Reservation

If you have an enquiry

- email us here

The buyer completes a reservation form to apply for the property to be held for them. At the reservation stage, the fact that the reservation and payments have been made, means you intend to purchase the property. The reservation is not conditional upon you later changing your mind. If you have made a reservation any vendor will take that in good faith that you wish to buy the property.

Any reservation payment made (usually to either the Lawyer or developer) will often come off the price of the property. At this stage, make sure you have any cash that may be required. Do not, when asked to pay any balances, then advise you don't have cash available, it could mean your reservation will be cancelled.

Registration fees are not Reservation fees. The registration fee is our fee, referred to as our standard fee or non-standard fee on occasion and this does not come off the price of the property.

Please note: If you reserve a property and make the pre-payments, everyone on the sellers side will have to assume from that you wish to proceed. If later you cancel your investment for any reason at all, the payees are entitled to keep your pre-payments, unless it is specifically stated there is a refund or partial refund.

This is normal and will happen in any UK property transaction. There is no automatic right to obtain a refund on your pre-payments, unless it is specifically stated on the particular property transaction, along with the specific reasons and how much the refund will be for (such as for the Mortgage DIP procedure).

Your reservation is not subject to you obtaining a mortgage. Neither is any reservation subject to valuation, again this is exactly as though you were reserving a property from any major developer. Your reservation is your reservation and you are deemed to be able to obtain the necessary funds to continue with your reservation, at the reservation price.

Your reservation is subject to final contract between the buyer and the seller, the 'agreement' between you and them is that document that both parties sign. Nothing else cant be taken into account. These documents come from your Lawyers and will have been issued by the sellers Lawyers.

This is the legal process that ensures that in legal terms the property is yours. You will normally have to pay more money to your Lawyer (usually 5% or more of the property price, less your initial pre-payment of (say) £2,000), unless there is an alternative arrangement, such as an Exchange Bond - then nothing further until 'Completion'.

There are times when we can and do exchange contracts on £1,000. To find out what you will have to pay to Exchange (if anything) please download the brochure and price schedule.

The usual time to Exchange Contracts in the UK is 21/28 days from the date your Lawyer receives the contracts from the vendor. Although this time may vary, it will not usually go beyond that period without there being exceptional circumstances. By guided by your Lawyer, who will advise you what is required.

If you are reserving ''off-plan'' then the contracts to exchange may not be issued for months, or even a year or two. This is the nature of reserving off plan. You are reserving in advance of everything including sometimes in advance of the contracts being finalised. This is not unusual - when the contracts are issued, thats when the 28 days to exchange starts. There is no reason to cancel your reservation because the contarcts were not issued. The contracts will be issued when ready - then you will exchange within the time period.

Remember: The 28 day clock starts ticking when your lawyer receives the contracts then you have (normally) 28 days to Exchange of Contracts. This time-scale could vary however, your lawyer will advise.

For the avoidance of any doubt, the ''reasons'' below, or any others, that cannot be given for failure to exchange contracts on time include:-

If you cancel your investment any time after reservation or exchange, the vendor is entitled to keep your deposit, you may also be pursued for the balance. This is normal and will happen in any UK property transaction.

• If you have not yet got your mortgage offer, you must still instruct your Lawyer to Exchange Contracts as there is nothing in the contracts that will give you any grounds for waiting until a mortgage offer arrives.
• If your Lawyer advises you you cannot exchange without a mortgage offer - your lawyer is incorrect, please get in touch with us immediately. Click Here.
• Your Lawyer will not be working in your interests if this is their advice, as you will have the contract pulled and you will lose everything you have paid out for.
  • Exchanges on time are vital.

3) Completion

Completion is the final stage in the buying process, which is as follows:-

1. Reservation (Payment of an initial payment and our fee)
2. Exchange of Contract (Payment to the balance of usually, 5%)
   • You absolutely must exchange contracts within the time-scale advised to you by your Lawyer.
3. Completion (Final payment when the property is complete; mortgage etc.,)
   • If you are due any refunds - click here

At this stage, although you 'own' the property at Exchange, you take possession of the property at the 'Completion' stage.

It is the buyers responsibility to make sure at least 3 months in advance of the Completion Date, their mortgage arrangements are underway. You really need a mortgage offer in place from your lender, at the very latest 2 months before you need it - just in case something is not quite right; then there is time to fix it, if required.

At Completion (sometimes called 'Legal Completion') you are expected to have all the cash required at your Lawyers. If you are being offered by us, deposits paid and/or other incentives at completion, you will need to let us know well in advance.

Your Lawyer will be given 10 days notice by the developer to legally complete. You will need to fax us your ''completion statement'' so we can calculate what deposits/incentives we need to pay. We need 7 clear working days notice to make sure we can check everything, calculate who owes what to whom and make any payments as appropriate.

If we are not advised within these time-scales, your seller may put you on penalties, where completion is delayed. Speak to your lawyers.

4) Lawyer

International term; in the UK these are also ''Solicitors'' (no not that kind of solicitor!) this is the qualified person or partnership that will act as your legal representative in handling your property transaction. They will also be responsible for giving you all the legal advice you require.

Where we say we will pay your legal fees, this will refer to the standard fee agreed between us and the lawyer. If your personal circumstances become more involved than the standard fee, we do not pay these.

Our legal fees do not normally include Legal Disbursements (search fees etc.,) unless you are specifically advised this is the case.

On occasion your lender my appoint a Lawyer, in which case, no matter what anyone else wants to do - we will all have to use them instead.

Be warned: Your Lawyer could be a deal breaker for you if your Lawyer does not keep to the time-table required by the developer. Your Lawyer too is under the same obligation as you to ensure what needs to happen on time, happens on time.

5) Fees & Costs

These are the various costs that will normally be paid on any UK property transaction, typically these include:-

• Valuation Fee
  • Your lender charges you this on their scale of charges
  • Charges dependent upon property valuation
• Lender Application fee
  • Your lender may charge this, ask them if it applies and how much
• Legal Conveyancing Fees
  • Our 'default lawyer' charges £500 (other lawyers charge £600/£1,000)
• Broker Fees (if one is used)
  • Brokers fees are varied from £500 upwards, some brokers up to 2% of mortgage.
  • Our offer to pay broker fees is limited to £500.
• Local Authority Fees (see disbursements)
  • These will vary from Local Authority to Local Authority around the UK
• Land Registry Fees
  • Hardly a row of beans, not worth getting worked up about.
• UKPW fees
  • See each development brochure or web-site for details of each offer.
  • Our Fee is for finding you the investment property, it is not subject to refund in the same way as the vendors deposit is not subject to a refund.
  • Our job is done when we have confirmed the property is reserved for you.
  • A further part of our job is at completion, when we pay any incentives or refunds back.
  • If there is no completion by you; there are no incentives or refunds paid.

Please remember on many sites, we pay all or part of the above fees for you.

There may be a few other fees, but your specific enquiries to whomever your specific advisers are will reveal what is to be paid, to whom and when. In order to gauge the likelihood of these costs, you will need to make your own enquiries as each of these organisations charge differing fees; sometimes related to the property value, sometimes a fixed fee etc.,

Our fees are considered fully earned upon receipt whether cleared payment has been received or not. - Also click here for more info on fees.

6) Broker

If you use an intermediary for your mortgage/finance; you are likely to have to pay for their advice.

Brokers are better than ''a bank or other lender'' as a Broker will have access in the UK to 8,000 mortgages, as opposed to the dozen or so individual lenders have.

The mortgages on offer to investors, with our occasional appointed brokers, are the same choice of 8,000 mortgages you will have access to via any broker. Our brokers are no different to your broker in respect of the lenders and mortgage rates they have access to. Therefore, where we appoint a broker - no-one will be disadvantaged.

If you have a specific mortgage in mind, speak to the broker before they start the DIP to see if that one can apply to you.

7) Lender

The lender is the company that will pay 85%, 90% or even 100% or more of your property for you. They will have their fees which will vary as to the value of your investment. Make your enquiries with them at the time of your interest.

We cannot advise you on any of these matters as we are not regulated. Your Broker is regulated and therefore will give you advice accordingly.

Please note: All lenders have different (and changing) lending criterion this company cannot be held responsible for the decisions or rules your lender may impose from time to time. The vendor of any property sale will expect your reservation to continue to completion, irrespective of your funding arrangements.

This company has no contact with your lender and often does not know who your lender is, it is therefore up to you, your broker and your lawyer to jointly make sure as a buyer, all the terms your lender imposes can be met without reference to this company.

8) Mortgage

A Mortgage is the money that comes from your lender. This liability is secured against the asset you are purchasing by way of a ''first charge''. This means, if you fail to pay the payments, ultimately the lender can sell the property and recover their advance.

Lenders don't want to do this, however, they would much rather you keep the property and make some sort of payment arrangement with them.

Two key aspects of the kind of mortgage you need, especially if we are paying part or all of your deposit, include:-

• Deposit Paid element acceptable by your lender. (this is usually 5% but can be more)
  • We may be paying more than 5% of your deposit, but for mortgage purposes the 5% deposit accepted by your lender is fine. Contact us if you have any queries with this point.
• No Rental Assessments to be required by your lender.

Obtaining a Mortgage can be fraught with anxiety, most lenders do seem completely backward in giving the client a good service and a positive experience. Unfortunately, we need mortgage companies and one of the problems is; all their rules, regulations, requirements and everything else are all different, not only from lender to lender, but product to product.

Your financial adviser will keep you fully posted on lenders requirements; our advice is to jump on any enquiries that are raised, immediately - if not sooner.

It remains at all times, the responsibility of the purchaser to obtain the required mortgage. At no time is it the responsibility of the seller or agent.All mortgages are subject to status and are not guaranteed, unless your lender says so.

For further mortgage information - click here

9) Valuer

The Valuer is the independent & qualified person that your lender only will appoint to confirm the value of the property for mortgage purposes. Strange as it may seem, your lender will not confirm that is what the property is worth, they will give you a story about that value being the value for mortgage purposes, probably the same thing, but not necessarily!

To guide you as best we can, read below:-

Market Valuation – an official definition by Countrywide Surveyors (probably the UK 's largest valuer's)

‘'The estimated amount for which a property should exchange on the date of valuation, between a willing buyer and a willing seller, in an arms length transaction, after proper marketing wherein the parties had each acted knowledgeably, prudently and without compulsion.''

Well! What can anyone else say? That's it; the official definition of the market price.

As Valuer is an independent person, neither UKPW, nor anyone else has any influence over the valuation that is submitted to your lender on your behalf. When the valuer confirms the the value s/he puts on it, then lender will pay your Lawyer the % amount of that valuation.

A copy of the valuer's report will accompany your mortgage offer. Please note, the valuer will give their personal opinion which can change from valuer to valuer, even on the same day.

The selling/asking price by a vendor is not technically anything to do with the valuation - these two figures could be different. In other words, the valuer could come up with a different ''value'' than the seller has put on it, lets make it quite clear: Valuer's do get things wrong! But any mistake/error is of no interest to the seller, as the selling price is the selling price, technically not subject to a (variable) valuation.

The selling price is the selling price and any shortfall in one valuation should be taken up with your lender and/or broker and could be made up as follows;-

• Providing comparable's to your lender/valuer to support why you think they are wrong
• Obtaining another valuation from another valuer where you believe the valuer is wrong
• Replacing the mortgage company, who could in all certainty use another valuer altogether
• Putting in some extra cash to make up the difference

It is not up to the vendor to sort out the issue, and whilst a vendor could by sympathetic to your position, they are not bound to drop the price to your lowest valuation, nor assist in the funding of the property. Where you are unable to obtain a valuation to match your deposit and the mortgage monies, there are three options:-

• Ask the vendor to reduce the price
• Put in additional funds to make up the difference
• Withdraw from the contract (and loose your pre-payments)

There are no other options open to you. The asking price for a property is not guaranteed to match the valuation for mortgage purposes. For further information - click here.

10) Buyer

This is the person or persons who's name appears on the legal documents as purchaser of the property investment.

11) Vendor

The vendor is the seller of the property. This may or may not be the developer, it may be a 3rd person you have not heard of, or it could be UKPW. Your documentation from the Lawyers will show full details of who your vendor is on each transaction.

The vendor is all powerful; they call the shots and are quite entitled to apply the terms of the contract. In other words, up until the point you exchange contracts, they can decide not to proceed with you. If they decide not to proceed with you, because you are late exchanging contracts, they are entitled to keep the initial payment/deposit.

All contracts are time-sensitive and you must remember that at all times. Your Lawyer will advise you - please accept that advice.

12) Developer

The is the organisation that is handling the development; often from planning through to delivery of the keys to their first buyer. They are not necessarily the builder or the seller.

These are the ''main people'' in the whole process as they co-ordinate everything.

13) Builder

The builder may or may not be the developer. Some developers do not build the properties, but appoint a builder.

14) Disbursements

Disbursements are generally the Local Authority and Land Registry fees that your Lawyer will pay on your behalf. These are the documents that will enable your Lawyer to confirm ''Good Title'' and will give you a property that you can be confident of your ownership of.

No-one will come along to you with a piece of paper that will out-rank you. Having said that The Government could (and do) CPO properties (Compulsory Purchase Order), but where they do, they pay 100% compensation. Its a rare occasion and usually to do with regeneration or motorway building.

When we offer a refund of legal fees, it does not cover the disbursements.

15) Gifted Deposit or Deposit Paid vs Maximum Discount Option

OK, look - you can invest in two ways;

• Maximum Discount Option = Pay your own deposits & fees
• Deposit/Fees paid Option = We pay part/pay your deposits & fees

The profit remains EXACTLY the same - either way.

Virtually all of our investors take the deposit paid option, as it's the smart way to invest - with someone else's cash! Deposits/fees etc., are either paid by us or the developer direct to your Lawyer. Conserve your cash for another investment!

Hopefully; you will have an open mind and look at our unique way of investing in property, by getting the deposit part paid or paid in full - (recent example - Deposit paid & Max Discount prices) by us utilising part of the original property discount. In each of the above cases, look at 'Your Mortgage Price' - there is a big difference. Then calculate How Much Cash YOU will need.

Deposit Paid Option: It's a much smarter way to invest as often you can have two or more properties for the cash required of one. Your monthly mortgage payment will be higher, as your mortgage itself will be higher - but you have not had to fund full deposit/s. If you can fund them; don't do this, take the maximum discount! - You choose.

If you have little or no cash to put into a property, this is your best option, as your mortgage repayments will be higher, you are unlikely to make profits from rentals as well as getting someone to cover your entry costs!

It's unrealistic to expect someone to pay everything for you and then expect your mortgage to be more than 100% covered by the rent. They can and do happen, but you could wait decades for the ''right one in the right area at the right time''. Play the waiting game and you lose! (again?)

Maximum Discount Option: Lower purchase price, you pay your own deposits etc., in full. Your mortgage will be the very lowest possible; probably around 65%/70% or so of the property value. You will not only have a property with a good deal of equity in (your money!), but you are probably also making good income from rising rentals.

You will, under this ''normal'' option, have a rather large hole in your bank account however!

The choice is yours however; bigger discount = pay your own deposits/fees, lower discount (but the same profit!) and get help with your deposits/fees - Your Choice.

If there is a Deposit Paid element towards your deposit, then this will be by way of a ''Gifted Deposit'' at the completion of the transaction itself (ie: not at Exchange of Contracts).

Important Point:

Some lenders do not accept Gifted Deposits, so you will need to discuss with your Senior Consultant and your Financial Advisers which mortgage would be suitable to take account of any 'benefits'.

16) Snagging

This is the post-completion activity carried out on the property by the purchaser or the their agent. Its basically compiling a list of things that need attention and passing that list to the developer to get it all fixed.

Such things include:-

• Door sticking
• Heater not working
• Paintwork may need touching up
• Plug socket may not work

Minor bits & pieces that are usually spotted after handover. The developer has to put these right for you.

All UK Properties have a 10 year guarantee (check the details on each site). This is usually a three stage guarantee, as follows:-

• Initial Stage: - Snagging List is drawn up between you and your handover agent
• Supplementary Stage: - Further issues are notified by you to your developer (not necessarily the seller) for up to 2 years after the sale.
• Final stage: - You will no longer be dealt with by the developer as their guarantee has run out - any further claims will be with your guarantee insurers (such as NHBC or Zurich). Submit any claims to then.

17) Assignment/Sub-Selling

The deed of assignment is where you have reserved and exchanged on a property, then found a buyer to complete on the property at a higher price than you originally paid.

The documentation from your lawyer will consist of two sections; the original contract from the vendor to the original buyer which will be for the original price, plus a separate contract between the original buyer and you (this is the assignment). This separate contract will contain a figure that is to be added to the first contract, taking into account of any benefits, deposits paid and fees etc., The price quoted on both contracts added together is the selling price to you as per the downloads. These two prices do not exceed the price you have been quoted originally. There are no surprises.

Please note, it is always advisable to make sure you have your own mortgage in place, just ''in case''. If your buyer fails to complete on time, you will have to complete and carry out a normal sale.

The main downside of this is that both you (as buyer) and your buyer will both have to pay various fees, duties and searches to your respective Lawyers.

Not all contracts can be assigned, you will need to check with your lawyers.

18) Competitor

Yes, there are other people in this business; we are set apart from them however, in that we charge a Standard flat fee of £1,500 at the time of reservation. There is nothing else to pay us.

Click here for occasional non-standard fee.

However, as you investigate this business, you will find the other companies will normally charge a % of the property price, often this can be several thousands of pounds. Click Here for Cash required Comparison.

Their charge is often paid in full at exchange of contract, what you pay at exchange of contact with us, is just your normal property deposit, and that's paid to your lawyer and comes off the price of the property in any case.

19) Mortgage Decision in Principle - (DIP)

Please read all of this, its very important you understand what happens in these DIP cases.

Sometimes, our sites sell so quickly, we have to be sure the sale will go through, before blocking off a property and withdrawing it from the market. The best way we have of knowing the sale will go through will be by you getting a 'Decision In Principle' mortgage offer. (DIP).

A Mortgage Decision in Principle is a more elaborate credit check - it is not a mortgage offer, it does not include the mortgage terms, but would normally lead to an offer with one of their products subject to the valuation. The mortgage decision in principle is a credit check that will allow us to proceed with you in confidence for the value of your purchase; it is not a detailed account of a mortgage you may be offered - its confirmation that your credit file is fine and the lender is happy to offer you a mortgage for the purchase, with them.

We will help you with this process, but at all times it remains up to the buyer to obtain the appropriate mortgage and to meet the lenders terms from time to time. Where we are required to put you through the DIP process, you are requested to comply exactly with the process below - we are unable to accept a DIP from your own source. The reason is we need to make sure lenders will accept deposits paid and other incentives; you may have a great DIP, that will fail due to XYZ - we know what we are doing and how this all works, leave it to the experts.

When your pre-payment comes through, this is what happens:-

• We send you the DIP procedure info and put our broker in touch with you.
• You await the broker contact (usually within 1 working day of your pre-payment)
• The broker gets a 'feel' for the mortgage facilities available to you
• You and the Broker then discuss your options for FREE.
  • Obtain as much information about the various options available to you at this stage.
• If you wish to proceed, you then instruct the broker to carry out the mortgage DIP.
  • If you do not wish to proceed with the DIP process, please request a full refund at this stage.
• See below for more detailed explanation.

Starting the DIP means passing your personal financial & other details over to the broker so a full DIP can be carried out. Personal details include:- home address, how long there, previous address, employment & income details, personal financial or any other information required.

Do not give this information as part of your initial free chat, unless you wish the DIP to proceed. It will be assumed if you give this personal financial information to the lender/broker - it is only required for a DIP, it is not required for a personal chat - you wish to proceed with the mortgage DIP and it will be carried out by the lender/broker.

Do not start this DIP Process if you think you may not wish to continue with your investment through to completion (or re-sale); cancelling after the DIP has been started will mean you will lose out financially.

We refund 100% if your DIP application is declined. If you have any doubt you may not wish to continue; request a full refund now, before the DIP is underway.

A 'DIP' is a loan in principle offer to you from a lender (not from us) prior to your formal mortgage application and proves that you are ''mortgage worthy as at the DIP application'' its preliminary confirmation they will offer you an official mortgage at the appropriate completion time - provided your circumstances are as stated and do not deteriorate - subject only usually to valuation.

It may be in the brokers opinion that you are mortgage worthy and we will accept their confirmation that you have passed the mortgage DIP criteria as operated by the lenders, whether or not a formal DIP process with a specific lender has actually been carried out. Brokers know the lenders parameters and can judge themselves their ability to obtain the appropriate mortgage.

These mortgages generally are not subject to your personal income; so forget the business about 3 times earnings and having enough to buy a cardboard box.

This is a time-consuming process that costs money to organise; people are doing a good deal of work for you at this stage. We therefore require a (refundable) a deposit to put anyone through this procedure. This gives us some confidence that you are serious.

What we say is this:-

• Click here for procedure

 

• Sometimes even within a few working hours, you/we will be advised if you have passed the DIP. On occasion it could take more than a working day.
  • If YES to a DIP - Most people 'pass' this application we can only move to the next stage were we are in receipt of cleared funds for the balance of charges. (ie: we cannot confirm your reservation until the full initial balance has cleared)
  • When you are advised of your DIP success, you must immediately pay any balance due. Such balance must be paid before your reservation can be confirmed.
  • If you do not pay the balance immediately, but have had DIP approval, you will not be entitled to a full refund, if you later cancel your reservation without paying the balance.
  • If NO to a DIP - If you are one of the few that do not pass - your initial payment is refunded back to you in full, by BACS transfer or card refund.
  • It is for only this reason that a full refund will be made.

 

• When you make your initial pre-payment, you must be available for the broker to contact you directly, please provide two telephone numbers if possible.
  • The broker will make contact with you on the numbers and/or email address provided with your credit card prepayment (which may or may not be the same as you provided on the reservation form)
  • If you are not available over the course of 24-hours, or fail to return any of the messages from the broker to start the DIP, you are in danger of being overtaken for your plot and could lose your pre-payment.
  • If you make the pre-payment and then become incommunicado, there is a danger that the broker will not be able to contact you.

 

• If we get you a 'Yes' but (for whatever reason) you decide to cancel the reservation prior to payment of any balance, we will refund half of the initial deposit. The rest will be used to off-set our costs.
  • The 50% refund will also apply if you cancel the reservation prior to us getting you a DIP mortgage (unless we have paid the developer for you, in which case, that is non-refundable).

• If we get you a 'Yes' but
  • you do not pay the balance of the pre-payment upon request, there is no refund.
  • you have paid any balance upon request, and by this time your plot is sold to a.n.other; we will offer you another one - subject to availability. If you do not require the property at that time, we will refund your initial payment.
  • ''Upon Request'' means within a 4 hours of our sending you the request to the email address we have been using throughout this particular process.

• Once you pay the balance to us, we will then confirm your reservation. At this point none of your initial deposit/payment is refundable, as we will have officially reserved the property for you and paid over the required deposit to the developer.
• We will not embarrass ourselves by asking the developer for it back. Deposits are forfeited and the developers have the Law on their side. This is standard practice in the UK, with all developers.

 

• Bear in mind, whilst all this is going on, people are leapfrogging each other during this process and it could be, even though you have done everything that was expected of you - someone else has leapfrogged you and 'your' plot and all the replacements have gone.
  • You will get a complete 100% refund, under these circumstances.
  • In this case, we will all have done a lot of work for nothing; not just you.
  • We know how disappointing this is, but you cannot 'lose' what you never had. So no phone calls please about how much you lost.You will live to fight another day.
  • Your entire payment will be refunded without deduction, and we hope we can be of service to you in the future, as we now know ''you are mortgage worthy'' and you have a head start.
  • Also its worth realising, if you ''got your plot'' it could be you leapfrogged over someone else!

Please note: The UKProperty Warehouse is not FSA regulated and cannot offer you mortgage advice by Law. We cannot make a lender give you money, nor are we responsible for obtaining you a mortgage. It is a buyers responsibility to obtain the required mortgage.

We are happy, to give you guidance and then put you in touch with an appropriate broker. That is where our responsibility will end, after that the whole process comes under the regulation and supervision of the FSA.

A mortgage DIP or mortgage offer is just that - no more and no less. Once this has been given to you by the broker or mortgage company either verbally or in writing; that's the DIP done. The definition of a mortgage offer or DIP is not dependent upon any terms or conditions you may impose from time to time.

The appointed broker shall be the only person to define to us whether a mortgage DIP/offer has been made to you (ie: not the applicant).

Basic Guidelines:

1. Unless you are specifically advised you have a refundable pre-payment/deposit; you must assume your pre-payment/deposit is not at any stage refundable for any reason. It is standard in the UK to lose a pre-payment/deposit if you cancel a reservation after making it. Do not start any transaction if you do not believe you can complete on it.
2. Please only reserve a property if you are going to continue with it up to completion or re-sale. Do not reserve a property if you may have any hesitation about your ability or willingness to complete your investment/re-sale.

If you are not satisfied with how the above procedure is actually working,

- click here for ''How and Where to Complain''.

20) Refunds

Complete refund within 2 hours

Provided you cancel in writing only (email/fax) within 2 hours of your registration/reservation payment being received; you have not started the DIP process and we have not carried out work, engaged people or paid people for you - we will Refund in full. Verbal 'cancellations' cannot be accepted.

Refunds after 2 hours

Unless it is specifically stated that all or part of any pre-payment is refundable (such as for an unsuccessful Mortgage DIP or non-availability), pre-payment to whomever you make them must be considered non-refundable. You have to be sure that you only reserve a property that you wish to continue with, until re-sale or rental. In other words, right to the completion.

Generally when reserving a property in the UK, whatever you pay to reserve the property will be lost of you later decide - for whatever reason - to cancel your reservation. The properties we have are no different in that respect.

Since on many occasions we are dealing with the very same large developers that apply this condition to ''the public'' it is unrealistic to expect anything different when reserving with us. We will not ask a developer for the return of any deposit.

This does not happen very often, however, it has happened and unfortunately, people will try and make all kinds of excuses for the cancellation - other than the real reason (which is they basically changed their mind).

We state clearly and unambiguously, you will lose your pre-payments, unless you are specifically advised there is a refund.

This is the same for all of the large UK developers.

Refunds: (Where initially offered)

Where, as part of the initial reservation, we have offered to refund costs, such as Legal's, Broker etc., please claim these as follows:-

• Send through the post your statement of claim within 45 days of your legal completion.
  • Include your actual 'Completion Statement' from your Lawyer/
• Set out what you are claiming for and how much
• Send a copy of the original notification that the items you are claiming are to be refunded
  • This could be our brochure or other document.
• Send copies of the expenses you are claiming
  • These could be copies of your receipt from your Lawyer etc.,
• Send in your claim within 45 days of your legal completion.
• Claims not received by us within 45 days will be invalid.
  • Please advise your bank account details - we do not issue cheque'
• Valuation refunds from UKPW will be paid at a maximum of what you paid or Lloyds TSB - click here
• We are unable to refund to anyone the VAT element of any costs incurred.
  • If you are VAT registered, please invoice us with your VAT number; include the VAT and on those cases we will be able to refund you the VAT as well.

Where we offer payment at completion or refund of your various fees etc.,, this will happen either at legal completion itself (such as Stamp Duty and Legal Fees etc.,) or if you have pre-paid fees such as Lenders Valuation Fees, Legal Disbursements etc., these will be refunded to you after we have received the required refunds from the vendor/developer for you, we will then pay the refund into your bank account, subject to your appropriate claim as per the above.

Stamp Duties will be paid (if offered) based on the maximum % at the time of the reservation or the current rate at completion - if lower.

If a buyer is owed a refund, but also has outstanding obligations on other investments, (be they legal fees, broker fees, deposits or other fees etc.,) we reserve the right to allocate any refund monies due on one property to offset any other obligations undertaken by the buyer.

This means if you are owed cash back, valuation fees, broker fees or anything else from us but at the same time you owe or have an outstanding balance or obligation on another property with us, we can allocate the refund money to off-set those other obligations. Since this is just an off-set arrangement, you will not loose out financially as you owe the outstanding amounts in any case.

21) Exchange Bond

An Exchange Bond is a relatively new procedure in the UK, although they have been used successfully for years in other English speaking countries (notably the USA and Australia). They take the place of a buyer having to pay a cash deposit. What the Exchange Bond does is guarantee at completion, the deposit required will be paid.

The deposit under normal circumstances will then be paid by the purchaser, but if you choose the ''deposit paid option'' then whatever we have said we will pay as your deposit for you, we will do at completion - so in effect, we are guaranteeing our own deposit payment, with the Bond. For UKPW FAQ's in relation to the Exchange Bond - click here. For the Exchange Bond Insurance Company - click here.

The 'rules' for an Exchange Bond (EB), in terms of your application for one, approval, acceptance and possible cancellation, are those that apply for our Mortgage DIP's.

In other words, if you reserve a property and apply for an EB, then later on for whatever reason at all, you decide to cancel, you will not receive a refund of any of your pre-payments. This includes:-

• The UKPW Registration Fee
• The Exchange Bond charges
• The Deposit payable to the developer

As with the DIP; you will receive a full refund of everything you have pre-paid; where you are declined by The Exchange Bond Company, provided you have made your bone-fide application at the time of your reservation, and also advised us within 2 working days that the Exchange Bond have declined you. (This is very rare)

If you do not advise us within this time period, we will have to presume you are proceeding satisfactorily and will be carrying on with things this end.

Exchange Bonds are normally preliminary agreed immediately, or within a very short time. This is the procedure:-

• Firstly, in the main; Bonds can be applied for and issued to your Lawyers within just a few days.
• You are fully responsible at all times to obtain your own exchange bond (EB), whether or not you have been given a link by us. If you are in doubt at all; all you have to do is telephone the Exchange Bond Company itself and they can start your application without our web-link.
• Apply for the Exchange Bond (probably with our on-line link), but in any case, with the Exchange Bond direct.
• They will process your application and ask you for their application/processing fee (ask them what the amount is)
• They will send you paperwork to sign/agree and sent back to them.
• You will need to send this back to them agreed/accepted
• You will then be asked for your premium (which we may or may not have agreed to refund at completion).
• Pay the premium as directed either by the EB Company or your Lawyer.
• Instruct your Lawyer to exchange contracts upon receipt of the exchange bond.
• If you have not obtained the EB prior to the exchange of contract date advised to you by your Lawyer, you may have to exchange with cash.
  • Therefore it is vital you do not delay one single moment.
• If you have not yet got your mortgage offer, you must still instruct your Lawyer to Exchange Contracts as there is nothing in the contracts that will give you any grounds for waiting until a mortgage offer arrives.
• If your Lawyer advises you you cannot exchange without a mortgage offer - your lawyer is incorrect, please get in touch with us immediately. Click Here.
• Your Lawyer will not be working in your interests if this is their advice, as you will have the contract pulled and you will lose everything you have paid out for.
  • Exchanges on time are vital.

22) Mortgage vs Rent

Both Mortgages and Rent received are dependent upon too many variables for UKPW to give you any specific advice, these variables are numerous and include:-

• Prevailing Market Conditions
  • Time of Year
  • 'Feel good factor'
• Prevailing Local Market
  • Local demand
  • Local jobs market
  • Local developments
  • Local Supply/Demand
• The economy generally
  • Employment levels
  • Interest rates
  • Rental Yields
  • National supply/demand
• Your personal circumstances (literally, every applicant is different)
• Your personal credit score
  • Your past payment performance
  • Your credit rating
  • Your residential status (mainly ''how long you can prove'')
  • The kind of mortgage most suited to you
  • Your choice of mortgage;
    • discount, fixed rate, tie-in/no tie-in,
    • cash back, gifted deposit, % of LTV

In other words, it is completely impossible for UKPW to give you any accurate information at all in this regard. You will have to do your own calculations (before applying for a DIP with us) and ensure that the property investment you make; is suitable for you.

If you have a specific mortgage in mind, speak to the broker before they start the mortgage DIP for you, to see if the one you have in mind you qualify for.

UKPW is not able to be drawn into discussions on mortgages vs rents, as we have too many properties in too many areas running throughout the year. Our job is finding low-cash investments; we have no control over interest rates, rents paid nor anything other than the investments themselves, as presented to you.

Click Here for more information on 'mortgages'.

23) Cancelling a reservation

Unless a reservation comes with a specific refund offer, you have to assume there is no refund at all. There is a slight general exception, that is where you cancel within 2 hours, as per the information contained here. Only provided we have not carried out any work.

Frankly, there is enough all over this web-site pointing out the dangers of cancelling a reservation once it has been made. You are not entitled to a refund at all, no matter what story you manage to think of and give a developer - they have heard them all and they have the Law on their side.

Our fees are considered fully earned upon receipt and are also not refundable, unless it is specifically stated that under certain circumstances they will be refunded (such as failed DIP, no availability etc.,).

Please make sure you read everything you need to before placing your reservation. There is nothing at all hidden; there are no tricks or traps. Everything is set out and is plain as day.

In the event you do cancel a reservation, it is essential - for your own protection - you confirm your cancellation in writing and have written confirmation back that your cancellation notice has been received. Your cancellation notice will be handled in line with our terms of business and any refunds due will be in line with our refund policy.

Here again are the ''basic guidelines'':-

Basic Guidelines:

1. Unless you are specifically advised you have a refundable pre-payment/deposit; you must assume your pre-payment/deposit is not at any stage refundable for any reason. It is standard in the UK to lose a pre-payment/deposit if you cancel a reservation after making it. Do not start any transaction if you do not believe you can complete on it.
2. Please only reserve a property if you are going to continue with it up to completion or re-sale. Do not reserve a property if you may have any hesitation about your ability or willingness to complete your investment/re-sale.

24) Cooling Off Period

Property reservations and the associated fees and/or deposits do not come under the scope of a 'cooling-off' period. The reservation and associated work is carried out immediately upon receipt of the cleared funds.

Payments may be made to other advisers/developers on your behalf, immediately, in order to secure your reservation. As ''the work'' starts immediately, a cooling off period does not apply.

However, as part of our good governance, we have introduced a 2 hour cooling-off period as follows:-

Complete refund within 2 hours

Provided you cancel in writing only (email/fax) within 2 hours of your registration/reservation payment being received; you have not started the DIP process and we have not carried out work, engaged people or paid people for you - we will Refund in full. Verbal 'cancellations' cannot be accepted.

25) Free Fees Package

(also sometimes shown as 'Free Legal's Package')

Whenever we offer our 'Free Fees Package', it will generally take account of the expenses involved in your purchase, up to the maximum amount specified.

these could include:-

• Lawyers conveyancing fees (up to a maximum of what our recommended lawyer charges)
• Broker Fees
• Valuation Fee

Please Note the following:-

'Free Fees Package' does not mean we refund/pay the UKPW registration fee.

When we offer a refund of legal fees, it does not cover the disbursements.

Lawyers:

You can use whoever you like for most of your conveyancing. Sometimes your Lawyer is specified either by us or the lender for operational reasons. This may be different to our 'default' lawyers (Glaisyers). If you use any lawyer requested by us or our default lawyer, then we will pay the fees where offered.

If you use your own Lawyers, we will pay them a maximum £495 for the conveyancing, where we offer a 'Free Legal Package'

Brokers:

We do not always use the same broker for each site, we work with different brokers for different sites. Therefore, if you use a recommended broker (the first broker) and we have paid their fee on one site, and we intend to use another for another site (the second broker), but the fees charged by the first broker (to whom you have not been referred for the this purchase) are more than the second broker, to whom we now refer buyers, we will only pay our standard maximum fee of £500. It is best to seek guidance from us before contacting any of our brokers to make sure which broker is being used for which site and what will be covering in terms of cost.

If you wish to use your brokers then we will pay a maximum broker fee of £500. However, sometimes we are not able to offer our incentive packages with your own broker. This is due to operational reasons and peoples brokers letting buyers down at the last minute and the sale failing.

26) Incentives

All incentives, such as deposits paid, legal's, fees and so on are paid at completion and are subject to a buyer completing their part of the contract/agreement on-time as advised by the Lawyers. Buyers should note the vendor is in a strong position to rescind a contract or withdraw incentives, where the terms of the contract are not met, this includes exchanging and completing on time.

Incentives advertised are also paid subject to your Valuer's delivering their valuation report to your lender in line with the advertised/selling price. If your valuer decides to reduce the valuation by, say, £5,000 - there will be a £5,000 shortfall which will need to be paid by the buyer. This is normal practice in any property transaction. You do have the option of arranging a new valuation however.

27) Automated VAT Receipt

Property registration fees paid by credit card will have an immediate automated VAT receipt sent the the payee. This is your official VAT receipt and should be kept for tax purposes. If you receive a refund of this charge, you must not under any circumstances claim for tax purposes the VAT receipt you will have received.

If you need to request a credit receipt, please do so by email; however, we will account for the credit in our books which will mean you can keep to one side your original VAT receipt without any tax issues arising.

28) New Property Premium

All new properties carry a 'new property premium', no matter who you buy a property from, Barratts, Redrow, Bellway or any of the major or even smaller developers. This phenomena could some times show as a 'price drop' for a period after completion. This is nothing unusual and will only be temporary.

If you are assigning your contract the end buyer could experience this, or if you are the buyer, you could. This does not mean your investment is a poor one. You have to keep a clear head. Think of how much cash you put in and what you have got. Its unlikely you will lose any money as the phenomena - where it does exist, will only be temporary. Don't panic and don't sell - rent it out and let your investment mature.

Unless you are assigning/re-selling your property, then you need to think of your investment as a medium term investment, that will deliver you more profit than any other 'traditional' investment. Generally property prices double every 5 - 7 years; even if you say every 10 years, a £200,000 house will increase in value by £500 per week. That's the big picture!

29) Car Parking

Apartments: Car Parks do not normally have any incentives attached with them. If you see 5% deposit paid, or whatever, this will generally relate only to the actual property itself, and not the separate car-parking space. Please assume this, then if there is - on occasion - an incentive for the car-parking space, this will be a nice surprise at completion.

Houses: Car-parking are usually within gross the price of the property, there is not normally a separate car-parking option and therefore unlike the apartments, any incentives will apply to the car-park as well at the main property - car parking is usually within the premises.

30) Mortgage Types

This section is not intended to be read as ''mortgage advice''; we make it plain elsewhere within this web-site that we are not mortgage advisors and are not regulated by the FSA. This section is intended only as guidance for you.

Although we have essentially put the mortgage types into two categories, recently there is a merging of these mortgage types into one category, as lenders react to market conditions.

Essentially, mortgages fall into the two categories listed below; Residential and Buy to Let.

The first thing you ought to know is that there are 8,000 mortgage on offer on any given day; these are changing on a minute by minute basis as lenders marketing arms decide what promotions are going to be offered next.

As a general rule of thumb, as you cannot always prove your whole income or profits (ie: you don't get a payslip for rentals received or property sales!) you will need to self-certify your mortgage as appropriate.

Your mortgage is best to feature these aspects:-

• Gifted deposit element agreed with your lender (5% minimum)
  • If we are paying more than 5% gifted deposit, we will sort the balance out with you at completion.
• Interest Only
  • You can go for a 'normal' mortgage of Interest and Capital if you prefer.
• No Rental Assessments
  • You have enough going on, you do not want to get yourself bogged down with more complications.

Residential Mortgages:

By far and away the most popular mortgage in the UK. In excess of 90% of all mortgage fall into this category. Typically, this mortgage is for (say) 90% of the value of the property and requires a deposit of 10%. If you later let out the property, you can ask your lender for a 'Let to Buy' mortgage, or consider transferring your normal residential mortgage to a 'Buy to Let' mortgage.

Residential mortgages can be much more straight forward than 'Buy to Let' mortgages, as there is no rental income assessment taken into account and therefore your lenders valuer will not be asked for their views on the local rental market, which may or may not be realistic.

Buy to Let Mortgages:

These are the ''standard'' mortgages for normal rental properties, we also put 'Let to Buy' mortgage also in this category (as well as the above), although whereas a typical Buy to Let advance will be 85%, a Let to Buy advance can be 90% or more.

Let to Buy: this is where you let one property and live in another. At 90% and no rental assessments, these can be a great way of minimising your cash outflow.

Buy to Let: traditionally, this sector offered 85% mortgages, but lenders are now putting up the advances to 87%, 89% and even 90% advances, which is why we say the two main categories are merging.

Some lenders will insist on rental income multiples, others do not - it if up to you to discuss this with your professional adviser, who is your regulated broker (not us).

Click here for more info