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1) Establish Your Budget

Consult with your Bank's mortgage advisor to determine what level of finance you can raise.

2) Find Your House

Find your ideal house and agree a purchase price with the Vendor. The vendor is usually represented by an estate agent. Once the terms of sale are agreed, the estate agent will normally ask you to nominate a solicitor to handle the purchase for you and you will be asked to pay a refundable booking deposit. However there is not at this point any binding obligation on you to purchase the house.

3) Get an Engineer

Have the house inspected by an Engineer for defects.

4) Receive Contracts from Seller

The vendor's solicitor will send out contracts to your solicitor. Your solicitor will then read these contracts and look at the title to the property which you are proposing to buy.

5) Sign Contracts and Mortgage documents

At this point you will need to ensure you have the necessary finance in place. Your bank will assist you in this regard. Once you are confident of having the funds in order, once your engineer is satisfied with the property and once your solicitor is satisfied with the title you will sign the contracts in duplicate. One copy will be for for you and one for the vendor. You will also sign the mortgage documentation for the bank if necessary at this point. A non-refundable deposit will also usually be paid to the vendor. The contracts are exchanged, and at this point you will have a binding contract to purchase the house.

At this point you have agreed to purchase the house, however you will not get access to it until such time as the sale closes.

6) Prepare for Closing

After the contracts have been exchanged your solicitor will proceed to draft the deed under which the title will pass from the vendor to you. This is passed onto the vendors solicitor who arranges for the deed to be signed. Your solicitor will now draw down the mortgage (if necessary) and will advise you on closing balance, along with any stamp duty, registration fees and other applicable charges.

7) Close the Sale

On the day of the closing both solicitors meet. Your solicitor will hand over a draft for the balance to purchase the property in return for the signed deed, the title documents, and of course the key.

You now have possession of the house, but the solicitor's job is not yet done.

8) Post Completion Items

Your solicitor will now arrange to pay the stamp duty over to the Revenue Commissioners. Once the deed is stamped the solicitor will arrange to have you registered as the owner of the property. Once the property is registered in your name, the deeds will be sent to the bank if you have a mortgage. If you do not have a loan they can be kept safely by your solicitor, or you may take them for safekeeping should you choose.

If you would like a fixed price quote for O'Hanlon & O'Dowd to handle all the legal issues surrounding your house purchase please do not hesitate to contact us @ (021) 4824426 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it