01 Choosing Your New Home
When you have decided on a home and you wish to purchase, you will be required to pay an agreed booking deposit. This will be given to the Douglas Newman Good representative and you will receive a receipt in return. Unless otherwise stated this deposit is refundable at any time until contracts are signed by you and the builder with the balance of the relevant deposit paid. This information will be contained within your booking deposit receipt. In many cases the deposit is paid directly to the builders. Check your receipt for details.

02 Choosing Your Solicitor
In order to purchase property it is necessary to retain the legal services of a solicitor. On payment of a booking deposit or immediately thereafter you will be required to nominate a solicitor to act on your behalf. If you do not have a solicitor retained DNG will provide a list of solicitors from a panel that you may choose from. These solicitors are completely independent and will always act in your best interests. If you already have your own solicitor we do not wish to intrude on any relationship you may already have. After booking your new home you will receive the following paperwork (where applicable) for you to complete:

Suppliers/Extras List: (where available) for you to contact regarding changes to your new home. It will not be possible for any alterations/changes to be made until such time as a contract is signed and the full deposit paid. Your DNG representative will also provide you with a site map, house plans where available and specifications of the property you have agreed to purchase.

03 Applying For Your Mortgage
You may already have received loan approval in advance of your property search. Now that you have actually purchased, it is time to commit to your chosen lender. We would always advise employing a suitably qualified mortgage broker who deals with virtually every institution to act on your behalf in this important decision. Our sister company GMC Mortgages are Dublin’s largest retail mortgage broker and can offer you in nearly every case the best deal in the market place. If you are already loan approved through another broker or financial institution let GMC Mortgages provethemselves by trying to beat your current rate. It may cost you a few minutes but could save you thousands of euro. When you have chosen the financial institution that will finance your purchase you will have to complete a mortgage application form. This form will require your personal and financial details and information on the property you wish to buy. When submitting your application you will also be asked to provide various enclosures which will normally include, salary certificate (completed by your employer/s), recent P60/s or completed accountant’s report if self employed, 3 recent payslips, 6 months current account statements, statement of existing borrowings, statement of personal savings, valuation fee (if necessary) and photo id (copy of driving licence or passport). After receiving all your information the financial institution will then send out a valuer to inspect your chosen property. The valuation report is sent to the institution and once they are satisfied they will issue written loan approval.

04 Signing Contracts
The solicitors acting on behalf of the builder/developers will then issue the contracts to your solicitors. The contracts will normally request that you sign within 21 days of receipt by your solicitor. It is extremely important to sign and pay the required additional deposit, normally the balance of 10% of the purchase price, prior to the 21 day (or other specified time period) deadline elapsing, as whilst the builder/ developer always retains the right to sell the property to another party, the chances will be far diminished should you sign within the specified time. Formal written loan approval also issues directly to your solicitor. It is usual that you would sign this at the same time as signing contracts. However, in some limited cases builders/developers will accept signed contracts subject to receiving loan approval within a specified number of days..

05 Electricity and Gas Supply & Life and Building Insurance (where applicable)
A representative from DNG or from the builders/developers office will contact you a week or two prior to you moving into your new home and ask you to make applications to both Bord Gais and the ESB. An electrical completion certificate must accompany the electricity supply forms. It would be usual for you to pick up the certificate from the foreman on site; alternatively it may be posted to you home, please check with the DNG representative. Gas supply applications can now be made over the telephone and a member of Bord Gais will collect a completion certificate directly from the site. At this time you should contact your mortgage lender or your broker and put in place both life cover and building insurance policies in anticipation of the closing of the sale.

06 Inspecting Your Completed Home
A representative from DNG or from the builders/developers office will contact you shortly before your house is completed and will request that an arrangement be made for you and/or your surveyor to inspect the property as soon as it is complete and to prepare a snag list, if necessary. At this time your solicitor will receive a completion notice indicating that snagging and closing should be undertaken within a specified period of time, normally 14 days. It is essential to carry out this inspection within the time frame given as the builder/developer will deem the property complete and ready for closing if an appointment is not made within the required time. You will be called once again to confirm the snagging items are completed and invited to re inspect the property. It can normally be expected that the whole snagging to closing process will take a fortnight.

07 Mortgage Interest Relief
As of December 2002 there is no longer a First Time Buyers Grant. However the mortgage interest tax relief ceiling for First Time Buyers was increased with effect from 1st January 2007 from €4000 to €8000 for a single person and from €8000 to €16,000 for a married couple. For non first time buyers the ceilings were also raised to a lesser degree, from €2540 to €3000 for a single person and from €5080 to €6000 for a married couple. This tax relief is calculated and given at source (from your lender). We would advise that you contact your lender for further details.

Should you require any additional information, please contact us at: New Homes Division on 01 4912600

DNG will do whatever is possible to ensure the purchase of your new home is as simple and straightforward as it could be. Our staff are available to you at every stage of the purchase process and will endeavour to help and assist with any query that may arise. We hope the above guide is of assistance to you at this very important time.

Please be aware that this section of the guide is for new properties only purchased from DNG New Homes Division. As other agents and builders offer different services one cannot assume that their systems are similar to those represented in this guide.