House Searches - have they changed?

dekrowrevo

I last moved several years ago and I seem to recall the "Search" was a tedious list of standard questions submitted by my solicitor to the local authority, and another standard list which they submitted to the vendor. For this they charged what seemed a rather large amount of money.

I am now on the move again and wondered if there are any standard lists available that I could use and then present to my solicitor thus reducing the amount they will be charging me.

Also I am told that searches have now proliferated with coloured aerial photos, pie charts and other totally useless garbage. Is this so and is it necessary?

Help!!

Dekrowrevo:cool:

maisiegirl

No idea but will wach with interest as I wouldn't mind finding out.

JennyW_2

Aren't "searches" carried out by the local council? These look for things such as local development or if there is a planned motorway to be built at the back of the garden of the house you want to buy. There are also environmental searches. I think the local search is about £100 and we paid £39 for an environmental search.

You're talking about a standard list - do you mean for fixtures and fittings or the Sellers Questionnaire form? If so, then these are all different dependent on the solicitor.

clutton_2

searches certainly have proliferated !! there are so many available you lose track these days. i have always to have coal mining searches done in certain parts of lancashire for example - just in case a long long long dead mine suddenly swallows up my house - so my solicitor has to search from the mining authorities - another fee. There are also radon searches, water searches, toxicity searches etc etc Each area has its own "perils" for searching on. Sadly, lenders insist on them, and there is precious little we can do. There are private searching companies, and you can ask your solicitor to use them, but many sols are old fashioned and getting them to change is very difficult. Good luck

JennyW_2

clutton wrote:

There are private searching companies, and you can ask your solicitor to use them, but many sols are old fashioned and getting them to change is very difficult. Good luck

thankfully my solicitor used a private company, however my buyer's solicitor did not and the searches from the local council took 5 weeks to come back :mad:

Ems*Honie

In our area the searches are taking up to 7 weeks which is a huge delay compared to the majority of the country which is said to be 10 days ish.

We recently nearly lost a house because of the long delay, but refused to go through with an indemnity incase something came up on future searches that effected the salability of the house.

Sorry but when this came up for us we were told that there is no way around it.

Good luck with your move!

Jorgan_2

See if your solicitor can use a private search company, many can get searches back in 5-7 working days, rather than the lenghty times mentioned. IF your solicitor won't use a search company, find out why. If it speeds the process of buying/selling up, that is in your interest.

seven-day-weekend

I used to work on the Planning part of searches, we used to turn them round within 1-2 days.

But the Highways section took 2 weeks!

The private search companies do not do the job as thoroughly and do not ask the same amount of questions (I know.....they used to come to our Reception for me to answer their questions!). But they probably would be quicker in some cases.

lilyann1

Yes our water/drainage search was quite quick,but the environmental search took about 6 weeks to come back from the local council. Beautifully produced booklet as explained above but we don't really need any of it.

dekrowrevo

Thanks for the clarification everyone so far. Re the questionnaire that is submitted to the vendor, does anyone know of a standard form; after all you would imaging that when buying a house we all need the answers to the same questions no matter in which order they are presented! (And I wouldn't mind avoiding the solicitors cost of that part of the work)

Debt_Free_Chick

The searches do not involve the Vendor (perhaps you're thinking of the seller's information form?).

LLC1 is the "official requisition of search" and deals with "registrable charges", such as grants, tree preservation orders, planning agreements, listed buildings etc. Any of these could present a legal obligation or restriction on the the owner of the property. The CON 29 is the "enquiries of local authority" and deals with road schemes, planning history and environmental issues.

Drainage enquiries are dealt with by the local water company.

Note that the search relates only to the property or land you specify. You won't get any information regarding surrounding property or land unless this is specifically requested.

Your solicitor will pass on the Local Authority fee for providing the search and then whatever time they spent on it. There's probably very little to be gained in savings by DIY, unless your solicitor needs to do further investigation into what the searches reveal - but in that case, it could turn out to be money well-spent!