Conveyancing question

[ContractorBanking]

Well, two questions actually:

1) assisting parents with paperwork for buying their downsized property. They've settled on a property 3 doors down from where they've lived for the past 40 years!

Their old house is sold and its a cash purchase on the new property. Its going through probate and should take an estimated 8 weeks or so. Its a private sale.

Question is, should we start to instruct our solicitors to commence work on conveyancing now or once Grant of Probate has been established?

I've settled on a firm of solicitors and going through their charging structure - they're charging approx £400 for searches, which consists of the following items:


i) Local Authority basic search - LLC1 and CON29R
ii) Chancel Repair Liability
iii) Environmental and flood risk assessment
iv) Drainage and Water search CON29DW

As its a cash purchase there we can opt out of these searches.

Done some research and these all appear to be a waste of time, as my parents have lived in that area for over 40 years and know the area better than anyone.

I was thinking of purchasing the Drainage and Water search as I believe it comes with a drainage map, which is handy as parents want to build a conservatory so would be good to know where the drainage runs on the plot.

So, before I decide to opt out of the others, any compelling reason to include i), ii) and iii)?

thanks

[TykeMerc]

I'm not a lawyer, but as far as I'm aware there's no legal obligation to carry out those searches, they're just for the mitigation of risk to you and your lender, since there's no lender, that's irrelevant.

If you see no value in them and the Solicitors don't give you a convincing reason to do them then like you I'd not bother.

[WTFH]

iii) will affect house insurance, i.e. the insurance company may decline to insure you if you haven't got it.
ii) could (theoretically) come back to haunt you if you don't have it.
i) is useful to show if any alterations have been done and if they were approved etc.


But, if you've decided already that they are a waste of time then there's no point in trying to convince you otherwise, I mean "saving" £400 on a £40,000 purchase is a lot to some, to others it's an important part of the purchase.



I'd suggest using the same solicitor they used when they sold their house, after all, they will have a relationship with them already and you can normally get both properties done as part of a slightly reduced-price deal.

As for instructing their solicitor, the thing to do is to discuss it with the solicitor then step back and let them do their job. That's what you pay them for - they have the experience and knowledge of how to do these things. That's also why they charge so much.


It's almost like they are contractors.
And as Red Adair once said:
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur"

[TykeMerc]

How can iii) be an issue to insurers? I had searches done when I bought this place, no idea if that was one of them and no insurer has asked to see it. I certainly couldn't lay my hands on it short of remembering which solicitors I used and asking them for a copy.

[WTFH]

How can iii) be an issue to insurers? I had searches done when I bought this place, no idea if that was one of them and no insurer has asked to see it. I certainly couldn't lay my hands on it short of remembering which solicitors I used and asking them for a copy.

You're probably right then.

[hatter]

How can iii) be an issue to insurers? I had searches done when I bought this place, no idea if that was one of them and no insurer has asked to see it. I certainly couldn't lay my hands on it short of remembering which solicitors I used and asking them for a copy.

It depends where your house is and how far from a water course.

I have been asked for this before when issuring the house. Living less than 100m away from a stream we had to provide them with the report that showed we wouldn't be affected by a one in hundred year flood.

As for chancel repair liability although there is only a small likelihood this will affect you, it is possible, and you wouldn't want to be stung with a bill for the church roof! If it does show as a risk, insurance to cover it is less than £100

[ContractorBanking]

Let me make it clear - not trying to avoid paying for searches if there is value in it.

From what I've read, I just don't see what these searches offer, in my parents present circumstances.

The property is miles from any water source or flood risk (I can see that for myself on the Environment site) plus parents have lived there since early 1970's.

Secondly, the house is essentially just walls and a roof. It's been in the same family since before the war, early-1930's was when it was last purchased, since then its been handed down once, from the original owners to their daughter, who has just passed away.

The property has not been modified in any way.

Under these circumstances, I don't see the need for these searches (except Drainage and Water) but if anyone can tell me otherwise, happy to go for it.

[hatter]

Let me make it clear - not trying to avoid paying for searches if there is value in it.

From what I've read, I just don't see what these searches offer, in my parents present circumstances.

The property is miles from any water source or flood risk (I can see that for myself on the Environment site) plus parents have lived there since early 1970's.

Secondly, the house is essentially just walls and a roof. It's been in the same family since before the war, early-1930's was when it was last purchased, since then its been handed down once, from the original owners to their daughter, who has just passed away.

The property has not been modified in any way.

Under these circumstances, I don't see the need for these searches (except Drainage and Water) but if anyone can tell me otherwise, happy to go for it.

If the property has not been registered at the land registry which given it hasn't been sold recently then that is all the more reason to carry out the chancel repair search.

Once a property is registered after being sold the church cannot then make a claim.

Do some reading about it. Whilst the chances are small that 1 - the house is within an ancient parish and 2 - the church would actually purse you for money, is it worth risking for the dake of a few quid.

[NibblyPig]

Flood risk issue can be solved simply by phoning any insurance company and asking for a quote, they can give you a quote on a property you're looking to buy and will tell you if it's in a flood risk zone as their computer will flash up alarm bells.

I got loads of reports off my solicitors and they were very interesting, discussing the history of the area and suchlike. If you didn't know the area already you'd want them cos they might raise red flags about certain past developments like coal mining and whatnot. But otherwise most are not necessary, ask solicitor for their opinion.