18th May 2022 | Caroline Vernon | Residential Property, Buying a Property

Whether you are relatively new to the UK property market or an experienced investor, you will be aware of the difficulties of buying a new home or investment property.

Here are our top five tips to help you:

1.Finance arrangements

Whether or not finance is needed, speak to a broker early on in a transaction and preferably before your agent agrees the main elements of the purchase.  Raising finance once exchange has taken place, makes for a fraught completion experience for both you and your lawyer.

2. Planning the completion date

If you are selling a property to raise money for your purchase, ensure that the completion date of the sale is on or before the completion of the purchase. This may sound obvious but it will avoid surcharged rates of SDLT being paid at 3% above the standard rates.  These rates are paid even where your main residence is being replaced with the Revenue requiring you to claim a rebate once the additional main residence is sold.

You can also avoid the need to use your cash reserves for a deposit, as a deposit held on your sale can be used for your purchase where the property is in England and Wales.

3. Surveyor’s appointment

Appoint a surveyor. He or she will flag items that you may not necessarily have spotted on your brief viewing and may even give some bargaining power and leverage on the price.

4. Your lawyer

Make and keep a relationship with a lawyer and update them on your transaction. This is particularly important where you are marketing a property for sale, to ensure that deadlines, that you or your agent impose, can be met by buyers.  A full sales pack with all title deeds, up-to-date searches, planning and building information can be pulled together in advance.

Plan for exchange well in advance. Weeks of delay can be avoided if all the fact finding has been completed in advance.  Attended exchanges do still occur so be prepared.If there are any title difficulties, these can be addressed in advance.

5. Your accountant

Take tax advice. You may not be resident in the UK, you may own other properties worldwide or hold a portfolio of investment property.  Early tax advice will be required to work out your CGT (Capital Gains Tax) liability on sale and IHT (Inheritance Tax) liability on death.

SDLT matters will be more complicated, where other property is held and often a detailed assessment is required to determine the SDLT rates payable by you.  Where your company owns the title to the property, ATED (Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings) charges will be made annually and your accountant will need to claim any exemptions in your annual tax return.

Final thoughts

You may have very specific requirements which must be conveyed to all parties. You may want to access the property you are buying between exchange and completion with architects and builders to obtain quotes or for interior designers to start planning works.  The seller may even agree to you commencing limited works to help you move forward quickly with your plans.

Where you are buying a bolt hole which is a leasehold property, a landed estate owner may own the freehold, for example the Grosvenor or Portman Estate. Do not be surprised when you are asked for onerous references to obtain the landlord’s consent, in lieu of a rent or service charge deposit.

If you are buying a turn key, consider if there are any service charges for the shared estate roads and whether building warranties for any building works are available.

Where you are buying expensive items of furniture, artwork, electrical items, to be left at the property, a full inventory of those items with costings will need to be included.  Such items do not attract SDLT but they must be justifiable in their costings.

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