How buying a home works
How to Buy a Home
You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking to buy a home! adoor is the home for your house move 🏡
Through adoor you can:
Track - see and track every stage involved in the house moving process. Also see when the next stage is due without needing to chase.
Know-How - Our Helpful Hints help homebuyer and sellers understand what’s going on and why with their house move without needing to call or email. Available whenever they need it.
Move Planner - Home buyers and sellers can tick off all the tasks they need to do themselves before moving. Like packing the all-important first night box, moving schools, doctors, dentists, as well as change over their utilities.
Organise removals - Through our partnership with AnyVan - you have multiple options when looking to move your stuff from house to home.
A guide to buying a home in the UK
Alongside signing up for adoor, where you can see all the stages and how moving works, we’ve also created a short Guide that gives you an idea of what to expect when moving. Our guide also includes the common costs to buy a house.
Please note: the process may be slightly different for each house move, as each property is unique with its own quirks and features, like how its been registered, whether it has restrictions, who owns it and whether that’s freehold and leasehold are just some of the things that can make each transaction more complex. So having a qualified Property Lawyer (Conveyancer) to help you through the process is essential.
The Process
1) Pre-offer:
Buyer - This is where you'll be searching for your new home. If you have children (or are thinking about it!) look into the catchment areas for schools in the area you want to move to. You'll want to look both online and with Estate agents in the area. If you need a mortgage you'll want to get in touch with your preferred lender or a mortgage broker to obtain a decision in principle. Estate agents will want to see this before they will put an offer to a
Seller - You will want to look into reviews of Estate agents in your local area. Be sure to get a market appraisal from more than one estate agent so you have a good idea of what your property might sell for. Once you have chosen which Estate agent you want to use, they will arrange to come round to take photographs, market the property for you, usually conduct viewings and negotiate a sale.
2) Legal:
Once a sale is agreed, both the Buyer and the Seller will need to instruct their own Conveyancer to deal with the legal process. The Conveyancers will agree on the form of contract and transfer deed The Buyer's Conveyancer will report to the Buyer on the title deeds to the property and on the legal searches. The Buyer's Conveyancer will also be sent a copy of the Buyer's survey report.
3) Exchange of Contracts:
Once contracts are exchanged, the sale and/or purchase is legally binding on the Seller and the Buyer. The completion date is formally agreed upon at this stage. At this stage, the Buyer will be required to have insurance in place on the new property.
4) Completion
For a Buyer - Completion is the date on which you will become the owner of your new home.
For a Seller - it is the date on which you no longer own your property. This is usually the day on which people move out of their old property and move into their new property.
Whether you are a Buyer or a Seller, you will want to have thought about booking a removal company well before completion (4+ weeks) - this is usually something to consider after exchange but if you know there is not going to be much time before exchange of contracts and completion you should start enquiring with removals companies so you do not put yourself under pressure after the exchange of contracts.
As a rule of thumb, Sellers are expected to have left the property by 1 pm on the date of Completion. Seller’s are usually asked to leave the keys with the Estate Agent for the Buyer to collect. You are not required to change the locks, but you may feel more comfortable doing so.