complicated to resolve?

Vikaroo

Shes not asking me to pay for the indemnity policy shes asking the seller. Which I dont feel all to comfortable about either.

Thanks for the advice I may do this. I have since e-mailed her asking her to consider some of the options some of you have suggested.

da_rule

Excellent. Let us know what she says, will be interesting to hear.

Vikaroo

Our solicitor wants us to go ahead with the imdemnity policy and the seller is willing to pay, this is all well and good but in my opinion its not worth the paper it is written on. A clause in the insurance says that if there is any communication between the homeowner regarding lack of easement and the land owner the insurance is null and void. So this worries me about when we come to apply for access to put a drive on the home. Because in applying we will be notifying the land owner of the access issue and thus voiding the indemnity policy. So what is the point of it in the first place?

The issue is now that our mortgage offer expires in May and that isn't long enough to resolve the issue in another way.

Am I worrying over nothing? Is it likely that the housing association will deny rights of access to my house if they become aware of the issue? Dont know what to do for the best now.

Solicitor basically says insure now worry later. Just get in the house first.

Davesnave

Vikaroo wrote: »

Is it likely that the housing association will deny rights of access to my house if they become aware of the issue? Dont know what to do for the best now.

Solicitor basically says insure now worry later. Just get in the house first.

If everyone else in the road is in the same position, then I think the likelihood of that is very remote, After all what advantage would the HA gain, and how on earth would they enforce if they did?

Did you speak to potential neighbours and ask if anyone had tried to gain a driveway? If it's physically possible, then it strikes me as a warning sign that no one has done it. However, it could also be that Highways have objected, not the HA.

Vikaroo

I havnt asked as of yet. I intend to do so though when we move in. A driveway is not essential to us but would be helpful as the parking situation in the street is a bit of a pain especially for visitors. The street wasn't designed to accomodate parking thats for sure! Google earth it. The post code is ST18 9PG.

Davesnave

Hmmm.....I think it's a very pleasant-looking road, and mainly because cars have been kept out of people's gardens!

It's likely that the parking on the verges/hardstanding is with the tacit agreement of the HA. It's also probable that they have a policy of not allowing vehicular access across these verges in a purely legal sense, thus preventing the creation of driveways.

da_rule

My father used to work for a HA so I ran this past him. He said that he had a few situations where this happened. It was their general policy that they would allow someone vehicular access over their land if they wanted to build a drive way, BUT they would charge a small fortune for it. Somewhere in the region of £5,000-£10,000. That would cover the HA's legal costs, the granting of an easement and installing a drop kerb and installing Tarmac over the grass. They would also require copies of any planning/building regs approvals before they would process the application. This is obviously just one HA and each one will probably have different policies, but just thought it might be of interest.

Vikaroo

Thanks guys.

Vikaroo

This is getting beyond a joke now... we went along with the indemnity policy like the solicitor recommended in the end and the seller has kindly offered to pay for this. However she has had to forward this to our lender to make sure they are happy with this. She faxed this to them on Thursday and they still havn't reviewed it yet claiming they only received this on Monday and that it takes 3 working days for them to review items sent to them. The solicitor says this may take time as the lender may want to refer to the surveyors as it may impact on the value of the house.

What a load of bull this is.

It has been 3 months now and we are not in any form of chain and we are still no closer to exchanging
Feel like telling her to shove it. Problem is to us its our forever home.

perbinder

I suspect that the indemnity is not worth the paper is written on. I would have approached the housing association directly and see what they feel is the easiest and best way forward. You don't want this hassle in the future or when you sell the house.