House Purchase Search - legal question(s)
Discussion
Can anyone please advise?
Who is responsible for the DATA upon which housing searches are based?
e.g. If one found something out about a house one had bought, but said something did not show up on the search but should have, who 'fault' is it?
It seems obvious to me it can't be the solicitor since they only review the result of the search??
Any info appreciated
Cheers
Richard
Who is responsible for the DATA upon which housing searches are based?
e.g. If one found something out about a house one had bought, but said something did not show up on the search but should have, who 'fault' is it?
It seems obvious to me it can't be the solicitor since they only review the result of the search??
Any info appreciated
Cheers
Richard
Which search are you talking about?
Local - would be something to look into at the the council land charges department who would have to look at what the result in question was. There are also a number of other additional enquires which are not always asked which this could relate to. One that leaps to mind is with regard to Footpaths and Bridalways.
If it was with the Drtainage search it would be the local water company.
If the enviro, whoever did this.
More info required, sorry
John
Local - would be something to look into at the the council land charges department who would have to look at what the result in question was. There are also a number of other additional enquires which are not always asked which this could relate to. One that leaps to mind is with regard to Footpaths and Bridalways.
If it was with the Drtainage search it would be the local water company.
If the enviro, whoever did this.
More info required, sorry
John
As above, more info required before the collective can advise.
One other thing to consider, though, is the nature of your problem. It may be that a property in a particular area should have extra searches done but if your solicitor/conveyancer is unfamiliar with the area or is out-of-date in their info, the search may not have even been requested.
This is one reason why a conveyancer local to the property is always a good idea.
One other thing to consider, though, is the nature of your problem. It may be that a property in a particular area should have extra searches done but if your solicitor/conveyancer is unfamiliar with the area or is out-of-date in their info, the search may not have even been requested.
This is one reason why a conveyancer local to the property is always a good idea.
Thanks for the replies so far.
Sorry for the lack of info - just shows my ignorance of the whole matter.
Scenario: Someone I know has discovered rising damp in their cottage and the neighbour has now piped up about there being a well under the property(!)
I don't even know which search should bring out this jewel of info?
Enquiries are ongoing with local council & water company.
This is about all I know so far.
Cheers
Sorry for the lack of info - just shows my ignorance of the whole matter.
Scenario: Someone I know has discovered rising damp in their cottage and the neighbour has now piped up about there being a well under the property(!)
I don't even know which search should bring out this jewel of info?
Enquiries are ongoing with local council & water company.
This is about all I know so far.
Cheers
Tricky one.
Its certainly nothing the local authority search would have picked up and I doubt its any of the water board's business!
Sounds like any other damp problem, i.e. tough - it just needs to be sorted. AFAIK an old well needn't be a problem if capped off properly.
Presumably your mate had a full survey done that pointed out the damp issue (but not the root cause)? If not, then more fool him; that's why you pay for a survey before exchanging contracts!
Its certainly nothing the local authority search would have picked up and I doubt its any of the water board's business!
Sounds like any other damp problem, i.e. tough - it just needs to be sorted. AFAIK an old well needn't be a problem if capped off properly.
Presumably your mate had a full survey done that pointed out the damp issue (but not the root cause)? If not, then more fool him; that's why you pay for a survey before exchanging contracts!
None of your usual searches would have shown the existence of that one up!
The two places you could have found this out would have been your survey, possibly and your title deeds.
Within your title deeds there might well have been a right for a neighbouring property to draw water from your well. When I see this I always ask where the well is. Often it in on the boundary in the back garden and has been only partly filled in. It could therefore be a massive danger to ankle biters.
There is also the question, more than why the surveyor wasn't able to see that there could have been a well under the property, why the damp issue wasn't revealed by your survey. If it had been you could have enquired further, specialist reports, etc and found out the existence of the well.
It is quite possible that the previous owner never knew about it themselves.
Would recommend looking through the survey report again to see what the situation there is and also giving the solicitor a bell.
Beaten to it by a software engineer who seems to know a little more about this sort of thing than his profile suggests...
>> Edited by rude-boy on Monday 4th April 14:11
The two places you could have found this out would have been your survey, possibly and your title deeds.
Within your title deeds there might well have been a right for a neighbouring property to draw water from your well. When I see this I always ask where the well is. Often it in on the boundary in the back garden and has been only partly filled in. It could therefore be a massive danger to ankle biters.
There is also the question, more than why the surveyor wasn't able to see that there could have been a well under the property, why the damp issue wasn't revealed by your survey. If it had been you could have enquired further, specialist reports, etc and found out the existence of the well.
It is quite possible that the previous owner never knew about it themselves.
Would recommend looking through the survey report again to see what the situation there is and also giving the solicitor a bell.
Beaten to it by a software engineer who seems to know a little more about this sort of thing than his profile suggests...
>> Edited by rude-boy on Monday 4th April 14:11
Conveyancing systems are one of my main "things" where I am at the moment...Thanks again for the replies chaps.
There is reason to believe that the previous owner did know of its existence, but did not disclose at time of purchase - is there a legal obligation to do so?
It also appears that the damp is a recent issue, possibly even since some demolition etc. for local road re-designing.
Investigations on-going......
There is reason to believe that the previous owner did know of its existence, but did not disclose at time of purchase - is there a legal obligation to do so?
It also appears that the damp is a recent issue, possibly even since some demolition etc. for local road re-designing.
Investigations on-going......
Sounds possible that the roadworks may have damaged the well cap, then? As regards duty of disclosure, if the question isn't asked outright on the Seller's Property Information form (PROP1) - which from memory it isn't - then the vendor is under no obligation to offer the information. Again, we're back to getting a decent survey done and investigating anything it shows up.
>> Edited by pdV6 on Monday 4th April 14:30
[ignorant dumb-ass]
Since disclosure is discretional, and assuming the damp problem didn't exist at time of purchase, then surely there was no reason to suspect the well existed and no way to know unless it was on the deeds.
One couldn't have found it unless one went digging to find it(?) or have surveyors got funky ultrasound thingies that might tell?
[/ignorant dumb-ass] (hopefully)
>> Edited for spelling by chutmun on Monday 4th April 15:23
>> Edited by chutmun on Monday 4th April 15:23
Since disclosure is discretional, and assuming the damp problem didn't exist at time of purchase, then surely there was no reason to suspect the well existed and no way to know unless it was on the deeds.
One couldn't have found it unless one went digging to find it(?) or have surveyors got funky ultrasound thingies that might tell?
[/ignorant dumb-ass] (hopefully)
>> Edited for spelling by chutmun on Monday 4th April 15:23
>> Edited by chutmun on Monday 4th April 15:23
If the damp problem didn't exist at time of purchase, then it sounds like its time for your mate to stop whinging about how he's been stitched up dring the house purchase and to simply get on and rectify the problem.
Hopefully that will entail getting whoever did the roadworks to cough up some cash...
Hopefully that will entail getting whoever did the roadworks to cough up some cash...
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