Conveyancing - should i be worried?
Discussion
My solicitor has raised the following queries to the vendors solicitor and hasn't got a reply yet from 10th december -
1. Building Control Certificate for the single storey extension.
2. Act in favour of the Legal Services Agency which is registered against the property to be removed on or before completion.
3. Replies to Pre-Contract Enquiries and fixtures and fittings list.
4. The Land Registry map does not correspond with the Lease map. I enclose copy of the Land Registry map and a copy of the Lease map. Please explain.
1 - there's a side extension which google maps suggests has been there since approx 2008
2 - no idea what this is
3 - familiar with this - usual are you leaving the curtains and bins etc?
4 - this worries me, the side extension looks to have been built right up to the boundary of the house and the "front door" opens onto communal parking. the front garden has been fenced round, possibly including a bit of land about 6' X 6' that may not belong to the garden.
This is in northern ireland so doesn't look like getting my own copy of the land registry map, so i can have a nosey, is as straight forward as england.
1. Building Control Certificate for the single storey extension.
2. Act in favour of the Legal Services Agency which is registered against the property to be removed on or before completion.
3. Replies to Pre-Contract Enquiries and fixtures and fittings list.
4. The Land Registry map does not correspond with the Lease map. I enclose copy of the Land Registry map and a copy of the Lease map. Please explain.
1 - there's a side extension which google maps suggests has been there since approx 2008
2 - no idea what this is
3 - familiar with this - usual are you leaving the curtains and bins etc?
4 - this worries me, the side extension looks to have been built right up to the boundary of the house and the "front door" opens onto communal parking. the front garden has been fenced round, possibly including a bit of land about 6' X 6' that may not belong to the garden.
This is in northern ireland so doesn't look like getting my own copy of the land registry map, so i can have a nosey, is as straight forward as england.
Building Control - no - it's been up long enough that enforcement of any breach is out of time.
Map of lease/land registry - yes - you need to know exactly what is included/excluded
Not sure, but no2 may be a charge on the property by the legal aid system in NI - I'm sure someone will clarify.
Map of lease/land registry - yes - you need to know exactly what is included/excluded
Not sure, but no2 may be a charge on the property by the legal aid system in NI - I'm sure someone will clarify.
Edited by mr rusty on Tuesday 4th January 16:05
mr rusty said:
Not sure, but no2 may be a charge on the property by the legal aid system in NI - I'm sure someone will clarify.
Sounds exactly like that to me. If so, it’s a charge to secure a sum owed by the house vendor to the NI legal aid system. So when the house is sold the NI legal aid agency will take a chunk of the sale proceeds from the vendor to discharge the debt, and then release the charge. Basically similar to a second mortgage, and not something the purchaser need be too concerned about. Edited by mr rusty on Tuesday 4th January 16:05
RE the extension, in England I believe you need planning permission and permission from the freeholder for any updates to flats or maisonettes - certainly on our flat you did. Any amendments to the building structure.
Even dropped kerbs require planning permission for flats and maisonettes I believe.
Even dropped kerbs require planning permission for flats and maisonettes I believe.
mr rusty said:
Building Control - no - it's been up long enough that enforcement of any breach is out of time.
The only problem with this is when you come to sell you will get the same question again from your buyers. Edited by mr rusty on Tuesday 4th January 16:05
We had this from a 1989? Extension for planning control and our solicitor said not to worry as above.
When we came to sell it was questioned and our new solicitor said the same thing about it being out of enforcement. The buyers solicitor wouldn't accept that and wanted indemnity insurance signed off and us to pay. Our solicitor said no initially so slowed the whole thing down.
Indemnity insurance isn't a huge amount, but the whole thing gets a bit daft lining the insurers pockets for worthless scraps of paper.
My council has public searchable building control going back to at least 2002, so will probably be quicker to search for it yourself.
BlackWidow13 said:
Sounds exactly like that to me. If so, it’s a charge to secure a sum owed by the house vendor to the NI legal aid system. So when the house is sold the NI legal aid agency will take a chunk of the sale proceeds from the vendor to discharge the debt, and then release the charge. Basically similar to a second mortgage, and not something the purchaser need be too concerned about.
Is that like a lien on the house? slow_poke said:
That communal parking/front door situation would worry me. What if someone parks in front of your door and goes away for a week?
Trolley jack and a couple of mates will soon clear a path 
We had thought about moving the door to where the window is i.e. the front of the house. So it would look more normal, sometime in the future, cash permitting.
meatballs said:
The only problem with this is when you come to sell you will get the same question again from your buyers.
We had this from a 1989? Extension for planning control and our solicitor said not to worry as above.
When we came to sell it was questioned and our new solicitor said the same thing about it being out of enforcement. The buyers solicitor wouldn't accept that and wanted indemnity insurance signed off and us to pay. Our solicitor said no initially so slowed the whole thing down.
Indemnity insurance isn't a huge amount, but the whole thing gets a bit daft lining the insurers pockets for worthless scraps of paper.
My council has public searchable building control going back to at least 2002, so will probably be quicker to search for it yourself.
This. Indemnity insurance is not much in the scheme of things, maybe £100 to £200 We had this from a 1989? Extension for planning control and our solicitor said not to worry as above.
When we came to sell it was questioned and our new solicitor said the same thing about it being out of enforcement. The buyers solicitor wouldn't accept that and wanted indemnity insurance signed off and us to pay. Our solicitor said no initially so slowed the whole thing down.
Indemnity insurance isn't a huge amount, but the whole thing gets a bit daft lining the insurers pockets for worthless scraps of paper.
My council has public searchable building control going back to at least 2002, so will probably be quicker to search for it yourself.
meatballs said:
wanted indemnity insurance signed off and us to pay.
This nonsense came up on our last house for an extension built in the 80's. I just said no - you want insurance you buy it or I'll find another buyer. They backed down. No idea whether they bought the insurance or not. What I hadn't told them was that I had rung the council anyway, who said they had no record of it and it was probably pre-84. The extension in question was already known about by the council because a later PP for a conservatory had a condition that it had to match the extension!It's a tick-box scam IMO
Edited by mr rusty on Thursday 6th January 08:44
mr rusty said:
This nonsense came up on our last house for an extension built in the 80's. I just said no - you want insurance you buy it or I'll find another buyer. They backed down. No idea whether they bought the insurance or not. What I hadn't told them was that I had rung the council anyway, who said they had no record of it and it was probably pre-84. The extension in question was already known about by the council because a later PP for a conservatory had a condition that it had to match the extension!
It's a tick-box scam IMO
Indemnity insurance is there because the seller has not complied with the necessary processes, obtained the necessary consents, or is selling a property at full value whilst it has an unknown burden.It's a tick-box scam IMO
Edited by mr rusty on Thursday 6th January 08:44
I ALWAYS make the seller pay, its his property, its his title. If he doesn't want to pay then its worth less.
speedyguy said:
Pica-Pica said:
This. Indemnity insurance is not much in the scheme of things, maybe £100 to £200
Good scam though. Covenants from defunct builders that want £5 to give approval to build a garden shed 30 years on. Everyone can obviously see it is never going to be an issue but you have some conveyancers without common sense holding up the process and lining the indemnity insurers pockets.
meatballs said:
speedyguy said:
Pica-Pica said:
This. Indemnity insurance is not much in the scheme of things, maybe £100 to £200
Good scam though. Covenants from defunct builders that want £5 to give approval to build a garden shed 30 years on. Everyone can obviously see it is never going to be an issue but you have some conveyancers without common sense holding up the process and lining the indemnity insurers pockets.
blueg33 said:
Indemnity insurance is there because the seller has not complied with the necessary processes, obtained the necessary consents, or is selling a property at full value whilst it has an unknown burden.
I ALWAYS make the seller pay, its his property, its his title. If he doesn't want to pay then its worth less.
When I sold my last property in 96, we were being scammed by the buyers solicitor regarding a 11m2 kitchen extension done by the previous owners under permitted development that the buyers claimed needed PP - had building control certs, and a letter from Croydon Council planning that no PP was required at the time of build, or even that current time if it had just been done. Our solicitor said it’s a pure scam sale of insurance on the part of the buyers solicitor, especially as she was an agent/broker for said insurance.I ALWAYS make the seller pay, its his property, its his title. If he doesn't want to pay then its worth less.
Ended up having to pay £250 just to get the sale moving again as had kiddie no2 about to pop - even then, the delays by the buyers team meant another two months and baby boy born before moving day.
Luckily our solicitor was our cousin, and wasn’t charging for all the aggro this silly, greedy woman was causing
vitesse2000 said:
Ended up having to pay £250 just to get the sale moving again as had kiddie no2 about to pop - even then, the delays by the buyers team meant another two months and baby boy born before moving day.
Luckily our solicitor was our cousin, and wasn’t charging for all the aggro this silly, greedy woman was causing
And she'll have kept doing it if people kept buckling so easily to 'get the house sale moving'?Luckily our solicitor was our cousin, and wasn’t charging for all the aggro this silly, greedy woman was causing
That’s the worst part about it - it’s just a ransom to clear the chain…. our sellers and us both needed to just get on with it in the end.
It’s not like the buyers solicitor was any good, kept asking for information and paperwork she already had just so she could charge for another letter….
It’s not like the buyers solicitor was any good, kept asking for information and paperwork she already had just so she could charge for another letter….
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