Information

What we do in a SALE

Obviously the sale of your property is a vitally important matter. We will prepare property particulars, instruct the preparation of a Home Report and arrange for insertion in the ESPC. You will pay us the ESPC registration fee at the outset, pay the surveyors for the Home Report direct shortly after submission of their fee note to you and pay us a fixed fee to cover preparation of your particulars of sale, erection of for sale sign and printing of Sales Particulars on removal of the property from the ESPC or on the sale settling. We charge a restricted commission on sale of 1/2% of the sale price of your property. Our fees are agreed with you at the outset to include the whole service we are offering to you.

If it seems that the time is right to set a closing date for the property (usually when a minimum of 2 parties have "noted interest") we will discuss this matter with you, agree a date and time and advise interested parties to make their offers at that time. If there is only one interested party who nevertheless makes an offer we shall discuss it with you as to the acceptability of its terms.

Once a suitable Offer has been received, either at a closing date or some other time, we will discuss the terms and implications with you and having agreed them with you will proceed to the conveyancing side of your business.

This involves us in obtaining your Title Deeds and various other documents from your lenders, the local authority, the Coal Authority and others and forwarding them to the Purchasers Solicitors for checking. We must also forward your mortgage documents and our proposed draft documents to discharge any loan you have on your property. we will handle any enquiries or queries the Purchasing Solicitors may have concerning your property, always liaising with you.

The paperwork being done, we will arrange to send the documentation to you or to meet with you to arrange signature. We shall ask you to let us have one set of your house keys so that we may make them available to the Purchasing Solicitors who will hold them until we authorise them to hand them over to their clients following receipt of the cheque for the purchase price. Then we shall arrange to receive the purchase price of your property on the due date and in return for that authorise the hand over of the appropriate documentation and keys. We will then arrange for repayment of your existing loan and have the discharge of that loan recorded in the Public Registers. After deduction of our fee, we will put the balance of the sale price, if any, either towards the purchase of a new property for you, repay your mortgage by CHAPS and forward the balance due to you to your Bank Account again by CHAPs. We shall then let you have a statement together with our Fee Note. Please note that as most settlements of house purchases are done by cheque the funds are not normally available for distribution to you until four working days have elapsed. This is the date on which you and your lender will receive the funds due.

This is obviously a simple version of the work we undertake on your behalf to show you the role of the Solicitor in your business. Each transaction is different and there may be variations in the extent of the work done for you.

When we provide a quotation, this is based on our experience of an ordinary transaction where there are no major unforeseen difficulties and which is trouble free. Should this not be the case then our fee may have to increase but we would of course advise you of this before continuing. This, however, does not happen very often and we do allow for some unforeseen difficulties in every transaction.

Types of problems which may arise include alterations to the property, either by you or by previous proprietors which do not have the necessary Local Authority Building Warrants, plans and certificates and if applicable, planning permission. Please remember this may extend to what are apparently totally innocent items such as installation of double glazing different from the original and failure to paint a kitchen with fireproof paint.

What we do in a PURCHASE

After discussing with you the property in which you are interested, we shall note your interest with the Selling Agents and, if required, arrange a Survey. The surveyors we are accustomed to using offer a substantial discount to clients of this firm. If the property is advertised at a Fixed Price, it is in your interests to lodge an offer quickly. Fixed Price properties are generally sold to the first Purchaser lodging an offer at the fixed price and with an acceptable date of entry. Please note that certain Banks and Building Societies have specific arrangements for having properties surveyed and this may result in delay in obtaining a valuation. Please inform us if you have a particular lending institution in mind as not every Surveyor is acceptable to all Banks and Building Societies and you may have to pay a double Survey Fee if you choose a different lending body. We can recommend reputable independent financial advisers to advise on loan arrangements if required.

We would normally submit an offer "subject to survey". This means that you are offering a fixed amount provided your survey is satisfactory. It is extremely common in Edinburgh for offers to be subject to survey. If your survey is unacceptable, you are entitled to withdraw from the transaction. It is quite common for Selling Solicitors to set a Closing Date which is a particular time when all offers for the property will be received at once. If a Closing Date has been set there is usually no point in submitting an earlier Offer. If, however, there is no Closing Date and you are the only interested party at the time, there may be a benefit in attempting to negotiate a price by submitting an early offer.

A Home Report will be available in respect of all properties which commenced marketing on or after 1 December 2008. If you intend to proceed with a note of interest in a property, you should obtain a copy of this report and read it carefully. While some lenders will accept the Home Report as suitable for their purposes, this firm is recommending to clients that they should obtain their own survey report on their offer being accepted as the firm has doubts about the independence of the Home Report and is aware that sellers are negotiating to obtain the highest possible valuation figure on the Home Report. We will instruct the valuation on your behalf and, in most cases, be able to obtain a 10% discount on the fee.

MISSIVES

These are formal letters which pass between solicitors. When all the terms are agreed then the purchase is "concluded".

There is now a standard form of contract for property purchases and sales in Edinburgh which is used by many firms of Solicitors. You can see a copy of the Standard Clauses which will probably be used in your purchase and/or sale by following this link. We will use the Standard Clauses in any purchase on your behalf. If you are selling your property it is possible that the purchaser may not use the Standard Clauses in which case we will send you a copy of the relevant contract letters and discuss the terms of these with you in detail. It is hoped that the Standard Clauses will be adopted by all of the solicitors in Edinburgh and the Lothians which should result in the speeding up and simplification of the contract process which will be to the benefit of all concerned. The Standard Clauses are hopefully self explanatory however if you have any questions regarding the terms of the Standard Clauses please advise us so that we can discuss them with you. If you are purchasing a property please be aware that by instructing us to put in an offer for a property (or if the offer is "subject to survey" and you subsequently instruct us to withdraw the "subject to survey" clause following your receipt of a verbal or written survey report communicated to you via ourselves) you must be willing to be legally bound to purchase the property. It is possible that the seller`s solicitor may issue a formal letter accepting the offer which would immediately result in a legally binding contract. You should therefore not instruct us to put an offer in for a property unless you are willing to be legally bound to the purchase and unless you are satisfied that you will be able to finance the purchase.

Accordingly, it is essential that you understand the position and that you are satisfied that you will have no difficulty in obtaining mortgage finance or concluding your house sale in time for the date of entry. If you should fail to get a concluded bargain or obtain your mortgage finance in time, or at all, you will be liable to pay damages to the seller of the property. These damages will include any losses which the seller makes as a result of your failure to complete on time and will certainly include interest at the rate of at least 4% per annum on the purchase price. If you fail completely to make the payment, you will also be liable for other substantial damages. This is a situation you do not want to find yourself in.

Please note- you do not have to sign anything at this stage, you will be bound by our signing the letters on your behalf. We will check with you throughout the negotiation of the missives and will give you a final opportunity to withdraw from the transaction before missives are concluded.

The Title Deeds will be delivered to us and these will be examined to ensure that they contain no difficulties for you or your lending institution, we will prepare the documentation to transfer the property into your name and approve draft documentation by the Selling Solicitor to discharge any loan that the Seller may have over the property. At this stage we will normally also be acting for your lending institution and so therefore we may be required to make further enquiries with regard, for example, to alterations made to the property, even if these seem perfectly acceptable to you. The reason for this is that the lenders wish to have a property which they could sell without any difficulty in the highly unlikely event that they will be required to enter into possession upon your failure to pay the loan.

Having completed all necessary checks we will obtain the funds to purchase the property, including if relevant any possible stamp duty. We will discuss with you any sums which you are proposing to pay from cash and the arrangements and timing of any payments due. We will pay over the price in return for the keys to the property and the title deeds.

Subsequent to the purchase we will be required to forward the registered Deeds to your lending institution together with the rest of the Title Deeds in due course. Normally you will not receive copies of the Title Deeds.

EXECUTRIES - Administration and winding up of estate on death

The death of a loved one is always a difficult time for the rest of the family. Immediately after the death, there are many decisions to be made and practicalities to consider. We are here to help with practical advice and to guide you through the process of winding up the person's financial affairs.

When someone dies, depending on the total value of their assets, usually we have to apply to the local Sheriff Court in order to obtain Confirmation (the English equivalent is known as Probate or Grant of Representation) of the estate so that we can deal with the administration of the estate.

If the person has not left a Will, we first petition the Sheriff Court to have the next of kin appointed as executor. We then have to arrange a Bond of Caution (an insurance policy to indemnify the actings of the executor) and pay the one off premium for this.

Thereafter, we prepare an Inland Revenue inventory of the person's assets as at the date of death. To do this we first write to the various banks and institutions to formally notify them of the death and to obtain exact values for all the assets. This inventory is then signed by the executor and lodged (along with the Bond of Caution if no Will has been left) with the Sheriff Court. Any inheritance tax is paid first and then the Court issues Confirmation. This document is then circulated around the banks etc who will then release the assets to the executor or more usually to us as agents for the executor. We then arrange to pay off any outstanding debts and the rest of the funds are then distributed to the beneficiaries either under the terms of the Will or if no Will has been left, under the Laws of Intestacy.

If the deceased left a house, we can either arrange for the title to be transferred into the name of a beneficiary or sold in the normal way.

Sometimes it is possible to wind up the estate without obtaining Confirmation and we would always advise you if this was the case. This is usually only where the amount of assets left are relatively small.

Each executry is different but with our many years of experience in this field, we can advise you clearly and helpfully on the process.

Stamp Duty Land Tax Provisions

Stamp Duty is only payable if the value of house exceeds £125,000
Between £125,001 and £250,000 the rate is 1%. So for example if you purchase a house for £190,000 you will pay £1,900 in stamp duty
Between £250,001 and £500,000 the rate is 3%. So for example if you purchase a house for £300,000 you will pay £9,000 in stamp duty
Over £500,000 the rate is 4%. So for example if you purchase a house for £550,000 you will pay £22,000 in stamp duty!

Inheritance tax provisions

If your total assets come to less than the Inheritance Tax limit at the time, no IHT is payable.

If someone dies leaving total assets of more than the limit at the time of death then IHT is payable at a rate of 40% on the balance above this limit. However there are exemptions to this, the main one being that any assets left to your husband or wife are completely exempt from IHT.

Powers of Attorney

The firm recommends that all clients over the age of, say, 50 should grant an Enduring and Welfare Power of Attorney to enable a trusted person to act on their behalf in dealing with both their financial affairs and their welfare in the event that they should become incapable of dealing with their own affairs either through mental or physical impairment. None of us can foresee when one of these events may occur as, for example, a stroke or a car accident could occur without prior notice. As the firm has discovered that the cost of appointing a Guardian to an individual could be around £4,000 if no Power of Attorney exists, it is strongly recommended that clients should bear the cost of preparation of a Power of Attorney at £150 + VAT + registration dues (currently £70) instead. Our fees will be higher in the event that we require to visit you at you home to have the document signed and, if we require a doctor`s certificate to satisfy us that you are capable of giving instructions at that point, this will also be payable by you. If you wish to proceed with this, please e-mail us on mary@edinburghconveyancing.co.uk and we shall contact you to arrange the preparation of a Power of Attorney for you.

Wills

The firm recommends that all clients should grant a Will to ensure that their assets will pass to the persons whom they would wish to receive them. We are aware of a recent case where around £400,000 fell to the Government because the individual concerned did not make a Will. Do you really want the Government to receive all your assets? In addition, don`t you also want to be able to choose who is your executor? The firm also offers a free service whereby our Trustee Company will be one of your executors. Obviously an executor you may choose may die before you do but our Trustee Company will never die. If you wish to proceed with this, please e-mail us on info@mcqueenlegal.co.uk and we shall contact you to arrange the preparation of a Will for you.