Agh! owner refusing to provide documents

katepnlo

Last bit before exhange..chase the owner for the indemnity insurance policy for the extesnion at teh back of the house and also for the gas cert for the central heating they had installed in 2007.

They have said no to both.....
They don't see why they have to?!
If they don't then it looks like our mortgage offer will be withdrawn..They say if we want to prove the gas/extension are safe then we are to do it?!

I'm not amused

I knew i shouldn't have started the bloody packing!

liamwilliams

Strange one, surely they have to give it to you! What does your solicitor say? Mine was done no problem 2 weeks ago, they had installed a new central heating system last year and had it serviced in May as requested by my solicitor, also they took an indemnity policy out on an extension that was built 10 years ago.

scottishblondie

katepnlo wrote: »

They have said no to both.....
They don't see why they have to?!

Perhaps because you won't buy the house without them? This would worry me, are you sure that they actually have these documents?

Grimbal

deleted - sorry

katepnlo

This is my worry..The house is lots of money (for us and we will put in a fair sized deposit)

They don't have a certificate for the heating system.

The extension is 30 years old and has no planning/building regs. They say it is solid and no problems the whole time they have been there. so they will not provide teh solicitores with an indemnity policy.

liamwilliams

katepnlo wrote: »

The extension is 30 years old and has no planning/building regs. They say it is solid and no problems the whole time they have been there. so they will not provide teh solicitores with an indemnity policy.

Solid or not, Indemnity wont cover it if it falls down anyway if I'm correct, it will only come in to play if the council come knocking saying if it's not built to correct standards.

They should provide this in my opinion! can understand your frustrations.

Seanymph

I have just taken out two indemnity policies - both stupid and unnecessary - one for £200 and one for about £30. This policy will cost them peanuts in the grand scheme of things.

perhaps you could 'privately' offer to share 50% of the cost of the policy or something?

MarshallMellow

IMO if these documents existed, they would be provided. The indemnity insurance on a 30yr old extension; which probably doesn't have any architect cert or hasn't passed any building regulation; may be difficult to obtain and won't be cheap. The central heating gas cert shouldn't be as difficult nor expensive, as it can be serviced and passed.
The reason for the vendor's agressive stance I would imagine is that they want you to chase these up at your expense.
If the sale is at an advanced stage, I can only imagine that any deal falling through will have a big impact on the vendor too, so you should insist that they satisfy the terms that have been set in your mortgage offer.
Your solicitor should have spotted these issues before you got to this stage though.

scottishblondie

After 30 years I don't think the planning people can do anything about it, but I'm not sure on the building regs side of things. Have you had a full structural survey done on the house to ensure that the extension is sound?

As for the boiler etc, they should have an installation certificate that they can provide you with, but that only ensures that it was installed properly, not that it is still working properly or is safe now. I might be inclined to have an inspection done before proceeding regardless of whether or not they can provide the documents.

cddc

They should provide if asked, get your solicitor on the case. We got these a few years ago when we bought our current house. Single storey self built extension with no permission built over 40 years ago.
Vendor got indemnity insuarance with ease. Truth be told is that he has not bothered to get them! You will normally need these are they normally a condition of the mortgage offer in these circumstances.

Get your solicitor to kick his ****.

sunshinetours

Like all things to do with buying and selling ot probably comes down to cost and the vendor not understanding (understanbaly IMO) why he should get an indemnity certificate on a 30 year old extension.

On the boiler instalation it could be he had a cash job and doesn't have the certificate - for your own peace of mind and your family's safety you should get someone at your own cost to inspect this anyway regardless of regulations

There is always two sides to every story and it may be the vendor simply hasn't sold a house for many years and hasn't had the process explained to him very well of course!

If you love the house then don't lose it for a few hundred pounds at most but would be nice if vendor would at least meet you half way i guess