Commercial Property

Property Purchase or Lease Guide

The process involved with a PURCHASE or lease of a property are very similar and this guide will take you through the steps involved.

Step 1 - We will contact the solicitors acting for the seller or landlord and request that they provide us with:
a) a contract or lease which will detail the terms of the agreement including the parties names and the sums agreed
b) evidence of title, this will show that the other party is the owner of the property and whether there are mortgages of the property
c) replies to enquires, these are a set of questions that we ask the seller/landlord to provide so that we can obtain as much information as is possible on the property.

Step 2 - If you are having a mortgage on the property you will generally be required to obtain searches. The searches are answers to a number of questions sent to certain organisations such as the local authority, the water board, the coal authority etc. The answer will allow us to advice you of any issues that affect the property such as tree preservation orders; if the property is connected to a public sewer; whether it is affected by subsidence etc. If you are having a mortgage your lender will require you to obtain searches as they will wish to ensure that the property will provide adequate security. If you are not having a mortgage we still advise you to obtain searches.

Step 3 - If you are having a mortgage we will need you to provide us with a copy of the mortgage offer.

Step 4 - Once we have all the documents from the seller/landlord's solicitor and all questions have been answered to your satisfaction we will arrange for you to sign the paperwork.

Step 5 - On a purchase only (not on leases) once the parties are ready, contracts will be exchanged.This means that both the seller and buyer have signed the contracts and these forms are swapped. On exchange the agreement becomes binding and neither party can pull withdraw. You will also provide to the Seller a deposit usually equal to 10% of the sale price. At date will then be set for completion. Upon exchange you will need to
ensure that the property is insured.

Step 6 - On a purchase upon completion we will hand over the remaining purchase monies and in return we will receive the documentation transferring the property into your name.

For a lease when the terms of the lease have been agreed and both parties have signed the lease,the lease will dated with an agreement date. This will be the date that both parties have confirmed that they are happy with the full terms of the lease, it does not have to be the date when the lease is to start (the start date could actually have already passed or be a date in the future). If there are any payments due under the lease we will obtain these
from you and pay them to he landlord upon completion.

Step 7 - If stamp duty is payable on the purchase or the lease we must within twenty eight days arrange for the payment of stamp duty. On a purchase and on leases over seven years within two months of the completion date we must apply to register your ownership of the property or details of the lease and any mortgage recorded against the property with the land registry.

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If you would like further advice or would like to speak to us about any commercial property matter

We have offices in Mansfield, Sutton-in-Ashfield and Kirkby-in-Ashfield Nottinghamshire but can act for you wherever you are located within England & Wales as we offer all our client instant online access to their files via our 'real time' 24/7 Case Tracker.