BE CAREFUL!

"Just tick the box here, here and here if you need finance, a LIM report and a builder's report".

You'll likely have heard this if you have ever bought a property. You'll have been advised that you require some conditions to protect you while you make an application for finance, arrange for your builder to inspect the property and to obtain a LIM from the local authority.

The standard Agreement for Sale and Purchase form provides perfectly good and well-established mechanisms for those conditions to operate. But how much did you really understand when you just 'ticked the box'? Were you expecting that you could only raise issues in a builder's report that were substantial enough to be considered 'objective problems'? Did you know that you would have to provide a copy of the report if you raised issues you wanted raised? Did you know that you couldn't simply walk away from the contract if you found a few things in the building report that you just didn't like?

What about finance? Were you aware that if you didn't make a reasonable effort to obtain mortgage finance that you might be in breach of the terms of the Agreement? Did you realise that if you did make an effort and only managed to obtain finance on terms which you didn't quite like, you could be stuck with the terms of that finance offer?

The standard wording in the Agreement for Sale and Purchase imposes a much stricter obligation than most purchasers realise. If you have a specific need to manage conditions on your own terms, then you will need our help to draft those conditions so you don't unwittingly get caught out.