defective title indemnity insurance

wolfman1

In the process of buying a house, can't believe how complicated this has become, thought hips were suppossed to make it easier?
fisrt it was environmental searches now it is defective title indemnity insurance, solicitor says we need it but doesn't explain why, so before i speak to her tomorrow, what is this and why would i need it (bearing in mind she also says the search has revealed nothing unusual) so reading through her letter and the policy details am i buying this because the searches contained in the hip are not accurate or trusted, is she covering her !!! because she doesn't know her job.
Any light on this before i speak to her tomorrow would be gratefuly received.

Doozergirl

Where the original deeds have been lost and they are aware of some kind of possible restrictive covenant? If they don't know what it is then you insure against it.

If it is something like that then a really good idea posted on here once was to download the deeds for neighbouring properties. Whilst it doesn't change your missing deeds, it gives you an idea of what yours might look like.

wolfman1

Thank you for that info, i guess i need to ring the sol, really though next time i think it best to use my trusted brief, coherced into using Haart estate agents legal services as all the other parties were (turns out they aren't),
So if the deeds are indeed lost this may cause a big problem later? sounds like that to me, however surely the deeds are just pieces of paper showing transactions etc. over the years, whereas ownership is based upon registry, so how would i download deeds for neighbours property? this way i can at least read any restrictive covenants.

Doozergirl

Shouldn't cause any problems in the future if indemnity insurance is purchased. If it were a real issue then your solicitor wouldn't be suggesting the indemnity insurance. As you said, just ask them straight out why they want to purchase it - it might not be missing deeds, but that's why we've had to purchase it before.

If it's a flat then the lease may have omitted something?

Land registry website for the title register of each property. Costs £3. It doesn't affect ownership, it's just that you don't know what the original contract contained.

Richard_Webster

Doozergirl wrote: »

Shouldn't cause any problems in the future if indemnity insurance is purchased. If it were a real issue then your solicitor wouldn't be suggesting the indemnity insurance. As you said, just ask them straight out why they want to purchase it - it might not be missing deeds, but that's why we've had to purchase it before.

If it's a flat then the lease may have omitted something?

Land registry website for the title register of each property. Costs £3. It doesn't affect ownership, it's just that you don't know what the original contract contained.

I agree.

The basic difficulty in commenting on this kind of thing is that there are lots of different types of indemnity insuracne and therefore you need to know from your solicitor what it is about before anyone can really comment on whether you need it or not. Doozergirl was merely suggesting one area where it might be applicable. There are lots of things - another is thatan extension has been bult without the consent of someone who sold the property/land years ago.

Talk to your solicitor and then lets us know - but you may find that you are staisifed once you have done that.

Environmental Searches are useful but not required by all lenders. Your solicitor may do them as a matter of course (they are not part of the HIP) but if he does, like me he should give you the option of opting out if you don't want one and the lender does not require it. Which lender are you getting your mortgage from?

wolfman1

Turns out that the hip searches are "out of date" i have asked whether it would be better to get new searches done but the sols seem completely out of touch, claiming searches would take weeks and cost £180! It's very annoying that the hip is working against everyone, in the good old days your solicitor would simply initiate the search when you decide to buy, now it is done before, but then it's useless. Oh well, i blame Tony or his missus.

Begs a question, how much do the searches cost? I was under the impression not that much, and after all i really only need the local authority search.

Richard_Webster

I can't understand why the water/drainage search is really that vital and in any event how likely is it that a property on mains drainage is disconnected by the owner and put on a cesspit or septic tank? Drainage Searches are in HIPs because the Water companies did a good job of telling the government that they were really vital!!

Local searches do need updating in some way. A "validation" policy with the company I use costs £20 for £150-£200K property and pays out if something adverse which significantly reduces the value of the property were to show on a search carried out after the actual search, but before completion, provided that the original saerch is no more than 12 months old. So this is quite cheap.

Local searches vary in cost. Search agencies will charge between £70 and £140 depending on where the proeprty is and whether they give a volume discount to e,g, a large HIP provider. They will be more expensive than they were, simply because Councils now have to supply certain information which must be in search agency searches, but can charge the agencies for it.

Local authorities themselves charge anything from £50 up to well over £200 for a local search.

wolfman1

Richard_Webster wrote: »

I can't understand why the water/drainage search is really that vital and in any event how likely is it that a property on mains drainage is disconnected by the owner and put on a cesspit or septic tank? Drainage Searches are in HIPs because the Water companies did a good job of telling the government that they were really vital!!

Local searches do need updating in some way. A "validation" policy with the company I use costs £20 for £150-£200K property and pays out if something adverse which significantly reduces the value of the property were to show on a search carried out after the actual search, but before completion, provided that the original saerch is no more than 12 months old. So this is quite cheap.

Local searches vary in cost. Search agencies will charge between £70 and £140 depending on where the proeprty is and whether they give a volume discount to e,g, a large HIP provider. They will be more expensive than they were, simply because Councils now have to supply certain information which must be in search agency searches, but can charge the agencies for it.

Local authorities themselves charge anything from £50 up to well over £200 for a local search.

I checked the price of the searches in my hip for the house i am selling, that is LLC1 and CON29DW and the land registry, total £64.70.(peterborough City council).

Doozergirl

I'm only a layperson but isn't the LLC1 just one piece of paper? A full search is a different CON29 to the CON29DW which is the almost booklet sized search full of questions that comes back from the council? That is going to be more expensive than the LLC1 which is why I guess your solicitor is quoting £180 - they can't and won't be trying to profit from your searches.