Can I ask my solicitor to enquire about bats?

djm1972

Hi everyone,

I am looking at an opportunity to purchase a secluded detached property in a fringe-urban but predominantly country setting. It's a 3/4 acre plot, surrounded by trees, with other properties at least 200m away, Given the asking price, the main building is obviously in need of significant TLC and whilst I don't have specific details I would estimate it to be of 1950 - 60's construction. I have not yet viewed the property but intend to do so in the next few days.

Given that it would almost certainly be a project; potentially even to the extent of significant demolition; my understanding is that this would be prohibited if bats were to be living in the property.

Is this something that I should clear up before even going to the offer / solicitor stage; or is it something that a full structural survey would bring up?

Thanks for any pointers!

G_M

Course you can. You can ask him to ask the vendors about anything that concerns you.

What answer you get is more of an issue. Probobly "Not as far as is known" or "the Purchaser should rely on their own investigations".

The whole 'Enquiries' process is really a bit of a dance solicitors undertake to justify their costs, but which offers little real enlightenment.

Cynical? Moi?

djm1972

G_M wrote: »

Course you can. You can ask him to ask the vendors about anything that concerns you.

What answer you get is more of an issue. Probobly "Not as far as is known" or "the Purchaser should rely on their own investigations".

The whole 'Enquiries' process is really a bit of a dance solicitors undertake to justify their costs, but which offers little real enlightenment.

Cynical? Moi?

Thanks, you're coming from exactly where i'm coming from!

Vendor can always say "never seen a bat in my life".

I move in, there's hundreds of them, and of course they moved in the day after the vendor filled in their "Questions from the buyer" form.

Hmmm....!

jessbob

Hi

Your surveyor should notice whether the property has bats from initial inspection. You could always ensure that the valuer is made aware of your concerns prior to the inspection.

I have dealt with a few properties that have had bats, and both the Vendors and Purchasers were aware of these. They were disclosed by the Vendors and also brought up on the valuation report.

G_M

Visit the property at dusk and wait.

Google 'bats' and see if there are microphones you can buy that pick up bat signals!

theartfullodger

It would be reprehensible of me to repeat a story from a very close friend...

VCF found bats in the roof of the house he was selling. (Small, mice-like dropping in roof space is the give-a-way..)

VCF knew if he advised vendors of bats or told council things were likely to slow down dramatically...

VCF decided to place very bright lights in the roof space where they were roosting..

Hey, presto! No bats 2 weeks later!!

I'd strongly suggest not asking. What you don't know about (if you never asked) you can't be criticised for not protecting can you??

Cheers!


Lodger

PS Secluded tree-surrounded house in big garden - bound to be bats in the area - but not necessarily in the property...

diable

G_M wrote: »

Visit the property at dusk and wait.

Google 'bats' and see if there are microphones you can buy that pick up bat signals!

If you call the local authority at Gotham City then they should be able to help you out ;o)))

jessbob

Not nice Artful !

Millburn_farm

somewhere there are "bat" people, ask them what to do; there is a way for you to do it for free;

I can't see how 1950/60 Bat's are protected, again a reason to phone the bat people, but lets be honest; you haven't even viewed it yet; it might be a dog

Richard_Webster

Course you can. You can ask him to ask the vendors about anything that concerns you.

What answer you get is more of an issue. Probobly "Not as far as is known" or "the Purchaser should rely on their own investigations".

The whole 'Enquiries' process is really a bit of a dance solicitors undertake to justify their costs, but which offers little real enlightenment.

Cynical? Moi?

There is some truth in this. Problem is that buyer clients actually do expect us to ask all kinds of things and surveyors are wonderful at expecting us to ask about things like (usually worthless) double glazing guarantees.

If we don't ask, the client complains later when some nasty comes up and they say that we should have asked about it. If we ask the question, we do occasionally get told something that wasn't expected and the client is glad we asked, but often we get the vague answers mentioned in the quote above - but then at least we can point out to the client that we asked the question and got the meaningless reply.

Occasionally it does make a difference. For instance I was told about a case where there was a stream at the bottom of the garden and the buyer asked if the house had ever been flooded. "No, its only come a third of the way up the lawn..." Buyer's solicitor got seller's solicitor to put this in writing. A year later the house was flooded and the fire brigade came round...."Here we are again then..." says the fireman. "What do you mean?" "This is the third time in three years this place has flooded..." So the buyer got some compensation because he could nail the porky....If you don't ask there are no porkies...

But with bats, they can be around and nobody might know. There's a school field across the road from me where there are apparently bats roosting in the trees. I never knew about this until it became a reason for resisting a planning application to have all weather football pitches and a bar just across the road in the school grounds! So unless it can be proved the seller must have known he may be able to get away with a vague negative answer. OP should make his own investigations.

Careful_with_that_Axe

It is possible to get a Bat and Owl Survey done which should cost in the region of £90 + Vat. It is more usually used to look at the likely impact on any wildlife of extensions or new builds, but could be used in this instance to provide the information you want. Council Environmental Department or local Architects practice should be able to give you contact points for people who carry out this type of survey.