environmental search?

wolfman1

we are moving house, i noticed on our quote for legal fees that there was a charge for £149 for environmental search, i asked about this and was told my mortgage lender may require it, i later asked the solicitor if they had found out if the lender required this, she avoided my question until pushed, and replied that the green search (terminology now changed) would b required, so i rang the lender to see if they required it as a part of the conditions, they said they didn't and in that repect they would not even look at one if it were done. Fair enough, i don't need it and don't want to pay for it (more so is the fact that a search only costs around £30 anyway) We are using the legal reps of Haart estate agents (agreed among all parties to speed up the process, obviously this search forms part of their hidden fee, is this legal? next time i'll use my usual solicitor.

Richard_Webster

Some lenders are vague and say they want all normal searches or say they don't want to see the environmental search but we should tell them if anything adverse is discovered, so we have to do it to establish that. An increasing number of lenders are saying they do not require them.

I normally do these as a matter of course as part of my standard procedure, because I believe they can be useful, but I do tell people that they can opt out by telling me in wretiting they don't want them when they instruct me. If their lender does not require it we don't then do it. Halifax, Abbey etc aren't interested. It doesn't cost £149 - maybe £50 tops.

What some conveyancers do is make a "profit" on some searches, which I think is quite wrong - but they make it legal by explaining it in an obscure part of their terms and conditions so they can always say that you should have read them.

wolfman1

Hi, thanks for the reply, I did put it in writing that i did not want any searches that were not required by the lender,i have done some research and the environmental searches are almost impossible to act on, in the words of the report from the council of mortgage lenders "at best confusing at worst misleading" so in my eyes (having already done a free bee search online) the report would be £149 for nothing of any use. I did ask in writing if any of the search fees had an element of profit, but this was avoided. i have made a mistake by opting for the conveyancing to be done by haart's legal team (although these are just a sub contractor)
for one the estate agent takes £50 + vat for each process ie buying and selling, but the other is i don't feel they are working for me, strangely i would prefer to pay a solicitor more money if i felt they were working for me and especially i like to see the search fees i pay to be the actual cost of the search along with any other charges, and then a reasonable fee for the solicitor to cary out the neccessary work for me, that way he earns his well deserved living and i get a good job done and hopefully feel that he is working on my behalf.

Another question, has anyone ever found out anything useful from an environmental search? and were they able to follow this information to any useful conclusion?

david29dpo

It saved my bacon once. Once again it pays to use a local solicitor as he knew the area i was buying in. The flat was built on brown fields (contaminated land) which could have made it un-sellable.

Richard_Webster

OP needs to ask his conveyancer for a clear written explanation of:
(a) why Environmental Search costs £149; and
(b) why it is required by his particualr lender.

You can go to http://www.cml.org.uk/handbook/frontpage.aspx
select England & Wales for handbook (assuming that's where the property is) and then select your lender and have a look at 5.2.4 whihc deals with the point about these searches.

If he doesn't get an explanation then make a complaint.

wolfman1

david29dpo wrote: »

It saved my bacon once. Once again it pays to use a local solicitor as he knew the area i was buying in. The flat was built on brown fields (contaminated land) which could have made it un-sellable.

I think this is the point, it could have, on the other hand you may have bought it and lived very happily for a very long time, I really think we have too much info, i meen how many houses are being seriously affected by these searches, possibly unjustly as the searches are vague.

wolfman1

Richard_Webster wrote: »

OP needs to ask his conveyancer for a clear written explanation of:
(a) why Environmental Search costs £149; and
(b) why it is required by his particualr lender.



If he doesn't get an explanation then make a complaint.

I will be doing this today, i don,t really want to make any kind of complaint at this stage, i need my conveyancer on my side for now, but hopefuly the answer i receive will either be satisfactory or maybe i can complain at a later stage.

I checked the cml site but the HSBC just says contact the lender for every section, i did speak with them and they said they had all they needed,just waiting on the completion date.

Richard_Webster

I checked the cml site but the HSBC just says contact the lender for every section,

Oh, HSBC are the main exception - the solicitor has to look at their blue booklet they send out with their instructions to solicitors and effectively the CML Handbook doesn't apply to them.

In their own set of instructions they say we have to do all normal searches, or words to that effect, so as an environmental search is one that is pretty common, it is difficult for a conveyancer not do to one. If OP rings a lender with a technical question like this he will be given a soppy answer because the people he talks aren't lawyers and won't understand the details. So asking them about this sort of thing is not really a good idea.

If the conveyancer writes to a lender asking for confirmation that such a search is not required he may have to wait some time for an answer because the people who deal with processing new mortgage cases and dealing with sending out money, do not have any legal knowledge and so don't know what to do with such a query. So there could be significant delays while the conveyancer waits to hear from the lender that the search is not required (assuming that is what they say in the end when they do reply). So the £40-£50 cost (not £149) might be justified if only to avoid delays.