Sale agreed means the seller has accepted your bid. It isn't binding yet: either side can still walk away until contracts are signed. From here to getting the keys usually takes two to four months.
The steps
- Booking deposit. You pay the agent a booking deposit, often a few thousand euro. It takes the house off the market and is refundable until contracts are signed.
- Solicitor. Give the agent your solicitor's details. The seller's solicitor sends them the contracts and title documents.
- Survey. Get an independent building survey (a structural or snag survey) before you sign. It's your chance to find problems.
- Valuation and loan offer. Your lender values the house and issues a formal loan offer.
- Sign contracts. You sign and pay a deposit, usually 10% of the price minus the booking deposit. When the seller signs too, the sale is binding.
- Closing. The mortgage is drawn down, the balance is paid, your solicitor pays the stamp duty, and you get the keys.
Stamp duty
On a home it's 1% of the price up to €1 million, 2% on the part between €1 million and €1.5 million, and 6% on the part above that.
What slows it down
- Title problems or missing planning documents on the seller's side
- Probate, if the seller is an estate
- A survey that finds something that needs negotiating
- Nobody chasing: solicitors and agents move faster when someone keeps asking
Missing planning documents are the one you can see coming. Planning Register, our sister site, lists the planning checks to run between sale agreed and signing, so you know what to ask the seller's solicitor for.
Still bidding? Read how bidding works in Ireland.