchase
becomes legally binding.
Fixtures Fittings & Contents
Form
This is a list of items
at the property which are confirmed as included in the sale,
excluded in the sale, can be bought by the purchaser for an amount
of money that the seller states, or whether there is no such item
at the property.
Land Registry
The Government body which
keeps a record of the transfers of all property in England and
Wales. Applications are sent to the appropriate Land Registry to
register changes in ownership, mortgages and conditions affecting a
property and these details are now stored electronically.
Local Search
This is carried out with
the local authority against the property address and confirms such
things as whether the road accessing the property is maintained by
the Council, whether there are any planning applications in against
the property address, the existence of Tree Preservation Orders,
Home Improvement Grants or whether there is any public right of way
over the property. You should note that it does not cover the
surrounding area, only the property address. For the planning
history of the surrounding area we can submit an additional
search.
Money Transfer Fee
This cost may not be
incurred - It is for the electronic interbank transfer of monies.
e.g. this would be for the transfer of monies to the seller's
solicitor on a purchase, the repayment of any existing mortgage,
the transfer of any balance of monies due to you on a sale and for
the repayment of any existing mortgage on a remortgage and the
transfer of any balance of monies due to you.
Mortgage Deed
This is the Deed issued
by a lender which you must sign. It becomes legally binding when
the Deed is dated (which is only after completion has taken place).
This is registered at the Land Registry.
Mortgage Offer
This is issued by a
mortgage provider and sets out the terms and conditions affecting
the loan. We, as Solicitors, are also bound by the requirements
that a mortgage provider has and it may be necessary to carry out
additional work or searches to ensure that we comply with their
requirements. A Mortgage Deed is included in the pack that they
send out.
Mortgage Provider
A Bank, Building Society or other money
lending business who provides finance for the purchase or
remortgage of a property.
Property Information Form
This form provides a
buyer with additional information about a property e.g. boundaries,
neighbour disputes, what Guarantees cover the property, any work
carried out to alter the property and any building regulation or
planning consents which were necessary.
It is imperative that the
information given on this form is correct and complete as a buyer
will rely on this when making the decision of whether or not to buy
a property. A buyer has the right to claim compensation from a
seller or to refuse to complete if misleading information has been
provided on this form.
Redemption Statement
This is an up to date
figure we obtain from your existing lender which confirms how much
monies are due to repay your mortgage with them on a specified
date. We will obtain an initial statement from them on receipt of
their details from you and will obtain a final figure when a
completion date has been agreed.
Shortfall
A shortfall occurs in a:
Sale- where the amount due to pay
off your existing mortgage(s) is more than the amount that you are
receiving from the purchaser of your property. We must have cleared
funds to pay off any existing mortgage before we are able to
complete the sale of your property.
Purchase - where
the amount required to buy the property (together with all
disbursements and our costs) is more than the mortgage advance that
you are receiving from your mortgage provider. We must have full
cleared funds before we can complete on the purchase of a property
for you.
Remortgage - where
the amount required to repay your existing mortgage(s) is more than
the mortgage advance that you are receiving from your mortgage
provider. We must have full cleared funds before we can complete on
the remortgage of a property for you.
Transfer Deed
This can also be known as
a TR1 and is the Deed transferring the ownership from one party to
another for a stated price (or consideration). This Form is
sent to the Land Registry following completion in order to update
the Register as to the new owner of the property.
Transfer of Equity
This is the transfer of one owner's share of
the property to the remaining owner subject to any existing
mortgage.
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