flat purchase without searches

Martin49_2

Hi,
I am buying a flat to let. Im paying cash so there is no mortgage involved.
It's about 5 years old in a new housing development and is one of 6 in a block close to the new town centre.
Is it worth paying for local authority searches when everyone who bought in this area with a mortgage must have had them.
What do they search for anyway?
Can I save money by visiting the local planning department and doing the searches myself.

Doozergirl

The price of not doing it and coming across a problem is a lot more than the savings you make.

You can run a local authority search yourself. You need to speak to the Land Charges department at your local authority and you'll need to find the forms. I've commissioned searches direct from my LA before (note, I didn't do them myself and it saves no money on doing it through your solicitor; it was for a HIP back when they were introduced and cost a lot) and they did manage to dig the CON29 and LLC1 forms out for me and helped me fill them in. But again, get it wrong and there's no insurance policy to save you.

I'd advise doing it the normal way through your sols and they will check them. It's nothing in comparison to what you're shelling out already and as I said, the penalty is too high if something is wrong. A search is out of date as soon as you've run it so i wouldn't rely on old data that you've never seen!

G_M

Get the forms and do searches yourself.
Decide whether you need Chancel search done.
Visit the council and talk to planners. You'll probobly find out more than any search will show.
Talk to the neighbours. Same as above.
On a new, but established estate, there's far less risk provided water/utilities and roads are all in place.

Having said all that, Doozergirl is right too - main prob is that you miss out on any fallback if anything goes wrong down the line. No one to blame but yourself!

Flat_Eric

Martin49 wrote: »

Hi,
I am buying a flat to let. Im paying cash so there is no mortgage involved.
It's about 5 years old in a new housing development and is one of 6 in a block close to the new town centre.
Is it worth paying for local authority searches when everyone who bought in this area with a mortgage must have had them.
What do they search for anyway?
Can I save money by visiting the local planning department and doing the searches myself.

Look at it this way. You are not getting a mortgage so imagine you are the mortgage company. No doubt you want to be sure that the cold hard earned cash that is currently sitting pretty in your savings account gaining little/no interest (thanks banks) and which you will be loaning yourself to buy the flat is not going to be wasted or devalued.

you want security for the cash you are handing over. you want to be sure that when you come to sell you are not faced with the buyer's inquisitive solicitor picking up on something onerous that means either the buyers make a reduced offer or *demand* an indemnity policy costing £hundreds for lack of something or another or worse still pull out altogether - what happens if the flat you have bought is unmortgageable. That will limit your market of buyers to well, zero.

I don't mean to be so blunt (I do tend to waffle) but the point I am trying to make is that mortgage companies require the fullest investigation into title when considering whether or not to give a mortgage because they want to be guaranteed that they will get their money back. That the property is safe to lend on. Why should it be any different just because its your cash thats getting handed over.

A Local Search is a must. This is what they are all about

http://www.stoke.gov.uk/ccm/content/et/review-and-development/land-charges/what-is-a-search.en;jsessionid=aShWc90LyC26

Get your solicitor to do it because I've seen lots of them and still couldn't understand mine when I bought my house!

As you are not getting a mortgage then you can chat with your solicitor about the other searches but for the small amount they cost in comparison to the price you are no doubt paying for your flat then then its a small financial outlay for the peace of mind.

depending on where the property is situated, searches are but not limited to environmental, chancel, water and drainage, mining (tin or coal).

timmyt

do the searches, they are done for a reason.

G_M

timmyt wrote: »

do the searches, they are done for a reason.

Life is not black and white. Just because it's wise to sometimes do something does not mean you always have to do it.

Travel insurance has many benefits and in many circumstances is a wise precaution.

On a 2 day weekend to Calais, with a EHIC health card, many people might consider buying a travel policy unnecessary.

Life is full of decisions. Use your head, evaluate pros & cons, don't just blindly follow the herd.

timmyt

again, do the searches, they are done for a reason.

local authority - always for a property - and use discretion on con29dw for a flat, enviro and chancel.

good luck OP, always get a legal opinion on whether to do searches not a non-lawyer forum.

<sebb>

timmyt wrote: »

again, do the searches, they are done for a reason.

Your advice may well be sound but it would carry much more weight, and be more useful to the OP if you would explain exactly WHY, in your opinion, that the searches should be done.

Flat_Eric

If someone isn't getting a mortgage then no, its not necessary for them to undertake all the searches but the Local Search is a must As for the other searches - thats something to be discussed between the solicitor and the client.

The Local Search gives so much important information and I can do no better than refer you to my post above with the link because I can't explain it any better.:D

GDB2222

If you know the area well, I don't think you need a local search. Quite frankly, you'll know if there are significant development plans for the area, new roads etc. You probably don't care if the neighbours have applied for permission to put up an extension. Besides that, you can these days find all the planning applications online, FOC.

Chancel - sheesh, that's a long shot.

Environmental - is it really likely the flats would have been sold teh first time around if there were an issue?

One issue is that the cost of the searches is the same regardless of the cost of the property. If it's a cheap property, the cost of searches is proportionately higher, and you are more able to take the risk of something going wrong.

G_M

Flat_Eric wrote: »

If someone isn't getting a mortgage then no, its not necessary for them to undertake all the searches but the Local Search is a must As for the other searches - thats something to be discussed between the solicitor and the client.

The Local Search gives so much important information and I can do no better than refer you to my post above with the link because I can't explain it any better.:D

You're assuming of course that the OP is using a solicitor......!