Step by Step guide to buying your new home

Congratulations on reserving your new McInerney Home.

Not only do we pride ourselves on building you a quality home, but we also work hard to ensure that your home buying experience is as efficient and smooth as possible.

Our sales and site team are here to help you every step of the way and will be on hand to offer advice from the moment you reserve your plot to when you collect the keys to your front door.

We’ve put together this useful guide to answer any questions you might have and to explain the new home buying process.

We hope that the following information will provide you with everything you need to know about buying your new home - right through from reservation to after you’ve moved in.

Appointing a solicitor

 Now you have chosen your home and paid your reservation deposit you need to appoint a solicitor and advise them of the purchase details. You will also need to inform them of the expiry date for exchanging contracts.

We have provided you with a list of nominated solicitors – who have great experience in both new homes and investment purchases –and who understand the importance of working to agreed timescales.

It will be your solicitor’s role to act for you throughout the home buying process including checking all the necessary legal paperwork and carrying out legal searches. Please provide any requested information promptly to ensure that there is less likelihood of delays.

Remember to keep in regular contact with our sales executive and your solicitor.

When you have received your mortgage offer and your solicitor is happy with all the paperwork, they will arrange for you to sign the contract. Once contracts have been exchanged, the purchase of your new home is legally binding. If you already own a home, contracts for both properties should be exchanged at the same time.

Although your solicitor will deal with all the legal business, our sales executives are also well trained in the home buying process and are happy to offer advice as and when necessary.

Applying for a mortgage

If you need a mortgage to purchase your new home and have not yet made arrangements, this is the time to make a formal application based on the purchase price and details of your chosen plot.

We would suggest that you speak to an independent financial advisor (IFA) as soon as possible. They will provide you with information on the best mortgage package to suit you. As with solicitors, we will be pleased to recommend one of our nominated Independent Financial Advisors, who are regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

If you are employed, your mortgage lender will usually want to see the following forms of documentation:

• Proof of identity, such as a passport, photo card driving licence or birth certificate

• Evidence of your income and commitments, such as recent pay slips, a P60 and your recent bank statements

• Employers reference (certainly where you have not been in your current employment for a year)

• Information from credit reference agencies, which will show your history of repaying loans in the past and from your landlord if you are currently renting.

Your application could be turned down if you are unable to provide all of the requested information, if you have a poor credit history or you want to borrow more money than the lender is prepared to offer.

Your lender will arrange for a qualified valuer to inspect the property you want to buy and check its value. This valuation, is carried out purely to help the lender decide whether to provide you with a mortgage on the property and, if so, for how much.

Once the lender is certain that you will be able to repay the mortgage - and is satisfied with the valuation report on the property - it will issue a formal mortgage offer, which you must accept if you want to go ahead. At this point all the legal work needs to be completed. ASAP.

Please bear in mind that if your mortgage application is turned down, it is worth trying other lenders who specialise in loans to people with more unusual circumstances. Please be aware, however, that the cost of their mortgages may be higher than that from a 'normal' lender, so carefully research all of your options.

If you are self employed

It can be more complicated to apply for a mortgage as a self-employed person, than if you're an employee.

You’re not automatically viewed by mortgage lenders as risky, but they will want a guarantee you'll be able to repay your loan.

For this they will want proof of regular income. If you're self-employed you might find it very difficult or impossible to provide this as you won't have pay slips or a

P60 and may have a slightly more irregular income pattern than those who receive a regular monthly salary or weekly wage.

The majority of lenders accept alternative financial documentation as proof when you apply for a standard mortgage, such as three years of audited accounts from a chartered or certified accountant, or three years self assessment tax returns approved by the Inland Revenue. And some lenders accept just one or two years' paperwork if, for example, you have a deposit of 25% or more.

In terms of salary multiples, lending criteria will be the same as for the employed, but your accountant could be asked to verify that your business is bona fide.

There are numerous mortgage options specifically designed for self-certification as well as full status deals available on a self-cert basis. They are available from IFAs, mortgage brokers and high street lenders. McInerney Homes’ recommended IFA can put you in touch with a suitable lender.

Leasehold properties (where applicable)

Your lease is an important document and we recommend that you take the time to become familiar with it, as it forms the basis for the use of your home and specifies your responsibilities and rights as a leesee.

Managing agent (where applicable)

McInerney Homes may have appointed a Managing Agent to administer facilities commonly used by all residents and any faults should be reported to them as Soon as possible.

Generally, the Managing Agent will be responsible for:Day to day running and maintenance (including emergency repairs) of:

• Grounds

• Internal and external common parts

• Estimation, collection and accounting of service charges and ground rents

• Appointing and supervising cleaning and maintenance personnel

Service charges (where applicable)

All residents will pay a proportion of the running and maintenance costs for the use of common areas and a service charge. You will be sent an annual estimate of service charges which will be adjusted at the end of each year according to actual expenditure.

Reservation to Exchange checklist.

To help facilitate the process from reservation to exchange, the steps you need to take are highlighted in the checklist which you will have been given by your Sales executive upon reservation

Legal completion

Legal completion is when ownership of your new home transfers to you and you can move in.

Once you have legally committed to the transaction by exchanging contracts, we will keep you updated as to when you will be able to move into your new home.

We hope that the information you’ve found in our reservation pack has been helpful.

To make sure every part of your move goes smoothly, we have a Customer Care Plan which outlines our continued commitment to you, before, during and after the purchase of your new home.

We are dedicated to providing excellent customer service.

All of our policies and procedures are designed to ensure we meet all of the commitments outlined in this plan.

All our staff receive training to ensure they fully understand their responsibilities to our customers.

We will:

• Make sure you know who to contact at each stage of the purchase
• Deal effectively with all your questions.
• Provide you with all the relevant choices and options that may affect your decision.
• We will provide you with health and safety advice to reduce the risk of danger both on the development site while your property is being built and in your home.Our contract-of-sale terms and conditions will be clear and fair.
• We will inform you of your cancellation rights.We will give you reliable information about our warranty provider’s cover and any other guarantees and warranties from which you may benefit.
• We will give you reliable information about the timing of construction, legal completion and handover of the property.

Once a completion date is set we will:

• Ensure the transfer of ownership takes place as scheduled. 
• Demonstrate the functions and features of your new home.
• For a two year period from the purchase of your new home, we provide after-sales care, customer services and emergency services to all our customers.
• We will ensure you are aware of all the support we can offer you.
• Our customer commitments do not affect your statutory rights.