Has anyone bought their own searches online?

j_yorks

My idiot conveyancers (Premier Property Lawyers - consider this a public service announcement to avoid them!) have messed up our searches. We paid for them on 8 January and despite their promise to perform them immediately, they have actually only really done so yesterday. The turnaround time is 10 working days.

If they really do come back in 10 working days that would be fine and we would be happy to wait that long. Much longer, and they will potentially delay exchange and completion and we are really very unhappy to take that risk.

It looks like it's possible to buy one's own searches online for about £220 or so. The NLIS site links to Safe Move and the Thames Water site. Obviously I'd then forward them on to the conveyancers to provide to the broker etc.

Clearly this is in some respects a complete waste of money, but I have lost all trust in my conveyancers and don't feel that letting them do this is a good idea.

Has anyone any experience of doing this? Which site did you use?

eddddy

Your conveyancer is probably acting for your mortgage lender as well.

I doubt that your mortgage lender would accept searches obtained by you (rather than your conveyancer).

It would be too easy for a dodgy buyer to 'amend' the search results, or even just create a fake set.

If you were buying without a mortgage, then there would be no problem doing your own searches - or even doing no searches at all. But obviously, you bear the associated risks.

j_yorks

Thanks for the reply - that's a good point. But the search would obviously be from a reputable provider. The mortgage broker apparently dont actually want to see the search, they just want the conveyancer to confirm that it's ok.

marksoton

j_yorks wrote: »

It looks like it's possible to buy one's own searches online for about £220 or so. The NLIS site links to Safe Move and the Thames Water site. Obviously I'd then forward them on to the conveyancers to provide to the broker etc.

Clearly this is in some respects a complete waste of money, but I have lost all trust in my conveyancers and don't feel that letting them do this is a good idea.

Has anyone any experience of doing this? Which site did you use?

Here is your problem.

If you don't trust them to obtain the searches how on earth can you trust them to scrutinise them and point out any potential risks?

j_yorks

Oh, I don't, but fortunately searches are not difficult to understand and to be honest seem to be geared towards the buyer rather than the conveyancer.

We have decided to stick with our conveyancer on the basis that noone I know seems to be be able to recommend a local conveyancer who has caused them anything but trouble.

I have resigned myself to checking everything myself.

kinger101

j_yorks wrote: »

Thanks for the reply - that's a good point. But the search would obviously be from a reputable provider. The mortgage broker apparently dont actually want to see the search, they just want the conveyancer to confirm that it's ok.

If I were a conveyancer, I'd refuse this as it's a chain-of-custody thing. If the searches have passed through your hands first, you can doctor them before passing them on.

It's quite simple to use PDF editing software to change documents.

j_yorks

Oh right. I'm going to ask my conveyancer tomorrow and see what she thinks. I see your point.

j_yorks

Both vendor and mortgage company have advised that this would be fine. They accept any search dated within the last 3 months.

After all, if they accept ones supplied by the vendor (which seems to be commonplace if the property was bought recently), they'd be silly not to accept ones bought by the buyer.

It would not really be in my interest to doctor the searches.