Estate Agent Local - A Directory Of UK Estate Agents

Property for Sale

UK has a very well-defined set of procedures for property purchase. In comparison to other European countries, these procedures are remarkably simple and quite foolproof.

The role of the estate agent

In principle, the estate agent has to do relatively little, apart from selling the property to you. In practice, most estate agents do a fair amount of work:

Co-ordinate the paperwork in respect of the seller - this is usually quite simple, as all property in UK is registered, so the proof of ownership is in the hands of the public registry.

Refer you to a lawyer who speaks your language. The lawyer (more about this below) will prepare a contract of sale, usually in both your mother tongue and in UK language.

Ensure that permission for the sale will be forthcoming from the local authorities. This is normally a formality (I have not heard of any instances where this has been refused), and must be granted, in the first instance, from the local mayor, and also from the county authorities (who almost always take the word of the local town hall). Arrange all transfers of utilities (electricity, gas, water, etc) into your name. This requires a reasonably good knowledge of the UK language.

The estate agent must be qualified. They have to pass a number of examinations in order to carry out their profession. Due to the language barrier, most of the qualified estate agents are UK, although a growing number of foreign-owned businesses employ a qualified UK person.

The role of the lawyer

There is no requirement to employ a lawyer, however, most lawyers are well-versed in the procedures of property transfer, and they also undertake all of the property registration work.

In most cases, the lawyer will require two or three days' notice to prepare the contract (you must be present for the signature of the contract, and you must have your passport with you).

The lawyer will normally hold the agreed purchase price in escrow until the permission of the local authorities for the purchase has been granted.

All the paperwork will then be passed through to the Registry office to be recorded. he fee for this is €236 per registered number (most properties are on a single number but some split into 2 or more numbers) and includes the registry extract that is attached to your contract of sale. There is also a small fee for the Notary to make an official copy of the main page of the passports of the buyers; this is €4 per page.

For some reason their has been some scare mongering put about regarding property owned by "families" as opposed to an individual. This situation in UK is the same as exists in other European countries where the law on inheritance gives equal shares to surviving family members. In order to realize the inheritance they decide to sell the property and distribute the money equitably. The only effect that this has on the buyer is that there may be a bit of a crowd when it comes to signing the paperwork at the lawyers. Some families appoint a single signatory to represent them all so that this does not happen. It is part of the lawyer’s responsibilities to organize all the necessary paperwork from the sellers in advance of the signing.

The property is now yours

But you have to pay a relatively small amount of tax. Usually, within 4 - 6 months of property registration, the local tax inspector will visit the property, armed with a copy of the sales contract which you signed at the lawyer's office, in order to assess that the price shown on the contract is realistic. In other words, did you actually pay € 80,000 but only showed € 40,000 on the contract of sale?

Once they have inspected the property (they are very experienced in assessing property values) and having agreed the value, they will calculate the property transfer tax on the spot. Transfer tax for a house is at the rate of 2% for the first € 16000, and 6% for the rest of the value. Therefore, taking the example of a € 80000 house above, the transfer tax would amount to € 4,160. Land attracts a tax of 10% and assessment of the land portion of the property is made.
Tip: If you buy an old farmhouse, and start work on the renovation immediately (i.e., before the tax inspector's visit), take plenty of photographs before starting work, and also during the renovation work. A heap of rubble next to the house speaks volumes! Keep any invoices for materials, etc (do not show the tax inspector any invoices which have no VAT) used during the renovation work.

When buying building land you needs to check what the tax situation is on that particular plot as some have limits on the build completion time which affects the rate of tax. Normal time is 3 years but if you have started within that time an extra year for completion is not usually a problem. So check first!

Conclusion

Use a qualified Hungarian estate agent; get a lawyer who speaks your language or has staff who does; stick to the rules; and you are unlikely to have any problems.