Do I have to give my solicitor a copy of our survey?

Lionel_Thinkbag

Got a load of paperwork through, our solicitors are requesting a copy of our valuation report and survey. I don't mind giving them the valuation report, but I fail to see why they need to see the survey? Is this a common practice?

The valuation was approved and both that and our survey mentioned a few issues and advised a damp/timber report which we have had done. Our mortgage offer was not conditional on having works carried out by any deadline - just 'as soon as is possible' which is fine by us.

What I am worried about is the solicitor causing a problem for us, going through our survey and picking bigger holes, or else making demands that work gets carried out in a timeframe we can't work with.

Thoughts anyone?

davidmcn

Think you're being a bit paranoid! It's often useful for the solicitor to see it in order to get a better idea of what they are dealing with (bear in mind that they haven't viewed the property). The lender is only going to be interested in issues important enough to be on their valuation report.

Voyager2002

You seem to have forgotten that your solicitor is working for you! If they have sight of the survey and spot a problem that could prove expensive for you, they can help in negotiating a discount or taking other action. And sometimes the survey can highlight issues that require further legal work.

DaftyDuck

A surveyor often raises issues for a solicitor; boundaries, guarantees, infringements of planning. They are sometimes even listed in a particular section.

If the solicitor goes through the survey and does find a big hole.... wouldn't you want to know about it before you exchange?

Thrugelmir

Lionel_Thinkbag wrote: »

Got a load of paperwork through, our solicitors are requesting a copy of our valuation report and survey. I don't mind giving them the valuation report, but I fail to see why they need to see the survey? Is this a common practice?

Did you have a survey done independently of the lender?

G_M

As suggested, surveys often raise legal issues (Building Regulations, Planning, etc) so solicitor wants to see so that he can properly advise you.

But, yes, there is also a possibility he wants to see it in his capacity as the lender's solicitor, and may advise the lender of problems.........

matttye

Is the solicitor also acting for the lender?

If the solicitor is acting for both of you they have to act in both of your best interests. The lender said that they don't mind works needing to be done so long as it is done within a reasonable timeframe. So the solicitor should be able to act for both of you in that regard.

If the solicitor is only acting for you, they will be acting in your best interests. Like Voyager2002 said in post #3, surely you want to know about any problems before you exchange? This isn't intended to cause you problems, but it is so that you don't enter into a binding contract to purchase a property which has massive problems with it.

I can't see why the solicitor would care about when repairs are carried out if your instructions are that you want to proceed with the transaction anyway, unless they are also acting for the lender.

matttye

G_M wrote: »

As suggested, surveys often raise legal issues (Building Regulations, Planning, etc) so solicitor wants to see so that he can properly advise you.

But, yes, there is also a possibility he wants to see it in his capacity as the lender's solicitor, and may advise the lender of problems.........

It's worth noting that a solicitor's duty of confidentiality outweighs their duty of disclosure to a client.

In other words if a buyer instructs a solicitor not to inform a lender of something which it is in the lender's interest to know, the solicitor must not do so, but in doing so they must stop acting for the lender. They would also have to stop acting for the buyer unless the lender authorised them to carry on acting for the buyer.

Shahni

Amusing, I know solicitors who tell their clients "Do not send me the survey report, I am not a surveyor and do not have the time or inclination to look through it". If they want to see the survey I wouldn't see any problem with giving it to them as others above have said.

stator

G_M has mentioned the only issue. If the solicitor is working for the lender as well then they might have to inform the lender if there are issues in the survey that might affect the decision to lend.
If you have no mortgage involved then there is no reason not to send it.
Surveyors often highlight issues the solicitor should check. ie "check who owns this path" "check if there is building regs for this extension" etc etc. So it can be useful.