Indemnity Policy for risk of missing Title Documents

Walnut

I am acting as executor of my late mum's estate and am currently in the process of selling her house. She bought the house with my dad (also deceased) in 1975 as a new build.

I have received a letter from my solicitor stating:

'We note that the purchaser's solicitor have requested that we put in place an indemnity policy for the risk of missing title document.

We have obtained a quote for this and the cost is £230 (We note that this includes our fee of £50 plus VAT for arranging this policy).'

Apparently this is because there is a note on the title to the property stating some documents were missing when the property was registered. I phoned my solicitor and she said that it is to protect my purchaser and it is normal for the seller to pay for the insurance.

Does any one have any experience with this or even know if I can arrange the insurance cheaper myself? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

motherofstudents

This happened with a house we bought around 2003 and sold 2007. The vendors paid for an indemnity policy when we bought and we paid when we sold. I can't remember how much it was exactly but definitely not as high as £230, nowhere near that much. I'm not sure if you could get your own polciy when your solicitor is doing your conveyancing. Maybe someone with a bit more knowledge will be able to help on that.

Yorkie1

Indemnity policies are almost always arranged solely through solicitors rather than direct access. I don't know whether that's a good price though.

As you are selling, you are the one trying to establish that you have the right to sell and therefore should pay for this.

I don't suppose that the missing documents have been found in the intervening years, have they? Or can be rectified now so that the restriction can be removed from the register?

Walnut

Thank you for the replies. I will look into if it's worth getting the policy myself.

I do know a few of the neighbours who have moved in over the last few years, so I will ask them if they came across this as well.

Richard_Webster

Sometimes looking at the titles of neighbouring propeties will reveal details of the contents of the missing document, but the solcitors will say that they will have to charge for their research time and cost of obtaining copies to do this.

In some cases buyers' solicitors can be pacified by the production of official copies of a neighbouring property's title with the covenants in question set out.