Buying previous searches and survey from fallen through purchase

qbazdz

Hi All,

We have finally found a house and had our offer accepted just over a week ago. :j
Everything seems to be going quite well and quick as we had our mortgage approved already, solicitors have had a pack of documents from the vendor.
Everyone would love to complete before Christmas even though it sounds very optimistic. :eek:

We have had a letter from our solicitors who received a letter from vendor's solicitor that the previous buyer (purchase fell through as the chain fell apart and we are first time buyers) would potentially want to sell the searches and the homebuyers report that they had done at the time.

Is this a normal practice? Is there any point in doing so?
It appears that the prices they are asking for would not offer us much of a saving although obviously it would speed things up (at least the searches I guess as I can have the homebuyers report at the end of next week).

Thanks!

enthusiasticsaver

Yes, it is normal practice to certainly sell on searches if a previous buyer has dropped out. As for price, that is negotiable but I guess it will also save time.

Yorkie1

1. Will your lender be happy with old searches (I believe some expire after a certain period of time)?

2. Are you happy with old searches, particularly any that your lender might not be too bothered about?

3. Are you confident that if anything goes wrong with the house, you'll have legal comeback against the surveyor? Usually the duty of care is owed only to the original buyer. Also, often the survey is written solely for their eyes and specifically says it shouldn't be passed on.

eddddy

Be careful about buying the Homebuyer's Report.

You would have no contract with the Surveyor that did the report, and they probably have no duty of care to you as you are not their customer.

So if it turns out that they were negligent (e.g. they failed to spot problems etc), you cannot claim against them.

stator

I doubt the mortgage company will accept someone else's searches.
As above you could buy the home buyer's report if you wanted to see it, but the surveyor would probably refuse to talk to you and you would have no redress against him. So if you are sure the house has no problems and just want to take a peek, go ahead. But if you want something solid you'll have to get your own done.

rosie383

Surely the searches would be ok to be passed on as they are for information only. Or am I wrong? It's something I had wondered about. Valid point about the survey though.

Yorkie1

rosie383 wrote: »

Surely the searches would be ok to be passed on as they are for information only. Or am I wrong? It's something I had wondered about. Valid point about the survey though.

Some searches will not change over time; others could well change the day after the previous search is done. Reliance on dated searches is therefore a mixed blessing.

stator

rosie383 wrote: »

Surely the searches would be ok to be passed on as they are for information only. Or am I wrong? It's something I had wondered about. Valid point about the survey though.

If your solicitor/conveyencer fails to do the correct searches and something comes up, the mortgage company can sue the solicitor/conveyencer for negligence. If your conveyencer is acting for the mortgage company I don't think it's likely he will sign off on the purchase if he can't be 100% the searches are complete and comprehensive. If he's getting them from an unknown third party they wouldn't have the same authenticity as original searches from his normal supplier.

phill99

You wont be able to use the survey. The relationship is between the surveyor and the client. The contract will specifically exclude use by third parties (you).

qbazdz

Thank you all for your comments!
It confirms my concerns and what the conveyancer said, although I initially took it with a pinch of salt.
For the sake of a few hundred pounds on a 350k sale I guess its better to be covered with all duties of care etc so we will just have to wait a bit longer thats all.

Thanks again!

Liverpool85

We had our first buyers pull out just before anticipated exchange. We quickly got a new buyer and he used the old buyers searches, and other documents like fixtures & fittings got reused, but the new buyer got his own survey. This all worked out fine.
Good luck!