Defective Lease - could my buyer's solicitor be wrong?

djm1972

I have been informed by my solicitor that my buyer's solicitor has written to them asserting that the lease is defective, and asking for a "Defective Lease Indemnity".

The flat was built by Barratt 7 years ago (I bought it from new), and when purchased there was never any mention of the lease being defective. Barratt must be using a pretty much standard format lease for the thousands of apartments they sell every year, and my solicitor at the time concluded with the usual recommendation that the property and leasehold were fit for purchase. My solicitor has written back saying that we refuse to pay for the indemnity.

We have already established that my buyer has the world's most picky solicitor (they are insisting on copies of planning permissions that, for example, refer to temporary access for the builders during construction), so could it be in the case of this indemnity that they are simply trying to cover every possible angle just in case the lease is defective when in actual fact it is not?

Doozergirl

AFAIK, when a lease is defective it would relate to a certain clause so I'd be trying to find out where the issue was.

You then either show that it isn't, have the lease altered or purchase indemnity insurance. Whatever it is, it can't be that bad if they are only asking for indemnity insurance as if there were a proper issue then they'd be looking for a deed of variation.

But it's probably going to be one of those things where you just close your eyes and hand over the money for a quiet life

djm1972

Thanks.

The sequence of events was a general update telephone call where he said that my buyer's solicitor had made the request and that they were "looking into it" - I asked how much it would cost and he said it was in the order of a "few" hundred pounds. I think I said "Oh, Wow!" or something like that, but I never said that I wouldn't be prepared to pay it.

Next thing I know I get an email saying that they have written back to the buyer's solicitor saying that we shall not be purchasing or supplying an indemnity for the lease on the grounds that "it was not necessary for our client to purchase one at the outset"...!

My updates always seem to be a little lacking in detail so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that as my solicitor has a copy of the lease they have studied it in reference to my buyer's solicitor's request and concluded that an indemnity is not necessary...

I'm now mentally preparing myself for losing my buyer on the grounds that they are about to receive a letter from their solicitor saying that the lease is dodgy, and I know that would put me off if I was in their shoes!