solicitor needs deeds before starting searches?

Debt_Free_Chick

lotto-dreamer wrote:

A postcode only identifies the postal address of the property.

The Land Registry plan shows the outline of the property as well as any surrounding areas which may require searching.

Multimap will show you the surrounding area

So if a solicitor used this service, the results could be defective or inadequate?

MegS

Of course we need the Land Registry plan otherwise we don't know the extent of the property being sold. They could have a right of way outlined on the plan or a garage away from the property but still listed under the same title number for example. Not all properties are straight blocks from footpaths to end of back garden. It is the vendor's (solicitors) responsibility to provide the plan (and Land Registry office copy entries), clients don't like to pay for any more than they have to so if we told a buyer they had to pay £8 (or whatever fee the online provider charges) to get the office copy entries I think 99% of them would put their foot down and say no as it is the vendor's responsibility. As most searches (if done with an online provider as opposed to direct with the local authority) only take about a week to get back its not really holding anything up. In my experience its always waiting for the mortgage offer from the lender that holds things up and makes things drag along. Even when they bring these HIPS things in (once they decide what they are bringing in) its not going to change anything as lenders have their own time zone.

MegS

Oh I missed saying that when we put in for the search we have to plot a plan for the extent of the property we are searching.

lotto-dreamer

I'm selling my house at the moment and my solicitors made me pay £50 and give them the title deeds before they would start working on the sale. I wish I'd known they could get what they needed for £6 before I paid! - A Nice Englishman

Some solicitors don't charge on a sale until right at the end and they recoup their costs before paying seller the sale proceeds. But yes, if your property is registered they could have obtained a plan with the Office Copies instantly online! Enough to start the ball rolling anyway by sending off a draft Contract to the purchaser's solicitors with the plan to enable them to do their searches!

Title deeds used to consist of all the old documents relating to the property. Now, with registered properties, old deeds and documents are often sent back to the owner of the property by the solicitor on completion of a purchase.

Just a thought - but one area which can really hold things up when selling is when alterations have been done to a property and copies of the relevant planning permissions etc cannot be easily produced. These will show up in the search results and, if relevant, the purchaser's solicitors will always ask for copies.

Good luck with your sale!

lotto-dreamer

So if a solicitor used this service, the results could be defective or inadequate?

Yes, that would probably be fine. Not all solicitors use this though.

tifnstav

A_Nice_Englishman wrote:

Thanks for that, lotto-dreamer.

I'm selling my house at the moment and my solicitors made me pay £50 and give them the title deeds before they would start working on the sale. I wish I'd known they could get what they needed for £6 before I paid!

I think its a good idea to get money up front - if your solicitor needs to obtain copies of any documents from say, the council, they will ask for money from you, you'll have to post a cheque yada yada yada, this then causes a delay.
by asking for money up front at least they're covered for this eventuality.

and in terms of asking for the deeds, your property might not be registered, so the deeds would not be downloadable from the land registry website.

tifnstav

MegS wrote:

Of course we need the Land Registry plan otherwise we don't know the extent of the property being sold. They could have a right of way outlined on the plan or a garage away from the property but still listed under the same title number for example. Not all properties are straight blocks from footpaths to end of back garden.

I agree, you could have several plots of land that would be associated with the property. some people buy gardens that aren't directly behind their houses and build stuff on it - this area should be searched too.
you wouldn't want your solicitor to do searches on only half of your land so they should check the extent when they get the draft contracts in (the bundle of documents that will contain a plan).

also, if the sellers solicitors haven't issued contracts it may be that the seller hasn't instructed them to - they might not be sure about selling. in this case, you would be obtaining your own plan and doing searches that might not be necessary because you might not end up proceeding.
not very moneysaving.

mrsc_4

We are also waiting for title deeds from our Vendors lender we have been waiting for them for nearly a month, they are needed to answer enquiries our solicitor has raised! The lender can't send them out without listing everything in the pack and they were supposed to have been received by last friday at the latest!

Vendors solicitor wants to see if there are building regs and planning permission paperwork held with them - well we know there isn't any planning permission so therefore no building regs so it makes everything else even more frustrating!!

bs0u0128

why do these take such a while though? i take it theyre also not on every house as this is the first purchase ive had where this has come up? i assumed it would be afew days in the post quite wrongly it would seem! LOL

also the property im into, has been sold 2wice in past 6 yrs, and is only 18 yrs old so thought it would be registered? is there a site u can check if it is, for free?

Debt_Free_Chick

bs0u0128 wrote:

also the property im into, has been sold 2wice in past 6 yrs, and is only 18 yrs old so thought it would be registered? is there a site u can check if it is, for free?

Put the postcode of the property into the Land Registry site and hit "Search". A list of properties covered by that postcode appears.

Select your property from that list and then click on "Information Available" alongside the property. You will then see a list of what the Land Registry holds and the price you would have to pay to get an instant electronic copy. The list would be something like "Title Plan, Register, Transfer, Conveyance" etc - not all those things will be on every single entry.

If the property is not listed, then the details aren't on the electronic register