Defective Title Insurance

RRatchet

We own a farm an hope to enter into a contract with a Wind Farm Developer for a number of large turbines in that we will rent them some ground and get a % based on the electricity generated.

The Problem: apparently our title is "defective" a term which I admit rankles mainly for the fact that it isn't. As we live in Scotland our title is on the Registers Of Sassines and is descriptive which is perfectly legal and normal however this is the old fashioned way of doing it. The Land Registry is the modern way and is plan/map based.

My OH's grandfather bought the farm of the Estate in the 1920's and it has passed down the generations to father to son (OH). The title we have is considered good enough for our Bank who have security over the farm because of a large overdraft BUT it is not good enough for the Bankers/Solicitors of the WFD who say that they will not lend unless we pay for Title Indemnity Insurance for the benefit of the funders. Are their solicitors being unreasonable our solicitors think that they are? We know our options (we think); I can go into more detail if necessary. The cheapest? insurance the WFD has found is £10,000 per year (which would be shared between us & the developer), that sounds exorbitant is it and for how long would/could it last for? Where would we get quotes from?

There are no covenants/access issue. The risk of some-one coming along and saying "hey that's actually our land you've put the wind farm on we want our share" or "your not building that monstrosity there" is infinitessimaly small. We honestly don't understand where they are coming from. Sometimes we wonder if solicitors invent/exaggerate problems to justify their eye watering fees or maybe their mate owns the insurance company or there is referral commission.

Although we own a farm (small) we are not minted and £5000pa would make a serious dent in our finances & cashflow at least initially. This wind farm was meant to provide us with a pension, help diversify the business and enable much overdue investment in buildings/machinery etc. At the moment and especially if it doesn't come of we'll be much worse off.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

InsideInsurance

I dont know about Registers Of Sassines but is it possible to get that converted into the more modern land registry entry and thus avoid the need for insurance? It may also help in the future if you look to sell the property to someone without knowledge of Scots law who also get twitchy about no land registry documents.

As to if £10k a year is reasonable? That would depend on the sum insured. I suspect it is a fairly specialist product so little competition and so premiums would be high. As to the length of time, thatll be down to the contract between the two parties to agree on.