Please help!

Richard_Webster

Either way, I am speculating that the OP is going for this one because of a lack of budget - when the property looks far more suited to a developer who has the resources to iron out the issues and sell the property on unencumbered. Obviously, the current owners would take a substantial hit if they went down that route - but our OP is the person we are helping - and if she went ahead, she would be the one taking the hit.

This may well be the case, but shouldn't OP be talking to her solicitor and trying to understand how the process works. Possibly she thought that the HIP was going to tell her everything there was to know about the property so she is cross that it didn't.

The facts here seem to be that there are sellers who either deliberately, or because they didn't understand the legal position, were trying to sell a house without a valid HIP pack. This may mean the sellers were trying to do things on the cheap. That in itself doesn't necessarily mean the house isn't worth buying.

The house is or is not worth buying for the money being paid for it. That is a separate decision from the technical issue of whether or not the HIP is valid.

If the sellers carried out a series of botched extensions that don't meet Planning and Building Regulations then that may be a reason not to proceed. However we haven't actually been told that. Also I am not sure why that makes the solicitor useless.

OP hasn't really explained the real nature of the problem, so aren't we trying to work out her problem by making assumptions? It is often better to ask OP questions to get to the bottom of the real problem and once this is understood some answers can be suggested.

PasturesNew

little_legs wrote: »

we were give a HIP pack but were told by our solicitors that it was out of date (the seller had not done one, but given us the one the people who had owned the house 9 months ago done).

The current owner of the house should have had their own HIP prepared; the one they saw/received when they bought the property is not good enough.

little_legs wrote: »

...pay ... to have the correct searches done as it was out of date, which we refused as we thought it up to the seller to do.

A seller would have the searches done, but, depending on how long ago they were, most solicitors would recommend that new searches are done now. While a keen seller might offer to cover this cost if asked, it'd usually be the buyer that paid for these.

little_legs wrote: »

...no extentions done, when there were 3 that have been done...

It is sounding like: Bloke bought house to tart up and make money out of, it's now for sale and he's skimping on the HIP ... and who knows what else.

You would need to check (ask the sellers for) whether the property had (or needed) planning permission for these 3 extensions. Same for building regs.

little_legs wrote: »

... we are thinking of dropping out...

This is reasonable to consider, but hold your horses for now, it could be a disorganised seller, or it could be a rogue one. Time will tell.

little_legs wrote: »

...but the fees we will have to pay feels unjust and wrong. the situation feels wrong as we are being pushed to get through the paper work as quick as poss when we feel that the estate agents, seller, and our solicitors are trying to cover up the fact the extentions are not legal as there has been slips of the tounge. where legaly do i stand? and where should i go from here? is there any way of dropping out and getting out of paying the fees? we have proof that our solicitors know that the HIP was out of date . please help

This is the main question isn't it: Were you lead into paying out money on a property that was being illegally marketed (HIP pack being 2nd hand/out of date) .... I don't know, but I thought I'd highlight the question for others who have legal understanding.

Usually up to the point of exchange, it doesn't matter how much money you've spent, it's all just lost money and no come back. I'd think that the only straw you can grasp at is the HIP, whether it's legal and who would be responsible for you wasting money on what is turning out to look like a pig in a poke.

As RichardWebster said above - there's nothing to indicate your solicitor has been the bad guy in any of this. This is down to the seller/estate agent.

Good luck.

Doozergirl

Richard_Webster wrote: »

OP hasn't really explained the real nature of the problem, so aren't we trying to work out her problem by making assumptions? It is often better to ask OP questions to get to the bottom of the real problem and once this is understood some answers can be suggested.

I agree entirely. The OP does seem to be confused about the processes invloved and exactly what a HIP provides and I think that the main issue is a lack of confidence in the process and slight paranoia o: How any of us can know that the house is genuinely worth walking away from.

I don't realy think that a vendor would set out to purposely deceive a buyer by providing an illegal HIP - they were probably trying to save money and their estate agent has been stupid in allowing it, perhaps not understanding the rules. To potentially lose a sale for the sake of £200 odd?

I'd offer some advice on trying to move this forward but OP, you do strike me a nervous buyer and I can't see you getting through this one. Extensions don't always need permissions, what is ultimately important is that they aren't too recent and that a full survey shows them to be sound. If it has three then it does sound like a process that has happened over some period of time. Fact is that the original house probably doesn't have any planning permissions or building control involvement. Richard is also right that questions of the vendor often pertain to extensions that they themselves have added or work they have carried out. Certainly in the Questionnaire I filled out two weeks ago, the question related to what I had done to the property; not previous owners.

I can't grasp why people have told you to simply walk away - it can only be based on your OP which is quite dramatic but this isn't something that can't be worked through with a bit of patience and proper communication. At the moment, you're pulling out because the house doesn't have a HIP - that can be fixed. And because it has some extensions - that can be researched properly and surveyed. This is exactly what the conveyancig process is for - to iron everything out. If you're going to pull out before you have even allowed that process to happen, and blaming your solicitor for something they haven't been given the opportunity to sort out properly then you're pulling out for the wrong reasons.