Poor conveyancing experience.

ranger2

As part of a house purchase we received our solicitor`s search results. These included a No to the question of any road developments within a set distance of the property. Since the purchase a major widening of a road is underway some 20 yards from our boundary. Investigation shows that the funds for this were allocated and therefore in the public domain, some three months before the date on the searches. The company which produced the search for the solicitor said we should approach the solicitor as "they would have insurance." After several weeks the solicitor has not replied.
Has anyone suffered similar and achieved any positive result?

fed_up_and_stressed

ranger2 wrote: »

As part of a house purchase we received our solicitor`s search results. These included a No to the question of any road developments within a set distance of the property. Since the purchase a major widening of a road is underway some 20 yards from our boundary. Investigation shows that the funds for this were allocated and therefore in the public domain, some three months before the date on the searches. The company which produced the search for the solicitor said we should approach the solicitor as "they would have insurance." After several weeks the solicitor has not replied.
Has anyone suffered similar and achieved any positive result?

You need to clarify what searches where undertaken by your conveyancer

A search is comprised of up to four parts. A minimum requirement is the form LLC1, which will provide a list of all of the relevant entries in the Local Land Charges Register, and the Con29 Required, usually referred to as the Con29R. This will provide information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 subject areas. These two elements together are often referred to as a 'basic' or 'standard' search.

You can also ask additional optional questions relating to public rights of way, areas of outstanding natural beauty, pipeline, pollution notices, or town and village greens. These questions (18 in all) are contained on the Con29 Optional form, usually referred to as the Con29O.

Further to these questions, you can also ask anything which you think may be useful to know about, such as whether there are any planning permissions on adjacent land. These questions, in common with the optional enquiries mentioned above, will generally be at added cost.

I would ask the conveyancer for a copy of your searches. If no response use their internal complaints procedure to obtain these -after all you paid for them. The conveyancers should keep a copy of your file for 6 years after completion.

ranger2

We have a copy of the searches. In the section relating to Nearby road schemes - to the question, "is the property within 200 metres of improvements to an existing road etc etc" the answer is No. Yet 25 metres from the property the A4 is being made into a dual carriageway with an imposing and overlooking concrete supporting wall. The search is dated August. We have a firm pursuing a claim against the local council for disruption etc and they assure us that this development was confirmed with funds allocated some months before this date. Naturally if we had been aware of this development we may well have looked elsewhere for a property.