Blooming Hell. If it's not one thing.......

silvercar

when was the house built? If it was a barratt home in 2004, then clearly you can find the owners and getting permission is important.

If, as in my case, it was Mr & Mrs joe Bloggs, lord of the estate in 1937, then you can't find them, they have no beneficial interet in the estate, have not enforced covenants on any houses around for umpteen years and is irrelevant.

silvercar

I do have a copy of the deeds but it's very hard to read and it was back in 1963 - chances are they are now out of business or extremely old!

We crossed posts. If you want to read the deeds download them from the land registry for £2. I wouldn't worry about anything that old.

JennyW_2

silvercar wrote:

We crossed posts. If you want to read the deeds download them from the land registry for £2. I wouldn't worry about anything that old.

should I still ring my council to see what they say as my solicitor is under the opinion that we should issue this indemnity policy. Just trying to save some money!

At least I can then tell my solicitor that I have spoken with the council and they have advised me?

Debt_Free_Chick

JennyW wrote:

it's a joke isn't it, fancy bringing up this enquiry so late down the line. :mad:

Sorry, I didn't mean to panic you . When I meant the "next thing" I didn't mean for your sale. I meant what next thing, in general will solicitors dream up as a "potential problem" for future transactions. I had none of this palava when I bought three years ago, despite the property having two obvious extensions.

Oh well, if they dream up more "problems" none of us will ever move, we'll all stay in our present homes and there'll be no work (money) for solicitor, estate agents and anyone else

Debt_Free_Chick

JennyW wrote:

should I still ring my council to see what they say as my solicitor is under the opinion that we should issue this indemnity policy. Just trying to save some money!

At least I can then tell my solicitor that I have spoken with the council and they have advised me?

It doesn't matter what the council say, if the issue is one of a covenant in the deeds. The deeds are simply evidence of a private contract between two parties, in relation to land or property. Council won't be able to help you with that - sorry.

I know the deeds can be difficult to read, but have a scan through - try to find the covenant and post the words here. Also tell us the other party named in the deed - they will probably be named at the beginning as the Grantor and the Grantee.

You're looking for words that basically say that the grantee (or covenantee) undertakes not to do .......????? without permission from the Grantor (or covenantor).

HTH

silvercar

JennyW wrote:

should I still ring my council to see what they say as my solicitor is under the opinion that we should issue this indemnity policy. Just trying to save some money!

At least I can then tell my solicitor that I have spoken with the council and they have advised me?

Its not a council matter. Its something on the deeds that the original pre-1963 owner could demand retribution for. Either your tell your solicitor your not prepared to take out an indemnity and the buyers can do it themselves or not bother, or you will have to pay for the indemnity. It will cost about £200, not worth losing a sale over.

Its unlikely to be possible to find the original owner and get the permissions in a short space of time, so its indemnity or nought.

JennyW_2

ok, have just rung the council. It was "permitted development" and the extension was under a certain size so planning permission was not required. Phew! That's saved a bit of money!

silvercar

Jenny please read what debt_free_chick and I are saying; its not about the planning permission!

JennyW_2

no I understand it's OK. for the sake of it all I'm going to just pay for the indemnity. If it had been a month or so ago then it would be different but we're a few days from exchange and it's been 4 months now so I just want to get it done

suki1964

Same as what happened to me, our vendors solicitor came back to us on the Monday and we were exchanging on the Friday The council rang her and said that neither planning or any other permissions were needed but she wouldnt proceed till the letter was on her desk. In the end come the Thursday I pulled out, 8pm that night a courier arrived with the contract to sign

Edited to delete last paragraph as realise its not relevent in this case. In my case the original owners of the property were the council