Purchasing new home from parents - process?

[DuFFmAn]

Hello all,

I am after some advice.

My parents purchased a home some 10 years ago as an investment. I am now looking to buy this home from my parents to live in. Of course, the house will be properly valued and a proper sale price will be agreed.

I am new to house buying and every little will help in cost savings during the sale process...

I am aware I will need a survey of the property done to obtain a mortgage but what other fees can I avoid? For example, do I need a solicitor to process the transaction? Can I not do it myself via land registry?

Many thanks for all responses.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Massive saving on estate agent's fees.
Is it near any stamp duty thresholds?

 

[davidjpowell]

If you need a mortgage, you need a solicitor....

 

[janner]

Look into your parents capital gains tax. I'm not suggesting that you should buy it for under market value to save them some tax...
Solicitor should be cheap enough if you explain the situation.

 

[developer]

I've used postal solicitors twice now.

They are very slow (in my double experience), but they are cheap.

The time factor might not be an issue for you, so the savings may be worth it.

http://www.nbmlaw.co.uk/

 

[renault12ts]

Look into your parents capital gains tax. I'm not suggesting that you should buy it for under market value to save them some tax...
Solicitor should be cheap enough if you explain the situation.

In any case even if you do pay under market value the CGT people will not rely on what you paid when determining the tax.

 

[janner]

True enough but it depends if the house is easy to value, again, not that I'm suggesting it...
I mentioned CGT because it's something the parents need to look into. If the bill is going to be huge it might be worth speaking to a good accountant. There are legal ways around it, like selling you a portion of it each year, for instance.

 

[joecash]

As a retired property doer upper I would suggest the following
get a solicitor, local to you (so you can get hold of him quickly if need be) and make sure you "know everything" and have everything tied up.
For example be very very wary around leaseholds and covenants
all tax positions of the parties and property tax to be taken into account
are you buying it alone, jointly or severally
thats just the beginning
imho dont use "solicitors by post" the majority have one solicitor and a bunch of dummy pen pushers trying to do a job as cheap as possible

 

[Peter T]

A few years ago my wife inherited her father's bungalow on his death.

We then sold it, with a generous price reduction, to our son and his wife.

It was the easiest property transaction ever! Used a local solicitor who charged £500 for everything.

Our son took care of getting his mortgage. All we had to do was sit back and wait

 

[kth286]

You need to know you can get a mortgage (of the size required) as a first step, as this transaction could all be hypothetical if you can't.

Before that step even, you need to get a copy of your credit file to check.

Knowledge is power and you need to see in advance what they will see about your financial transactions in the past and how they have been conducted ie missed payments etc, on voter's roll, proven residence history etc etc

Reports cost £2.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

You need to know you can get a mortgage (of the size required) as a first step, as this transaction could all be hypothetical if you can't.

Before that step even, you need to get a copy of your credit file to check.

Knowledge is power and you need to see in advance what they will see about your financial transactions in the past and how they have been conducted ie missed payments etc, on voter's roll, proven residence history etc etc

Reports cost £2.

Not convinced that an independent credit check is necessary, it's an option but really down to the op and how well they know their own finances.

 

[HR17]

A few years ago my wife inherited her father's bungalow on his death.

We then sold it, with a generous price reduction, to our son and his wife.

It was the easiest property transaction ever! Used a local solicitor who charged £500 for everything.

Our son took care of getting his mortgage. All we had to do was sit back and wait

Did you pay tax on the market value or what you actually sold it for?

 

[Peter T]

Did you pay tax on the market value or what you actually sold it for?

No tax to pay.

 

[kth286]

Not convinced that an independent credit check is necessary, it's an option but really down to the op and how well they know their own finances.

Lots of mistakes are turning up on people's credit files, so the advice remains to get a copy of your own credit file so that you can verify it is correct.

You would not want a Lender to see 'adverse' financial history on yourself which was not true or incomplete.