
When buying a property through the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme, a lot
of people question whether it is different to the normal conveyancing process
when buying on the open market? Is it more complicated? Will it delay things? Some
of the paperwork might be unfamiliar to you but employing an experienced
solicitor to guide you through should mean that the conveyancing process is no
more difficult, enabling you to meet the 28-day exchange deadline and
ultimately allowing you to move into your brand-new home.
What exactly can you expect?
Once you’ve found your new home and reserved it with the developer,
you’ll start the Help to Buy (HTB) application process by completing a
‘property information form’. You’ll be asked straightforward questions about
the property and about your income (all this information is required for your mortgage
application, so you should generally have all this to hand). It is at this
stage that you should be speaking to a mortgage adviser who will guide you
through your mortgage application.
When to instruct your solicitor
Once you’ve submitted your application and been approved, the Help
to Buy (HTB) agent (who administers the equity loan) will issue to you, your
solicitor and the developer the ‘authority to proceed’ pack. This is the stage
when your solicitor should start to take charge of the process for you. The
solicitor will be asked to complete some additional paperwork on your behalf,
and they will submit that paperwork together with a copy of your mortgage
offer, your valuation and a form that they will have received from your
developer disclosing any incentives.
If the Help to Buy (HTB) agent is happy, your solicitor will be
issued with ‘authority to exchange’. This is the green light for the solicitor
that the Help to Buy (HTB) funding is all in place, so they are now safe to
proceed to exchange for you. Exchange is the legally binding bit (when you can
finally rest assured that it’s happening!).
So, when will you get your key? That depends on how quickly the
developer can build. You might be able to move quickly, or you might have to
wait a little while. When your home is ready the developer will let you and
your solicitor know and at that stage your solicitor will request that the
equity loan is released. The loan will be sent from the Help to Buy (HTB) agent
straight to the developer to help ensure things run smoothly.
Of course, before you embark on anything to do with buying a new home, you should always seek the advice of a solicitor that specialises in Residential Property law to ensure that you can be advised specifically with your personal circumstances considered. You can easily search for a solicitor with this specialism using our free search, and without having to provide any of your personal data. All our solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).