House purchase searches and other arising issues.

misssaver12

Currently buying a property, offer accepted. Going through the paperwork process.

Background is house has been marketed for sale several times in the last few years and not sold. Was an offer made but EA said person buying died?? Was redeveloped by current seller from a bungalow to a house. We offered and were accepted on under asking as we felt property was overpriced (6months on Market and no offers!!)

Searches have come back with some issues .There is an old covenant on the property and the seller has refused to pay for an indemnity insurance so we have been advised to (not told of the cost currently ? Could this be expensive ?)
Some building work not dated ( assuming this means not signed off?).The road is unadopted so any issues on road outside the property we have to pay for.

The surface water does not run into a public drain and other water drainage issues.
Also we went for a 3rd viewing this week to do measurements and the house was advertised and sold to us with the impression that there was a working wood burner...pictured in adverts ( listed every time the property has been marked) etc.


We noted on this occasion when asking about the pipe maintenance that wood burner pictured in adverts has been removed to be replaced by a imitation electric replacement fire, roof tiles put over where the pipe would have come out of roof and new plasterboard into the fireplace top. When we asked the EA they paused before saying it was probably a EA mistake. There is clearly a wood burner pipe on the roof in google earth so at some point the seller has removed this burner and not informed us. This was a feature we liked about the property and was an advertised part of the selling.
Can anything be done about this?

Also noticed that there is a brown wooden window at the side of the property almost next to a new white UPVC window ( which matches
the rest of the property windows) into the room and the inside of
the wooden window has been plaster boarded over so not a part of the room which has a connecting shower room added to the back of the property. Why would anyone not have this window dealt with by removing and bricking up and could this cause issues? Such as damp. We noticed this on this viewing but not previously due to it's location.
We are both getting apprehensive about the things cropping up,
We have yet to have a (full) surveyor inspect the property (seeing what comes back in reponse to the solicitors questions) and wonder if we should send a builder there to do some inspecting first.

Seller has a property they are purchasing.
We have put all these comments to our solicitor to ask the seller. (although thought I'd air my worries/concerns on here to see if anyone can offer words of wisdom than wait for the long bank holiday to pass)

Thanks

casperlarue

misssaver12 wrote: »

Currently buying a property, offer accepted. Going through the paperwork process.

Background is house has been marketed for sale several times in the last few years and not sold. Was an offer made but EA said person buying died?? Was redeveloped by current seller from a bungalow to a house. Did the seller obtain planning permission to do this, if it was required? We offered and were accepted on under asking as we felt property was overpriced (6months on Market and no offers!!)

Searches have come back with some issues .There is an old covenant on the property and the seller has refused to pay for an indemnity insurance so we have been advised to (not told of the cost currently ? Could this be expensive ?) Have you looked at the title deeds from land Registry (costs £3) to see what the covenants are?
Some building work not dated ( assuming this means not signed off?).The road is unadopted so any issues on road outside the property we have to pay for.

The surface water does not run into a public drain and other water drainage issues. Where does the water go then? To private sewer, soakaways, septic tank?
Also we went for a 3rd viewing this week to do measurements and the house was advertised and sold to us with the impression that there was a working wood burner...pictured in adverts ( listed every time the property has been marked) etc.


We noted on this occasion when asking about the pipe maintenance that wood burner pictured in adverts has been removed to be replaced by a imitation electric replacement fire, roof tiles put over where the pipe would have come out of roof and new plasterboard into the fireplace top. When we asked the EA they paused before saying it was probably a EA mistake. There is clearly a wood burner pipe on the roof in google earth so at some point the seller has removed this burner and not informed us. This was a feature we liked about the property and was an advertised part of the selling.
Can anything be done about this? Was it listed on the fixtures and fittings form? If not then you can't count on it being included.

Also noticed that there is a brown wooden window at the side of the property almost next to a new white UPVC window ( which matches
the rest of the property windows) into the room and the inside of
the wooden window has been plaster boarded over so not a part of the room which has a connecting shower room added to the back of the property. Why would anyone not have this window dealt with by removing and bricking up and could this cause issues? Such as damp. We noticed this on this viewing but not previously due to it's location.
We are both getting apprehensive about the things cropping up,
We have yet to have a (full) surveyor inspect the property (seeing what comes back in reponse to the solicitors questions) and wonder if we should send a builder there to do some inspecting first.

Seller has a property they are purchasing.
We have put all these comments to our solicitor to ask the seller. (although thought I'd air my worries/concerns on here to see if anyone can offer words of wisdom than wait for the long bank holiday to pass)

Thanks

Hard to comment specifically not knowing the full background of the property, price etc but hope the above helps you out.

misssaver12

Planning application made for work on house. Front extension and new room with accommodation.
Have copy of the covenant it covers lots including not building certain structures in garden, contributing to local church font etc.. The solicitors warning is that the current holder of the covenant whoever it maybe can make a claim at any time on it....

Solicitors have asked seller where the waters soak away too..and still await a response.

As the advert included the wood burner as a selling feature, showed pictures and suggested that it was ideal for cold nights it's a bit like adverting an car with leather seats...and then removing the leather once someone has offered to buy it....
I will check the fixtures and fittings list to see if its listed on it..the seller just seemed to tick the boxes and would not have added the burner.. I still want it chased to see if there is any reason it had to be removed..i.e neighbours complaints because if it's reinstated at our cost don't want to have to remove it.

G_M

When you went back this week, did you not ask the seller about th waste watr? Or the burner? what did they say?

What do you mean by 'planning application made'? Was it approved or rejected? Or is it a recent retrospective application and pending?

misssaver12

The seller was not there we have not meet the seller..all contact has been via the EA.It was the EA showing us around again.
We have refered the question about the wood burner to the solicitor...there is no mention on the fixtures and fittings of the wood burner. Radiators and electric fires are ticked as included and free standing fires are ticked as none.
Planning application was approved and work done but paperwork says 'not dated' after all the searches.

The convent which I have just read refers to a 1929 convent which lists lots about water pipes access, not building on the pipes, no factories or workshops on the land, no building a certain distance from the road front. Having fences erected on sides of property at all times, one building for private use only etc. ( my last house was so straight forwards compared to all these issues it's quite daunting)

misssaver12

Also reading up on the searches noted that the property is 250m zone of a floodplain.... ( it's near the sea would it be indicating that or something more worrying?)

I wish I could understand technical house jargon better..house buying would be so much more simpler.

misssaver12

All sorted on the buying house, burner is being left and the other things sorted.

Now frustrated by the property I am selling. The buyers solicitors keep asking the same questions or missing details...asked 3 times what is the cost for the boundaries ( answered this the first time it was asked ) and also want me to pay indemity for not having fensa etc cetificates which have all been sent to them weeks ago. And to contact the council to prove I have not been in breach of anything. Even though I have not been in breach and told them this.

I called the EA to contact the buyer to let them know that the delays are from their solicitor and if these delays continue I will remarketed the house as it's jeopardising the chain with the property we are purchasing (that EA has been on the phone suggesting completion day of the weekend before the next bank holiday from the seller and feel that we are no where near
unless the buyers solicitor sort themselves out.)
Sorry just needed a rant as so stressed out now, my solicitors are going to the office tomorrow to keep the pressure on...but with a
bank holiday and the other solicitors being a high street solicitors who seem to take a week to respond to all the response we send I just feel the whole process slipping away.

Is there anything I could do? I don't see why I should purchase an indemnity on not having fensa certificates which they have.

Thanks