The Process of Getting a Mortgage in England - What is Different From Getting A Morgage in The Rest of the UK?

Whilst buying a home is a daunting task, every year hundreds of thousands of people do it. To make the whole process seem easier, we have organized the process into easily digestible segments.

First of all you should find out roughly how much a Lender would be willing to lend you and if you are comfortable with the repayments. You will find our mortgage calculators a useful tool.

Once you know what you can afford and the area that you like you can start searching for your new home. This can be done by use of local newspapers, www.rightmove.co.uk, driving round the desired neighbourhood as well as visiting the local Estate Agents.

Should you find somewhere within your price range that you like, you should make sure that you visit it a few times at different times of the day and try to get a feel for the area. If you decide that you want to pursue this property you should make an offer on the property through the estate agent. Don't offer too much, try and negotiate. Eventually, should your offer be accepted you can go to your mortgage lender to tell them you've found a place.

Unfortunately, it is still true that even if your offer is accepted, in England that is not the end of it. Someone else can come in with a higher offer, which could be accepted, unless you offer a higher amount. This is known as gazumping.

Your legal work should be done by a qualified solicitor or licensed conveyancer. They will liaise with the lender and sort out your mortgage documentation, draw up sale contracts with the vendor's solicitor and conduct searches with the local authority to see if any plans will affect the property. With the vendor's solicitor, they will agree what is included in the sale and what the moving dates will be. The Estate Agent usually will mediate between the parties to keep everyone informed.

Once everything is satisfactory, contracts are exchanged, and you will need to pay a deposit, normally 10% of the purchase price, which will be non-refundable should you pull out. Your completion date is set here, which could be more or less than four weeks. You need to have buildings insurance at this point.

On the day of completion you should collect the keys from the estate agent and you are now legally the owner of the property. Move your belongings in and enjoy your new home!