Buying property with 'contract' instead of sale of deeds

I would say don't go there, everything needs to be legal, you need to know if the property is there's to sell and does not have any debts attributed to it as well as the deeds need to be registered properly. The cost do do it properly far outweighs the risk involved. Always go the legal way as checks need to be made 

if the property is not legal you can buy with a private contract but you will be left responsible for any outstanding debts on it and costs to make it legal.  make sure the contract is drawn up by a legal representative.

Seek legal advice urgently.  Better to pull out and loose money now, rather than be tied to something long term with possible outstanding debt that you might have to pay.  Hope it all works out okay.

thanks very much Paul