Located in South East Asia, Indonesia is an archipelago, with about 17,000 islands such as Sumatra, Java, Bali, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, the Moluccas Islands, and Irian Jaya. With its diverse landscape, untouched beaches, lush green forests, and volcanic mountains, Indonesia is truly an exotic destination.

Real estate in Indonesia is a hot sector, with residential units and commercial buildings as well as industrialized plants sprouting all over the nation. In other words, Indonesian real estate sector has globally marked its establishment in all respects. Low interest rates and robust consumer spending has led to a tremendous economic growth.

Indonesia also boasts of more than 10 billion barrels of oil reserves as well as 150 trillion cubic feet of potential reserves. Further, the innovative measures taken by Indonesia to well organize its natural resources have now caught the attention of many global investors.

People from across the world also flock here for a myriad of other purposes such as for education or employment requirements. Perhaps for these reasons real estate in Indonesia is of special significance. Most of the real estate investments have been found in metropolitan areas like Jakarta. Indonesia provides almost all types of real estate, from luxury villas and homes to guest houses, hotel resorts and land.

As in the case of other Asian nations, several laws and regulations have been formulated for the acquisition of a real estate in Indonesia. Different types of titles are associated with the purchase of a land in Indonesia. Foremost is Hak Milik, otherwise freehold title. This type of title could be held only by a national of Indonesia. Further, property ownership with this title is considered the most complete form of land ownership in Indonesia, and it possesses complete right to exchange, sell, bequeath, or transfer to eligible recipient.

Certain restrictions have been imposed on foreigners to buy a land in Indonesia. A foreigner cannot purchase a land outright in Indonesia. However, three options are opened for non-Indonesian to buy or acquire a land in the country, such as, leasehold investment, Indonesian nominee power of attorney agreement, and PMA Foreign Investment Company Structure.

Leasehold investment provides complete protection to a non resident investor during the term of lease agreement, which in turn is prepared for a specific period, usually extending up to 25 years. Mostly, options would be there for extension. This agreement is also inclusive of the foreign investor’s options regarding the right for the land or building demolishing, renovation, or demolishment. A land or property acquired through this option holds a kind of title known as Hak Pakai or leasehold title.

In the case of Indonesian nominee power of attorney, a foreign investor can enter a legal agreement through a nominee who is a permanent resident of the nation. Al though, this nominee is the registered owner, the foreigner holds the land certificates. On purchasing the property, both nominee and investor sign a legal power of attorney. Once the power of attorney is signed, all of the nominee’s rights with regard to property are waived and the investor is given complete right on the property. Accordingly, the investor can build, sell, or lease the property. Further, he can even transfer the property.

PMA (Penanaman Modal Asing) Foreign Investment Company Structure is primarily designed for enabling foreign business firms or corporations to purchase a property in Indonesia. However, property acquisition does not provide complete ownership to the foreign investors. This type of property acquisition holds the title of HGB (Hak Guna Bangunan.)

In order to conduct a real estate transaction in the country, real estate sales people are not required to hold a license. Among the procedures in connection with the buying of property in Indonesia are examination of land certificate at the Land office, payment of transfer tax by salesperson at a commercial bank, payment of tax on acquisition of the land and building by the buyer, filing for company tax registration number with the local tax authorities, execution of sale and purchase of land deed through a legal representative appointed by an executive of the National Land Office, Registration of the Land deed under the name of the buyer with the Local Land Office, and Land Deed at the Tax on Land and Building Office.

No matter it is single detached home, villa, apartment, office, or industrial space, a large number of realtors and real estate firms are now there to find and buy your dream property in Indonesia.



Quick Property Sale

If you are virtually helpless, homeless and suffered with multiple unwanted appeared pecuniary conundrums because of your high expenditures, you start hunting for such loans under the circumstances where you have to pay a bit high interest rate and you are blessed with loans sooner or later after putting oodles of strenuous attempts. Now, you are going to be imparted via cash loans for unemployed with great ease. Therefore, submit an application for the loans and be on the cloud nine after solving your undesirable financial conundrums.

If you want to do away with your fiscal crises like treatment bills, rent, painting expenditures, electric bills, phone bills, grocery, impromptu organized party and the like, you have to do well negotiation with the apt lender who you are going to get the loan from. After that, you require filling up an online loan form which is all the time free of cost in the service of applicants who are deprived of work for long and waiting for its last minute approval. As soon as your filled up loan form is finalized, loan amount per your capability of requirements and loan repayment is automatically wired into your contemporary account. If you are ready to undertake all these must tasks with no if and buts, you can take various advantages of cash loans for unemployed.

It supplies you the aid of secured and unsecured loans. And now, it is thoroughly up to you which one you wish to go in for according to your competence. If you possess home or any other valuable assets, you can take fancy for secured loans which ask you to pawn any type of materialistic stuff in lieu of catering you substantial amount more or less $25,000-$75,000 that must be repaid within the duration of 5-25 years which is considered a lengthy duration. If you are paying guest, jobless as well, you can have taste for unsecured loans which don’t ask you to mortgage any kind of collateral in lieu of offering the reasonable loan amount approximately $5,000-$25,000 that must be paid off within 1-10 years. Now, have cash in rash without counting yourself second to none while applying for cash loans for unemployed.



Quick Property Sale

The HIP (Home Information Pack) was first introduced by the UK government in August 2007. It is now compulsory for any person in the UK selling their home to make a HIP available to potential buyers. There now follows an explanation of terms commonly associated with the HIP.

 

Conveyancing - conveyancing is the name for the legal processes involved in buying and selling property.

 

Energy Assessors - an energy assessor is employed to test the energy efficiency of a property. They do this by collecting information about the age, building type and heating system in the home.

 

EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) - the EPC is a compulsory document to be contained in the Home Information Pack. The EPC shows the current energy rating of a home along with suggested ways that the rating can be improved. Energy Performance Certificates are created by qualified energy assessors.

 

Energy Rating - the energy rating is used to measure the energy efficiency of a property and is listed on the EPC. The rating is set on a scale of 1 - 100, the higher the rating the more energy efficient the property is.

 

Estate Agents - provide a number of services relating to selling property. Many estate agencies are able to provide Home Information Packs.

 

Evidence of Title - evidence of title documents show who owns a particular property. They are used to prove that the seller of a home is the owner and therefore has the right to sell it.

 

Home Condition Report - the Home Condition Report is an optional non-compulsory part of the HIP. Designed to be used by potential buyers of a property the HCR gives an objective report of the condition of a home.

 

Home Contents Form - an optional section of the HIP that contains a list of all the items that will be left by the owners of a property when it is sold.

 

HIP (Home Information Pack) - designed to be used by prospective buyers of a property the HIP contains a series of documents relating to the condition of a home being made available for sale.

 

Sale Statement - the sale statement outlines the terms on which a property is being offered for sale. Example information contained in the sale statement includes the name of the person selling the property and whether it is being sold freehold or leasehold.

 

Solicitor - solicitors will typically be able to produce a Home Information Pack for people putting their home up for sale.

 

Standard Searches - standard searches are used to inform a home buyer about any hidden charges relating to the property being sold.

 

 

 

 



Quick House Sale

Home Information Packs were first mentioned as part of the Labour party manifesto back in 1997 and were originally deemed to be the solution to the then common problem of gazumping. In the eight years that have followed, the reason for existence of HIPS is that they can speed up and simplify the current housebuying process. HIPs were finally introduced last August in a bid to simplify the home-buying process, but have received some very negative press since.

One of the main aims of the HIP legislation is to reduce the current high percentage of agreed sales (reportedly more than one in four) that do not make it as far as an exchange of contracts.  HIPS were intended to deliver this aspiration by providing key information at the beginning of the house buying process.

Recent survey has revealed that the majority of house buyers think Home Information Packs are a waste of time, with fifty-seven per cent of those questioned saying it is time to scrap HIPs and many blaming the cost of providing them as a contributing factor to the significant decline in the number properties being offered for sale in the UK.

A YouGov poll found that only 5 per cent believed the packs had delivered benefits, while 68 per cent said they had failed to make a positive difference.  The results of the survey are another blow to the controversial packs, which cost sellers anything from £200 - £400 and contain title deeds, searches and an energy performance certificate.

The scheme was opposed by estate agent trade bodies, solicitors and the Council of Mortgage Lenders.   Critics of HIPS say that some buyers have been forced to seek independent advice after finding the content of the packs unreliable.

A Conservative party housing spokesman Grant Shapps said HIPs had undermined the housing market.  “One year on, the public don’t trust the paper these packs are written on”, he said.   Mr Shapps went on to say that “the only people who want to keep these broken HIPs are the vested interests who are peddling them, and the Government ministers who are falsely using the green fig leaf of the environment to justify this latest public policy disaster.”

A Spokesperson from the National Association of Estate Agents, said: ‘Since their conception, the packs have been surrounded by a catalogue of disasters.  ‘And, so far, rather than helping to improve the home buying and selling process, they have served as a hindrance and nothing more than a purposeless piece of red tape.’

 

Confusion over the implementation of the packs forced former Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly to delay their implementation and exclude smaller homes from the initial phase of the scheme last year.

The troubled introduction of the HIPS scheme does not appear to have dampened the Government’s appetite for HIPS, as they have recently announced plans to increase the amount of information required to go into Home Information Packs.  This move will likely increase the cost of producing each HIP.

Government now wants to include a Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) in the packs to give people more information about a property up front.  It hopes the move will reduce the likelihood of issues coming to light further on in the process and causing delays or sales to fall through.  The questionnaires would include information on any building work that has been carried out on the property, details on parking arrangements, council tax banding and information on the utilities connected to the property.  The Government aim to implement this extra requirement as a mandatory part of the packs on January 1, 2009.

Housing Minister Caroline Flint said: “Having the right information about a property at the beginning of the home-buying process is essential if we are to reduce delays and cut down on wasted costs for both buyers and sellers.  “Hips are an important first step in achieving greater efficiency and the Property Information Questionnaire will only improve on this, ensuring the buying and selling process is simpler for all.”

The Government is also considering increasing the quality of leasehold information that is included in the packs.  New information on leaseholds would include details on ground rent, services charges, the cost of buildings insurance and any major works that are planned, as well as a copy of the lease itself.  There is currently only a temporary provision requiring a copy of a lease to be included in the packs.

Conservative Shadow  Housing Minister Grant Shapps, said: “Home Information Packs have already strangled the housing market by discouraging sellers. Given its fragile state, the property market needs more bureaucratic red tape like a hole in the head.  “Behind the smokescreen of HIPs, Labour’s real agenda is to build up a property database of every home. Property Information Questionnaires are most likely just another way of conducting Labour’s controversial council tax revaluation and re-banding by the backdoor.  “The public will be clobbered  twice - once for a costly Home Information Pack and then again in the form of higher council tax bills for home improvements and their parking spaces.”

There is evidence that the controversial Home Information Pack (HIP) scheme has failed to speed up the house selling process, new figures suggest.

The packs, introduced a year ago despite huge opposition, are failing to be compiled in under a week – as the Government hoped would be possible – because local authorities are far slower at retrieving local searches than a year ago.   Searches are one of the key documents contained within a pack. They flag up any potential road schemes or developments that might scare off a home buyer from moving to the area.

 

The average time taken by councils to hand over searches has increased by a third, from 5.3 days to 7 days.  Some councils are taking more than 20 days to process a request, with the London Borough of Hillingdon taking 44 days on average.

Local councils increasingly poor performance in regard to providing search data is impacting negatively on HIPs in two ways.   Firstly, virtually all HIP providers now subcontract their searches to personal search companies to get the search component for the HIP completed as soon as possible.  This means that the search information contained in the HIP will usually not contain most of the relevant information as would be revealed by an official Council search.  Secondly, with more and more councils levying higher level of charges for official searches and length of time taken to deliver, there is a direct impact on HIP providers and, consequently, on the price paid by the consumer.

 

Sir Bryan Carsberg earlier this month, after spending a year investigating the housing market, recommended that HIPs should be scrapped, arguing that, “they don’t make a useful contribution to the house buying process. They don’t speed up transactions and they are in danger of becoming out of date too quickly.  “It seems to me to impose a cost, without bringing any benefit.”

 

Shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, said the slowness of the Local Authorities was proof that HIPs were not working.  “This shatters one of Labour’s last remaining arguments about the benefits of Hips and adds to the mounting dossier of evidence against them.  “The industry doesn’t want them and neither do the buyers and sellers - they are strangling the market at a time when it needs kickstarting,” he said.

 

Conversely, a spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: “As a result of the increased transparency brought about by HIPs, we are already seeing a drop in cost for sellers commissioning searches – more than 160 local authorities have cut their prices by an average of £20.  “We have issued guidance to councils to ensure they are giving access to private search companies, to increase competition and provide the consumer with cheaper and faster searches.”

 

However, as charges for official searches are between two to three times more expensive than the personal search option, it is doubtful whether any HIP provider will utilise the option of the more expensive official search in a highly competetive HIPs market.

 

Buyers of property may well find that the search information included within the HIP for the property they are buying is out of date or too vague to pass the scrutiny of the lender.  This situation will of course delay the selling process and defeat the object of HIPS.

 

For more information about HIPS go to http://www.hip-hips.co.uk

 



Quick House Sale

No matter whether you’re a start-up or have been trading for generations, most small businesses operate out of a single industrial unit, office or shop. Thus, all the commercial eggs are in a single building. If anything serious happens to those premises, the whole business will be disrupted and may fail unless repairs can quickly be put in hand or alternative premises are found. The longer a business stops trading, the more existing customers transfer their loyalties to your competitors. So let’s take a simple example. Suppose you operate a small retail outlet on a lease. You have display space, a stock room, and an office. If there’s a fire or hurricane which levels the building and destroys the stock, can you put the business back together again before all your goodwill disappears? The answer depends on the amount of cover you hold as the leaseholder. This is not a case of replacing the value of the land. You lease the use of the building. The maximum amount you can be required to carry under the terms of the lease is the cost of demolition and complete rebuilding. Then you need to replace all the fixtures and fittings, and restock. This is not the same as a valuation for a local property tax or to market the property for sale or lease. This is a simple all-in cost for replacement. Think of it this way. On the day of the fire, you call local contractors and ask them, “If you drop everything and come rebuild my premises, how much will you charge?” You’re not in a good bargaining position after a disaster. You do not have the luxury of time to shop around. You need immediate action. That means you will pay for a fast response. Even if you’re the owner of the building, the calculation is exactly the same. The land is still there. It’s only the building that’s lost. This gives us sobering news. Even though the value of the land may be dropping fast as the housing bubble deflates the economy, the insurance premiums may be rising because the cost of building materials and the labor to build with it may still be rising. You should review the value at which you have your business insurance annually. If you improved the property in any way, or new fire prevention and safety measures are required by local ordinances and building codes, rebuilding costs may be increased. What has happened to the cost of replacing your stock and office furniture over the last year? It’s tempting to cut small business insurance to a percentage of the expected total loss, hoping there will be enough in a “rainy day” fund to cover the difference. Except, there’s no guarantee there will be any surplus cash around when disaster strikes. There’s a simple rule at work here. It’s a false economy to economize on business insurance.



Repossession

Dubai has become an international property hotspot, with great architectural developments and ambitious projects rising up seemingly overnight. With the market still young and demand exceeding supply, the time is ripe for foreigners to invest in this vibrant, captivating city.

In March 2006 the Freehold Law was passed allowing foreigners either 99 year leasehold or freehold ownership of land in designated areas. Freehold or leasehold allows the foreign investor many advantages. Owners are able to sell or rent out the property if they so desire. Investment potential is high, with a great demand for short-term rentals and yields around 10 percent. Dubai does not levy taxes on income, including that obtained from renting property. In addition there is no Capital Gains Tax. With Dubai’s population expected to double within the next five years causing the rental demand to increase, a property purchased for the purpose of leasing can be seen as a long term income-generating asset. Owners are not required to live in the UAE, but must visit the country briefly once every six months. There are several local and international property management companies, including Colliers International, Cluttons, Asteco, and JG Property Management, who can look after the property when the owners are away. Properties can also be passed on as inheritance if specific procedures are followed. Ownership of freehold property also entitles the first named owner to a 3 year renewable residence visa. (This visa does not permit the holder to take up work in the country.) The most popular Dubai property developments are the Springs, Dubai Marina, Emirates Hills, the Meadows, and Arabian Ranches. Other up and coming areas include Business Bay, the Palms (Palm Jumeirah, Palm Deira, Palm Jebel Ali), and Jumeirah Beach Residence.

Investing in Dubai’s dynamic and fast moving market is quite simple. The only paper required is a relatively straightforward sales agreement. If necessary, foreigners can apply for financing. The two main lenders in Dubai, specializing in real estate mortgages, are Tamweel and Amlak. When buying property, it is advisable to use a lawyer and make sure a formal contract is signed, especially if purchasing on the secondary market. It is possible and quite common to purchase directly from the developer (such as Emaar or Nakheel) who may charge a transfer fee of between 1-3%. It is typical to have to provide a down payment, plus installments, with the final installment due upon completion or handover of the property. Upon completion, the property should be registered with the Dubai Lands Department. There is a land registry fee equal to 1.5% of the purchase price of the property. Owners should also expect to pay a yearly property maintenance fee which covers such things as any necessary plumbing or electrical repairs, cleanliness of the site, and security.

Buying a home overseas is a major decision. It is essential to research all aspects of a potential investment and deal only with reputable real estate agents since there is no formal structured purchase process in Dubai. Well-known real estate agents with good reputations in Dubai include Better Homes, GoWealthy, Re-Max, and Landmark Properties. Dubai’s property market is likely to continue to flourish for the foreseeable future. Dubai is a thriving international destination offering a high standard of living, a tax-free lifestyle, and a safe and secure cosmopolitan community making it the perfect place to invest.



Quick Property Sale

Upsizing or downsizing, establishing a second or even third office, relocating to a more prestige location or simply finding somewhere that is more affordable in uncertain times - these are many of the reasons that you may be looking for a new office space in London.

While location, location, location is always going to be the mantra when it comes to finding residential property - and may still be a significant factor in choosing commercial office space in London, depending on your sector and your particular needs - there may be another more important choice to make before you decide exactly where you’re going to move to: should I rent a serviced office space or a conventional leasehold commercial property in London?

Each has its benefits and its drawbacks. However, the following key factors should help you decide:

1. Flexibility of contract

There is no real question that serviced office space is more flexible in terms of your financial commitment - contracts tend to be extremely short and can be terminated with little or even no notice. A standard leasehold agreement for a conventional commercial office space in London would be for 5 years with a break in the 3rd year so represents a far more long-term commitment. However the flexibility of serviced offices comes at a premium and generally you would pay much more compared to a conventional space.

2. Flexibility of space

While contracts are flexible with a serviced office, your use of the space will not be and it is likely that, not only will you have to abide by regulations when using the space, but you will also be unable to redecorate or personalize the space to suit your business needs. That said, you can upgrade or downgrade as required - so if the physical nature of your business changes you can adapt quickly and easily.

Conventional commercial office space provides a much more bespoke environment for your office - you can redecorate, refurbish and redesign the space totally according to your needs: for customer-facing and cutting-edge industries such as design agencies, media companies or architects for example may require a more flexible space that reflects their business more effectively, provides a showcase for their services and an attractive place to bring clients. Of course, such a space will mean a certain loss of flexibility in terms of ability to expand or contract at will and therefore will suit well-established, essentially predictable businesses better than new, uncertain or rapidly changing businesses.

3. Price

For most businesses, the bottom line with office space is going to be cost and, while serviced offices offer a great deal of flexibility they are not a cost effective way of housing your business in the long-term. A conventional office space in London, particularly if you have sourced it through a company who can aggressively negotiate rents on your behalf (rather than a commercial estate agent who represents his clients interests first and foremost) will virtually always make the most commercial sense for an established business.



Repossession

In December last year the Government announced that from April 6 it will re-instigate the first day marketing provisions in the Home Information Pack (HIP) legislation. This effectively means that from April 2009 estate agents cannot market properties without being in receipt of a HIP, and offenders who do may be liable to a fine of up to £200 per property.

The suspension of first day marketing up until now has allowed estate agents to market the property whilst the HIP was being drawn up. Invariably it was prepared at the same time as the sales particulars, including the energy performance certificate. The main concern for estate agents was that the energy performance certificate was undertaken promptly as the remaining searches and documentation could be produced within a reasonable amount of time.

So what does the new legislation mean for the industry? The first and most obvious change will be that properties cannot be marketed for sale without a HIP. The Government has warned that the threat of the £200 fine will not be an empty one, and it will assign more resources to the policing of HIPs.

Another significant amendment estate agents need to be aware of is the Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ). Completing the PIQ should not be particularly complicated, but some detailed information is required - especially information in relation to leasehold transactions, which may not be readily available from the client. In practice this will mean the client will need to complete this information twice as they will still need to complete the usual enquiries about the property that they receive from their conveyancer as the PIQs aren’t detailed enough!

Estate agents may wish to complete the PIQs with their clients if they want to get properties on the market quickly, essentially resulting in more work. There may also be an additional cost involved if HIP providers add the Property Information Questionnaire procedure to their process.

On the upside it may prove easier to tailor a sale-ready HIP if the conveyancer is instructed early in the selling process. It will then become the role of the conveyancer to produce the Property Information Questionnaire with the client, which they are well versed to do. This will not only mean the estate agents’ workload is reduced, but that the legal instruction is started early so that all documentation will be ready for swift completion once the sale is agreed.

One of the key issues that must be considered with the PIQ is its interaction with the Property Misdescriptions Act. Be warned that if as an estate agent you provide input or even comment for the PIQ you may be liable under the PMA. If the questionnaire is completed solely by the seller you won’t be liable.

Whether the changes will actually come into force on April 6 remains to be seen, the legislation has already been postponed several times as the Government realised the fragile housing market could not take the burden of these changes would mean. The idea behind HIPs was to make all the information about a property available to buyers before an offer was made but what the legislation seems to have done is make the whole process of selling houses more difficult, not easier.

It would appear that very few clients read the HIP as they feel it is full of legal jargon for their conveyancer to disseminate, and many conveyancers would tell you that the HIP is a fairly useless concept as much of the documentation contained in them will need to be reconstituted. Local government searches for example have a maximum shelf life of six months, so requesting them before they are needed simply doubles up on work. The PIQ also seems to have been developed without consultation to the conveyancing industry. They will inevitably lead to additional work for the client as they will have to answer more in-depth questions about the property at a later date.

It is without doubt that the home information pack legislation requires complete review.  It may be that we will not need to wait too long for a new government and for that review to take place. The Office of Fair Trading is undertaking a massive review of the whole process of buying and selling homes, so I hold out hope for a turnaround on the legislation.



Repossession

When I initially purchased my first property I was shocked at how complex and time consuming the process is.  It wasn\’t a particularly pleasant experience as I felt that much of what the people I dealt with assumed I knew, I actually didn\’t! With hindsight I\’ve found that most first time buyers feel the same. Therefore I decided to produce a list of easy to understand \’steps / tips\’ which I feel will help first time buyers and also remind myself in the event of me purchasing further properties! Without further intro, here goes:-

 

·         Contact a mortgage advisor (e.g. maybe go  through Bairstow Eves, Bradford & Bingely or  another Estate Agents) and arrange for a consultation. This is free and non-committal. This will give you a good indication of HOW MUCH YOU CAN BORROW, PAYMENTS and FEES INVOLVED. At this stage the advisor may be able to provide you with a Mortgage Certificate which indicates how much you can borrow. These are usually valid for 3 months.

 

·         Contact a solicitor and inform them you are presently searching for properties. Ask them to act on your behalf once you find a property. Solicitor total fees usually average around £750. This includes land registry searches etc.

 

·         Once a property has been found, viewed and deemed suitable you can make an offer. This is usually via the Estate Agent although you can directly make an offer to the house owner. I suggest you start with an offer of at least 20% below the asking price (if the property has no chain and the owner requires a quick sale offer lower). Once you’ve made an offer you should visit the mortgage advisor again. He/she should give you more \’concrete\’ (no pun intended!)  information and can arrange a mortgage in principle (this involves no commitment, but allows a definite borrowing figure to be given). If you can find better mortgage deals elsewhere they are worth looking into – although the mortgage advisors can often gain you access to higher borrowing amounts.

 

·         Once an offer is accepted you will provide the estate agent with your solicitor details. You will receive a letter confirming the acceptance. At this point no commitment is invoked on either the buyer or seller, although there should be a moral code of practice in place.

 

·         It is now time to decide on a mortgage, either via a mortgage advisor or directly. Once you have decided on the best mortgage deal you will need to provide the lender with:- 1) Passport* 2) Driving Licence* 3)  P60  4) Last three wage slips 5) A bank statement. They will take photocopies of these for their files to protect against fraud etc. At this point you will also pay for the property survey to be done. On any property less than 10 years old a HOMEBUYERS SURVEY is probably sufficient. This costs in the region of £250-300. A more in depth survey is also available for around £400-500. (check with estate agent whether property is Leasehold or Freehold – If Leasehold you pay a small annual ground rent fee).

 

·         Once the survey is complete, and if satisfactory, the mortgage lender should send you an agreement to lend you the money. This usually happens within three weeks of paying for the survey. The survey results will have been viewed by your solicitor giving them the green light to carry out the land registry etc. checks. The solicitor should also draw up a list of fixtures and fittings which are included with the property.

 

·         Providing the owner is still willing to sell at this point, you are now in a position to sign contracts. This is subject to the seller’s chain, but as first time buyers we are in a good position in this area of negotiations. You can sign contracts and agree on a date when you move into the property or move in immediately if no chains are involved.

 

·         The whole process usually takes between 6 and 10 weeks from a suitable property being found and contracts being exchanged.

 

You will no doubt encounter problems along the way, but be reassured the high majority of them get sorted out with time. 



Sell and Rent Back

Marketable title (sometimes called “merchantable title”) is of much greater concern for the sale of real estate than with the same of personal property, mainly because of the complex and sometimes arcane rules applicable to real property. Property law recognizes a myriad of interests and procedures in real estate including easements, future interests, leaseholds, mortgages, and adverse possession, among others. For this reason it is quite likely that the interests in a given parcel of land will be in dispute - the bank claims a mortgage over the real estate that was taken out by the previous owner, the city claims the right to build a road across your land (an easement), etc. Even if these claims are in fact invalid, the very fact that there is enough credibility to them to force them into court to resolve them could make your land quite difficult to sell. The absence of credible or serious claims against your full possession and quiet enjoyment of the land (that you can then sell to a potential buyer) is what is known as “marketable title”.

On the other hand, if the claims against your title are substantial enough to make a reasonable buyer think twice before agreeing to purchase your property at anywhere near the going market price, then your title is unmarketable. The consequence of this is that if the buyer finds out that your title is unmarketable after signing a real estate sales contract with you, he can refuse to close the sale until you clear up the problem, and there won’t be a whole lot you can do about it except either give him what he wants or wave bye-bye to him (and his money!). Furthermore, if the real estate sales contract states that “time is of the essence”, then you have until the contractual closing date and not a moment longer to offer the buyer marketable title.

Following are the legal requirements for marketable title:

(1)Seller has actual title to the property in fee simple absolute (the most complete form of real property ownership)

(2)The title is free from encumbrances (mortgages, leaseholds, etc.). If the property has encumbrances, then a clear description of them in the sales contract should close this loophole.

(3) The title is free from reasonable doubt. An examination of title records should reveal that there is no reasonable doubt as to whether the seller actually owns the property and whether or not there are encumbrances upon it that were not disclosed in the real estate sales contract.

DISCLAIMER: The foregoing is intended for reference purposes only and not as legal advice.



Passive Income