confused about indemnity insurance

melysion

Hi - I am a FTB. Things have been progressing just fine but the environmental search failed and it was recommended that I take out indemnity insurance.

I have instructed my solicitor to do this, but now he says he is requesting an allowance to be agreed with the vendor (the cost of the insurance plus his fees for setting it up) - when I asked what this meant he stated that upon completion, we send the vendor the full balance less the cost of the policy

I am a bit confused. Is he effectively expecting the vendor to pay for this? I assumed I would be the person coughing up. And if so, is this normal practice? I am sure it is - just want to check

melysion

oops - sorry. Don't know why the font changed like that!

Moomum

I understand that a vendor does normally pay for indemnity insurance but it is up to them if they do or not, my friend is buying, her vendors are refusing to pay so she is happy too so the sale doesn't fall through.

melysion

Thanks for the response. I fear my vendor wont want to pay - but i have no objection to doing so. Seems a bit silly to risk a sale for about £240 though!!

DRP

melysion wrote: »

Thanks for the response. I fear my vendor wont want to pay - but i have no objection to doing so. Seems a bit silly to risk a sale for about £240 though!!

look after the pennies, the £££ will look after themselves! :money:

240 quid is a decent amount of money if you think what that would buy in terms of carpets, pots of paint, furniture etc etc that you will have to shell out for on top ...

Did you feel you under-paid or perhaps over-paid for the property? if under, then I might write it off... but if i felt i'd been squeezed i'd probably dig my heels in or come to some kind of 50/50 arrangement! :money:

melysion

I definitely underpaid (vendor wanted a quick sale) so have no objections to this at all - plus the vendor is throwing in some white goods so I feel very fortunate. I just didn't want this to become a stumbling block.

My solicitor knows now I am happy to pick up the tab

jbainbridge

Am I the only one to wonder what the search has 'failed' on?

melysion

Wasnt very exciting. There used to be a sewage works nearby. Gone now but there was an issue about whether one could prove whether the land was contaminated or not.

Yorkie1

My seller agreed to pay for an indemnity insurance policy, so my solicitor arranged it and deducted the cost before sending the rest of the purchase money to the seller's solicitor - just as your solicitor is suggesting he does.

If the seller doesn't agree to pay for it, your solicitor will expect you to pay him the money along with the rest of the fees / purchase price etc.

Richard_Webster

If there is something adverse about a property then normally we would expect the seller to pay for an indemnity policy.