Considering buying a house?
Congratulations ! You may have chosen your property or about to choose, and wondering what to do next.
In the normal course, when purchasing a property through an auctioneer, a booking deposit of a nominal amount is paid to the auctioneer to register your interest against the property. A binding contract will not normally be in place until formal contracts are later signed, exchanged and full deposit paid as agreed between the respective solicitors for the vendor and purchaser.
Your auctioneer will ask you to nominate your solicitor for the purpose of having contracts sent to your solicitor. The vendor will then advise their solicitor to send the contracts for sale together with the title documents for the property to your solicitor.
If there is no auctioneer, then the vendor should have his solicitor send on the contracts for sale and title documents to your solicitor. In this instance it is advisable not to pay any booking deposit. A full deposit can be paid at formal signing of contracts.