A Guide to Buying Your Property

The steps to buying a property

1. Pay your booking deposit

   Once you have decided to buy, you pay a booking deposit to the estate agent. The amount varies and depends on the purchase price. A booking deposit is fully refundable until contracts are signed by both you and the seller. Always make sure you get a receipt. The estate agent then issues a Sales Advice Notice to everybody involved: you, your solicitor, the seller and the seller's solicitor.

2. Appoint a solicitor

   You will need to instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf. Your solicitor reviews the contracts, the title documents and the planning documents for the property.

3. Arrange your loan offer

   Once the booking deposit is paid, contact your bank straight away to arrange finance (not necessary if you are a cash buyer). You receive a Letter of Offer setting out the amount, repayment term, interest rate, monthly repayments and conditions. The loan pack issues to your solicitor, who checks it and goes through the key terms with you before the documents are signed.

4. Arrange life cover

   All banks require you, and your partner on a joint mortgage, to have life insurance in place, so that the mortgage is covered if either of you dies before it is repaid. On a commercial mortgage banks do not always require life cover, but that depends on the circumstances.

5. Arrange property insurance

   Every lender requires the property to be insured, and it is advisable even for a cash purchaser. Household insurance has two parts, buildings and contents, and policies differ in what they exclude and what extras they include. Read the policy details before you buy so you know what is and is not covered.

6. Contracts received

   On receipt of the Sales Advice Notice, the seller's solicitor issues the contracts to your solicitor, together with the title documents, planning documents and BER certificate. You then meet your solicitor to go through everything in detail.

7. Instruct an engineer or surveyor

   Have the property structurally surveyed. If a defect (or worse, several) is discovered after you have signed contracts, you will have no recourse against the seller or the estate agent. Your engineer should also check the map that comes with the property against the title documents, check any extensions and the relevant planning documents, and carry out a planning search in the local authority office.

8. Signing contracts

   When your solicitor is satisfied with the contracts, title and planning documents, and you are satisfied with the engineer's report, you attend to sign contracts and pay the deposit: 10% of the purchase price, less any booking deposit already paid. For a new house you also sign a building agreement, under which the builder agrees to build the property to the attached plans and specification: go through it in detail, because your solicitor will not know what was verbally agreed between you and the builder. You will usually sign your mortgage documents at this stage too.

9. Exchange of contracts

   The seller's solicitor returns one copy of the contract, and the building agreement in the case of a new house. This creates a binding agreement between you and the seller to complete the sale.

10. Requisitions on title

    Your solicitor drafts the deed that transfers the property into your name, and raises a series of standard questions about the title, the ownership and the property itself. The seller's solicitor replies to these in writing.

11. Closing arrangements

    Once every question has been answered to your solicitor's satisfaction, a closing date and time is agreed. Contact your bank to be sure everything is in order to draw down the funds. On a new house the process differs: when the builder issues a completion notice you should instruct your engineer to prepare a snag list of unfinished works, add anything of your own, and give it to the site foreman.

12. Closing and the keys

    The completion takes place at the seller's solicitor's office. Your solicitor attends, closes on your behalf, and once satisfied that all title documents have been signed, hands over the purchase money and receives the keys.

13. Finalising matters

    After completion your solicitor asks you to sign the purchase deed. Sign it as soon as possible: there is a strict time limit for paying stamp duty to the Revenue Commissioners. Your solicitor then stamps the deed and sends it, with your mortgage document, to the Land Registry so the property can be registered in your name. Registration can take a long time, but that does not affect your ownership, and does not stop you selling before it completes. When it is done you receive a folio showing you as registered owner.

Stamp duty

Stamp duty is a tax charged on the documents that transfer ownership of property from one person to another, and is paid by the purchaser. It is an additional expense that must be budgeted for. How much you pay depends on whether the property is residential or non-residential, on its value, and on your status: first-time buyer, owner-occupier or investor. Stamp duty is paid to the Revenue Commissioners, who acknowledge it in writing; without that receipt, your deeds cannot be registered.

What is a BER certificate?

A Building Energy Rating certificate rates the overall energy efficiency of a property on a scale from A to G, with A1 the most efficient and G the least. It lets a purchaser understand how energy-efficient the building they are buying actually is.

What does buying a property cost?

Stamp duty

Depends on the type of property, its value and your status.

Solicitor's fees

Get an instant quote for your purchase at quickmove.ie (see below).

Surveyor's fees

The engineer or surveyor reports on the condition of the property and checks the maps.

Search fees

Vary with the title and the extent of the enquiries to be made.

Registration fee

The cost of registering the title with the Land Registry or Registry of Deeds.

Insurance

Adequate cover on the structure of the property must be in place.

Life cover

Your lender will insist on mortgage protection insurance, so that the mortgage is paid off if the borrower dies.

VAT

May be payable, depending on the property. Discuss this with your solicitor and your accountant.