Dear Claudine,
My partner and I are in the process of buying a house. We now have loan approval in place. Can you please advise us of the procedures involved as we are first time buyers.

Thanks, Conor

Dear Conor,
Thank you for your email. When you have decided on the home you want to buy, you can contact the estate agent and make an offer on the property advising them of the price you are offering. Tell them your offer is ‘subject to contract and survey’. This means that you are offering to pay this amount in principle, providing there are no legal or structural issues with the property. Your solicitor will check whether there are any legal issues. You will need a surveyor to check that there are no structural issues. If your offer is accepted it is usually called ‘sale agreed’ and you will need to pay a booking deposit to the estate agent. The booking deposit is refundable up until you sign the contracts and enter a legally binding agreement. Once your offer is accepted, the estate agent will prepare a document outlining the sale details and send this to the vendor’s solicitor and to your solicitor. The vendor will also normally specify what contents if any, are included in the sale. Once the vendor’s solicitor receives the sale details from the estate agent they will send the contracts for sale together with a copy of the Title Deeds of the property to your own solicitor. Title deeds are legal documents showing the ownership of a particular property. Your solicitor will guide you through the legal process of transferring ownership of the property from the vendor to you. Your solicitor will also check that the sale of the property is legal and that the person who is selling the property owns it and has the right to sell it. Once the property is ‘sale agreed’, you can arrange for a valuation. Your lender will want a professional valuation completed on a home before they formally agree to lend you the money to buy it. When you meet your solicitor, they will explain and complete various documents with you. If you are happy with all the details, you formally accept the letter of offer from your lender through your solicitor. You solicitor will also check that the contracts are in order. If they are happy with the contracts, you will sign two copies. Your solicitor will return both of these copies to the vendor’s solicitor. At this point you have legally agreed to buy the property. You will then need to pay a deposit usually up to 10% of the purchase price less any booking deposit you have paid to your solicitor, who will arrange to have it paid to the vendor’s solicitor. Once the vendor’s solicitor receives the signed contracts and the deposit, they and the vendor will sign and return one copy of the contract to your solicitor. At this point the vendor has legally agreed to sell you their property. Both solicitors will arrange for a final “closing date”. Before this, the remainder of the purchase price must be paid, which means all the paperwork and approval for your loan must be completed and returned to your lender by your solicitor. Before your mortgage cheque is issued, you will need to have home insurance and mortgage protection in place. The mortgage cheque will be issued to your solicitor. Your solicitor will arrange to have these funds transferred to the vendor’s solicitor. In addition to your solicitor’s legal fees and the outlays associated with purchasing a property, you are liable to pay stamp duty. Stamp duty is the tax you will have to pay when you buy a property. The rate is 1% of the purchase price for properties valued up to €1 million. Your solicitor will arrange to pay the stamp duty for you, but bear in mind you will need to pay this money to your solicitor in advance of them closing the sale. Once the balance of the funds have been transferred to the vendor’s solicitor and your solicitors have dealt with the legalities of the sale the transaction can be closed. Your solicitors will notify the estate agent that the sale has closed and request them to release the keys of the property to you at which point the property is officially yours.
If you have any queries please contact me directly
Claudine Hanratty