Building Your Own Home

Our property solicitors outline what you need to consider when building your own home from a legal perspective.

Location

The first thing that you will need to do when building your home is to identify a site on which you wish to build. You may be lucky in that your parents can provide you with a site upon which you can build otherwise you will have to purchase one.

Access

It is essential that the site is not landlocked and is accessible by a public or private road. There is no point in owning a property that you cannot access. If the property is accessible by private road it will be necessary to ensure that you have the necessary rights of way over the private road. However, where you are building your house in an estate, for example, in a garden of an existing property then your property will most likely be adjacent to a public road.

Contract for Sale

If you are purchasing the site, MB Solicitors will contact the vendor’s solicitor requesting the contracts for sale to be furnished together with a copy of the title deeds.

We will examine the contracts and title deeds to ensure that the vendor has good title to sell to you and to ensure that there are no onerous conditions in the contract. MB Solicitors will insert any special conditions into the contract which you may require, e.g. the contract for sale is contingent on an application for planning permission being granted to build a house on the property.

Planning Permission

There are two types of planning permission;

• Outline Permission, which is an agreement in principal to grant planning permission does not permit you to begin building. It will however, give you an indication as to whether your application for planning permission will be successful.
• Full Permission, which permits you to build subject to the conditions contained in the grant of permission.

You will need to hire an architect who will design your house and submit the application for planning permission on your behalf. The Planning Authority will usually decide on your application within 12 weeks.

Mortgage

If you applying for a mortgage you will need to contact your mortgage broker or alternatively you may be able to contact the Bank directly. Once your mortgage application is successful you will be provided with a Letter of Offer/Loan Offer. We have Dublin 9 based mortgage solicitors at MB Solicitors.

Stage Payments draw down

Your mortgage will be drawn down in stages. The Bank will require your Architect to confirm that the works completed up to a particular stage are in compliance with planning permission and Building Regulations. This then allows you to pass the “stage” and you can request your next stage draw down.

Building Agreement

This is a very important document which sets out how, when and in what manner the builder must build the house and crucially, how much and when you must pay for the cost of the build. The building agreement is usually signed on the same date as the contract for sale and MB Solicitors will ensure your protection by the terms which you hold the builder accountable to for the works.

Signing the Contracts for Sale

Once the terms of the contract are agreed and you are happy to proceed MB Solicitors will then arrange for you to sign contracts for sale and return them to the vendor’s solicitor together with the deposit (usually 10% of the purchase price). Their solicitor will then arrange for the client to sign the contracts and will return one part to us. Once contracts have been signed and the deposit paid there is a binding agreement in place.

Questionnaire

We will send a questionnaire to the vendor’s solicitor known as “Objections and Requisitions on Title”. Once we are satisfied with the responses MB Solicitors will draft the Deed of Transfer and forward it to the vendor’s solicitor who will draft the closing documents.

Searches

MB Solicitors will order a set of searches against the vendor. These searches are carried out by a third party service provider to ensure that the vendor is not bankrupt (a bankrupt person cannot sell a property), to check whether there are any plans for road widening, that there are no judgments or undisclosed mortgages registered against the property.

Stamp Duty

Stamp duty is payable on the transaction.

Registration

MB Solicitors will then arrange to register you as owner of the property and will also register the mortgage with the Property Registration Authority.

Completion

Once you are registered as owner and the mortgage is registered on the property we will lodge the title deeds with the bank who will hold onto them until you repay the loan or sell the property.

MB Solicitors have expert property solicitors in our Dublin 3 offices and will be delighted to guide you through this process and guarantee that your self build property runs as efficiently as possible.

To Book a Consultation with Michael Burns

Call +353 1 5677343