I've been asked to pay for the buyer's query

Jason1991

I'm selling a leasehold property and the purchase has been held up because the buyer's solicitor thinks there are terms missing in the lease (apparently because it's too old but it's only 1980s) and we're waiting for the council to respond. I'm not convinced this is true as I only bought the property a few years ago and there was nothing wrong the lease then. My solicitor thinks it's because the buyer's solicitor is being very "thorough".

Now I have been asked by my solicitor to pay £80 for the council to answer the enquiry about the lease - is it really me that should be paying for this?

NB. I don't know what the problem is or what they think is missing from the lease as no one has told me, though I did ask my solicitor initially and I will definitely ask again now that I've been asked to pay.

kiddakidda

Mmmm,

I would say it's the buyers responsibility. They have the query to resolve not you.

G_M

Well I certainly wouldn't agre o pay £80 without knowing what it was for!

As for who pays for things like this, well, it is gamesmanship!

Buyer says (or implies) if you don't pay he will withdraw from the purchase, or the delay will result in the deal falling through.

Seller (you) says you won't pay and sale will fall through unless buyer pays himself or dispenses with the enquiry.

....................................................

stator

Well it could go either way I suppose. If you get the matter resolved and the sale falls through for some other reason you've still got the benefit as any other buyer might ask the same question and you've already got the answer. But it's the buyer who wants to know, so you can just tell them to go jump.

enthusiasticsaver

We have a similar issue except it is queries from the Property Management Company who charge approx £135 to answer two queries! We have already paid for the leasehold pack (£250) and a further £135 to answer the buyers' solicitors additional queries. Now apparently they have more queries to ask the management company today so I am betting we will be asked for a further amount for that. I am tempted to tell my solicitor the buyer can pay for them this time!

J_i_m

I can see why a vendor would be reluctant to pay for this kind of fee. If they buyer wants to know then they ought to pay.

But on the other hand, to put themselves in the best position to sell shouldn't the vendor have all this kind of information readily available anyway?

If I viewed a property only to find that the vendor did not have certain important information about the lease etc and that I had to start paying £80 here £130 there to see that information simply to be able to decide whether I want make an offer or not then I would quickly get annoyed.

£80 here or £130 may seem like pocket change when compared to the overall price of the property, but if you start having to splash out that kind of money on every property you view before you can offer then it'd quickly start eating into your budget for overall fees, survey, solicitors etc.

So in my position, if I viewed a property and they couldn't tell me some basic information about the lease and that I'd have to pay to find it out, I'd say no thanks and view a property more prepared to sell.

If a vendor hopes for a buyer in the best possible position to proceed then they too should be in the best possible position to sell and it shouldn't be up to to the buyer to pay for that.

You wouldn't expect to pay to have a car serviced and mot before you decided to buy it would you?

Jason1991

Thank you for all the responses.

I'm still waiting to hear from my solicitor on what the queries are (it may be that I do have the information but unless I'm told what the issue is I can't be of much help!). I suspect it's more than a basic query about the lease though as I've provided a copy of the lease as well as extensive other documentation.