Gazumping refers to a situation whereby a buyer has inquired about the sale of a property from the seller. The seller accepts the buyer’s offer but agrees with another higher offer than the first buyer before the exchange of contracts has occurred. Some use it to refer to an increase in the initial price agreed at the last moment.

It is good to note that before the exchange of contracts, the deal is not final. Gazumping can be a problem as it might have made the buyer waste time and money on purchasing the property, which later they don’t become the owner. However, there are few known remedies for the problem above. They include:

1. Ask for a copy of the sale agreement in advance.
2. Signing a lockout agreement after the acceptance of your offer as the buyer.
3. Acquiring a conveyancer beforehand for advice and having the conveyancer look into the property’s details.

For the past few years, there haven’t been any issuing of physical title deeds as all titles are digitally held at the land’s registration offices. Once the exchange of the contracts is done and the purchase finalised, the land registration offices shall record you as the new owner.

The registering and updating of your details in the land registration systems might take four to six weeks. In the case of a mortgage or land leasing, it might be about two months to six months, as it is a different process altogether.

Suppose you are planning to purchase a property together with someone else that can be a tenancy. The term used at most times is being a joint tenant. In the case of joint tenancy, you will be allocated shares to the property. For example, you might be allocated 50% of the property.

That is determined mainly by the amount of money contributed to the total price of the property. Otherwise, if one of the tenants contributed less, allocation is done according to their respective contributions.

In the case of the death of a tenant, the surviving tenant will become the sole owner. In the case of a will, the shares will be inherited as per the terms of the will.

In conveyancing, the word chain is used in where two transactions are going on simultaneously. If I buy a house and have another house that I don’t wish to keep, I will have to sell the one I am living in, which I don’t want to keep. 

The term chain is used in that one transaction depends on the other to be profitable. Once you have sold your house and not successfully purchased the other house, the sale of your house will not be profitable as much, as you then have to start looking for a house to buy which is repeating the whole process. 

Also, if you seek such a transaction, you will need to ensure that the exact time of sale of one property is the same time of purchase of the other. However, this is hard to achieve as the two transactions may take a different amount of time, making one slow down the other.

A survey is necessary as it entails what you are purchasing. Some properties may look well managed but may have hidden repairs underneath. If you do not have enough information about the problem before signing the contract, you may incur the cost yourself. 

Typically, mortgage facilitators carry out their survey just to be sure of the condition of the property.  If you are working with a mortgage company, they will typically carry out a valuation. 

However, the valuation is limited to protecting the lender only. Therefore, it is not recommended that you entirely rely on the valuation report. Instead, it’s advisable to carry out your survey. We highly recommend carrying out a detailed inspection which we can help you do.

There’s no hurry towards paying the deposit during the first stages as you have not yet verified the property. You need to be sure that the property in question is in good condition and you are interested in purchasing it.

After that, you can sign the contract confirming to agree with all the seller’s terms then you can send us the deposit. We will also ensure that we can now exchange contracts.  We highly recommend taking this step cautiously and not leaving out any question as after signing the contract, both seller and buyer become legally binding.

Exchange of contracts happens at any time you may want. However, we highly recommend doing this in the presence of a conveyancing lawyer. We always ensure to counter-check every document received before giving you the go-ahead. Once our searches prove that this is a clean and transparent deal, you can hand over the contracts.  We will initially give you reports to check and then advise accordingly on when to exchange the contracts. This is an essential point as both parties become legally binding.

If you intend to buy a property under a mortgage agreement, the lender usually recommends that you have an insurance plan in place. Some properties already have insurance at the time of purchase, while others have never been insured. 

Nevertheless, insurance safeguards the new owners from damages that may happen afterwards. For mortgage plan buyers, we highly recommend purchasing insurance though it’s not a requirement.

Yes, depending on the type of relationship shared by both parties. If the buyer or seller has worked with the solicitor in the past, then there is no problem.  However, being the solicitor does anything, both parties have to agree to their representation. At times there may be limitations to representation in the case it’s a mortgage plan. The lender may insist on separate representation just to avoid conflict of interest.

Yes, there is a difference. Exchange of contracts happens when both the buyer and seller sign a contract agreeing to pay at a specific date. On the other hand, completion occurs when all payments have been made and the property has been transferred to the new buyer.