"local Searches" HIP and house purchase

Ilovesummer

I am not questioning the point of Local Searches having done. I am questioning the price of it offered by my lawyer- several hundred pounds for the basic Local Searches required for each HIP. I am not buying a bizzare house in a location where is radon, floods or coal mines but an ordinary location in the middle of South West London.

We can always for everything pay more and have everything done at top prices of the market, but there is a reasonable limit what is necessary in the searches for particular type of the house especially if we are not buying a mansion for £1 mln but a small mid-terraced house in the development with dozens of similar houses.

Doozergirl

Ilovesummer wrote: »

I am not buying with the asking price but 10 k below. It is is the maximum I managed to negotiated and believe me he accepted my 3rd offer and many offers of other people were refused. The house was valued by motgage lender for the price we paying
My question was about PRICE for Local Searches. And if a lawyer is honest when he claims that only "good" Local Search is bvalid and that can be done by his colleques and it cost SEVERAL HUNDRED POUNDS. Anybody knows about that?

Solicitors cannot profit from things like searches. I doubt that your solicitor is.

In order to protect yourself from buying a failure of a house, it is important that you have the relevant searches carried out. They are not 'nice to have' they are essential - any search is out of date as soon as it is carried out. The fact that your vendor doesn't want to pay twice is reasonable - it is the legislation around HIPs that is pointless. There is no point in the vendor paying at all if it is out of date really as soon as it is produced. If someone puts in for PP for a house in the garden 1 day after the search is produced, you will see nothing of it until the house appears!

The searches have always been paid for by a buyer in the past, you are not alone and you will certainly not be the last of those that end up duplicating what has already been done - it is as frustrating for a vendor as it is for you as they spent that money for no good reason. Searches would normally cost in the region of £250-300 all in, including the LA search.

There are several searches which should be carried out and many of them will be requested by a lender. The cost of a local search is dependent upon the local authority. If you want to commission it youself directly from them, there is theoretically no reason why you can't! In fact, when I commissioned my own for a HIP a couple of years ago, the man who did the land searches at my LA said he would update it for me for free if needed - they don't get a lot of people that commission their own searches!

I should think that if you ask your solicitor for a written breakdown of the costs of the searches he wants/needs to carry out then he will provide you with that.

Ilovesummer

That is more like a relevant response I was looking for. Thank you Doozergirl
My solicitor would like to commision his collegue to do the Local Searches and they would charge this several hundred £ for the basic searches required in each HIP ( not including water and drainage). I wonder why the certified HIP providers for the same searches would charge £95-140 whilst he wishes several hundred. In the end it is the same and the source is the same: internet portals.
I will ask him for the breakdown of the price. That is a good advice

Keith

Ilovesummer wrote: »

we are not talking about entire HIP but only Local searches.

Cheap entire HIP £100-180

More expensive £300-£500

we are talking only about part of HIP called LOCAL SEARCHES that cost from HIP providers £95-140 where total is £300 therefore or above. But I don't need entire HIP just the Local Searches

As I said "The search provider we use is more expensive than the cheap HIP providers on the 'net". In other words, the company who provide my employer with the Searches included within the HIP (local & drainage) charge more than the cheap HIP providers.

Just because your solicitor can't beat the cheap HIP supplier doesn't meant they are trying to con you. They should be able to provide an exact cost of the searches before they confirm the order.

And in the OP you mentioned it should be cheaper as it's done online, if only, we are charged a fee by our searcher on top of the searches and that is also passed on to the Client.

Ilovesummer

P.S. Why then local searches including LA are much cheaper in HIPs?

Ilovesummer

Keith wrote: »

A

And in the OP you mentioned it should be cheaper as it's done online, if only, we are charged a fee by our searcher on top of the searches and that is also passed on to the Client.

many thanks for clairification.
So I understand now why the price in some cases might be far more expensive. But I presume since the searches are done online the quality of them is nearly equal regardless who is doing it... (?)

WhiteHorse

Also consider this. If the search is done by your solicitor, then you know who did it and what their qualifications are. You also have comeback if you need it. You get what you pay for.

Who exactly is doing what online? And how will you come back on them if they mess it up?

Dan_1976

Tell them to stick it and walk away!

Ilovesummer

the HIP companies are accredited and are also responsible for the results. Apart from that what can be messed up with downloading data from the internet and certifying it? I am convinced that solicitors are paid for it so much because naive people like to feel that they got a "better" service whilst in fact they do exactly the same as HIP providers.
All data available online:)The existing Local Authoritity search in the HIP from 2008 is full of "none" because there isn't anything particulary unusual about the mid terraced house in the development of dozens identical houses in the middle of London.

I have just spent £600+ for Homebuyers survey and received the results. It is also because the people who earn the money for that convinced me how important it is to have it rather than only valuation. What did I find? Honestly, it is useless. It includes nothing that I wouldn't noticed with my bare eyes! They copy paste sentences from a template and endlessly repeat that every single part will age with the time. I haven't found anything in the Homebuyer survey that would surprise me, or anything new that I wouldn't know. I could stick only to valuation price and it would be sufficient.

Dan_1976

Dan_1976 wrote: »

Tell them to stick it and walk away!

SOrry I was tired!