Kitchen in basement flat vault

sirhobo

I'm a first time buyer and viewed a freehold basement flat that I'm interested in making an offer for but the kitchen seems to have been built in a basement vault. The EA suggested it would be fine as long as I take out an indemnity policy, but I'm concerned there might be other complications and that such a policy could get expensive.

I'm going to try and find out whether the vault is demised to the property, but does anyone else have any other advice as to what questions I should be asking the vendor or EA? Do I need to find out when the kitchen was built and whether it had planning permission and was in line with building regs? When would I need an indemnity - if kitchen doesn't have permission and/or meet building regs? What else do I need to worry about?!

Thanks in advance for your help!

BitterAndTwisted

Buyers don't take out indemnity insurance, it's the sellers who should do this if it's deemed necessary. Don't take accept any agent's word about anything. All of your questions should be addressed to a solicitor about building regs and planning permission, I think. Have you had a survey done yet?

I'm not clear on what this "vault" might be. Would you care to explain?

Richard_Webster

Buyers don't take out indemnity insurance, it's the sellers who should do this if it's deemed necessary. Don't take accept any agent's word about anything. All of your questions should be addressed to a solicitor about building regs and planning permission, I think. Have you had a survey done yet?

That's right. Estate agents rarely know this level of detail.

sirhobo

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Buyers don't take out indemnity insurance, it's the sellers who should do this if it's deemed necessary. Don't take accept any agent's word about anything. All of your questions should be addressed to a solicitor about building regs and planning permission, I think. Have you had a survey done yet?

I'm not clear on what this "vault" might be. Would you care to explain?

I'm not really sure myself what the history of these pavement vaults are, but presumably they were used in the Georgian or Edwardian period for storage (coal?). I've seen them on a few floorplans of London properties. I haven't had a survey done yet. I was hoping that the vendor would provide me with more details about the works so that I could make a more informed decision about whether to put an offer in first and spend the money for a survey. I suppose a full structural survey might be needed eventually.

kmmr

I know them - they are very common in my area. Not sure I am a huge fan of the design, but they could work.

I would make sure you check that the area of the kitchen is properly demised. My friend pulled out of a sale when she compared the measurements to the lease plan, and reaslised that the vault (which was a bedroom in her case) extended so far under the road that it wasn't even part of the freehold. I think, but not sure, that the freehold ends at the line between pavement and road, and many of these vaults were 'accidently' dug further under the actual road.

In the snow you can see who have done this - as they will have areas where the snow has melted out onto the road, due to the extra heat coming from the underground room.

BitterAndTwisted

Right, I understand now. Some friends of mine own a basement flat and the vault area under the street is not part of their lease, but it is part of the freehold so it's communal although none of the other leaseholders choose to use it.

Are you sure this flat is freehold? It's much more likely to be leasehold with share of the freehold.

kmmr

But some of these vaults are only accessible from the basement flat. In my flat there are two areas - one is entered from my basement flat, and the other area is much lower height and is a shared bin area. The one accessed from my flat is demised to me, and the rest is theoretically available to the others in the building.

I may (innocent look) have accidentaly locked the shared area. So I will know if they ever want to use it!

sirhobo

Thanks for all your replies

Yes, it's leasehold with share of freehold, sorry, my mistake. Access to the vault (ie kitchen) is only via the basement flat, so communal access would be hard unless they broke the tiny window!

Is it straightforward to get hold of the document (lease plan?) to see whether the vault is owned by the freehold or not? Is it something the seller can provide? Or is this something only the conveyancing solicitor requests?

So before I make an offer I'm going to ask if the vault is demised to the freehold property/basement flat and, if not, whether the seller has an indeminity policy on the vault. Do you think there's anything else I should find out from the seller/EA before putting an offer in?

zzzLazyDaisy

sirhobo wrote: »

Is it straightforward to get hold of the document (lease plan?) to see whether the vault is owned by the freehold or not?

Are you in England or Wales. If so it is worth doing a search for the property (click the 'find a property' tab). You can buy a copy of the registered plan and title deeds for £4 each.

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/

sirhobo

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Are you in England or Wales. If so it is worth doing a search for the property (click the 'find a property' tab). You can buy a copy of the registered plan and title deeds for £4 each.

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/

That's a great idea, thanks! I guess it's the Title Plan I need rather than the Title Register? There are listings for both the Freehold tenure and for the Leasehold. Will I need both since the vault may only show up on the Freehold if it's a shared space?

zzzLazyDaisy

Ummmm.... I don't know :o

The plan will show what area of land you are buying, so I guess that the shape will give you a good idea (if the building is square with no sticking out bit, that would be a clue )

As for the title register - it may make reference to the lease, and any covenants. So I guess it is possible that it might say something about what the vault may or may not be used for in there. I don't really know, I'm guessing.

But since its only £4 a pop, why not get the plan, and if there are still concerns or unresolved issues, get the title register and see what it reveals.

In any case your solicitor will have to obtain a copy of the deeds from the land registry and will be able to advise you, but that doesn't help you if you want information in order to decide whether to put an offer in.

Just a thought - depending on how long the place has been for sale, the EA may have a copy of the deeds as I believe they used to be included in the now defunct HIP.