Conveyancer searches...Did my conveyancer miss this?

KevinM

Hi,

I recently moved into my newly purchased property, and now have an issue, and wonder if my conveyancer has missed something hen carrying out the relevant searches?

Basically, all the driveways along my road have dropped kerbs for cars to access their driveways...except for my driveway...it has a standard kerb, and makes it real difficult to drive my car into my drive. I basically have to stop my car (on the road), edge up to the kerb, and inch it over the kerb...inconvenient, but also I am concerned that another car might easily ram into me whilst I am doing this...

Anyway, I telephoned the council and asked why all the kerbs are dropped (for driveway access) except for mine, and he came out and inspected it, checked his records and said the reason is that a permit for Vehicle Access to a drive under the Roads Scotland act was never applied for...so my kerb was never dropped, like the others were...

My house was built in 2001, and all the relevant planning permissions were issued for the building of it etc, but according to the Roads department of my local council, a permit for Vehicle Access was never applied for (or issued)...

I asked the council guy if this was something that should have been included in a conveyancing search, and he told me it was and that it should have been picked up...and he said that t was more likely that the conveyancer has seen the house planning permission, building certificates etc, and simply assumed the vehicle Access permit was included...

Anyway, the council guy told me that the permit can be retrospectively applied for, and the kerb drop work carried out, but at my expense...total would be about £1200...

So, my issue is...is this something that should have been caught by my conveyancer? Have they been a bit slack in their searches? I have been in my house now for 7 weeks...is it something I can go back to my conveyancer about and ask why this wasn't picked up, and (effectively) bill them for any costs I have to pay the council to rectify this?

Or, are searches completely at the discretion of the conveyancer, and they might or might not carry out certain searches, and this is simply one they don't bother with (I presume it should be part of the Local Searches), and I have no recourse but to accept it?

They (conveyancers) charge enough for their services, so you think that they would get things right, but I can imagine it will be an uphill battle getting a conveyance to admit that they were in the wrong...

I suppose that is why there is a legal ombudsman (Law Society?) that I can turn to if I need to...

Anyway, and advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks,
Kevin

davidmcn

Did the planning permission include the driveway?

Did your solicitor know there is a driveway?

Did you tell them there wasn't a dropped kerb?

tom9980

Surely you noticed when you viewed the property before buying?

Solicitors rely on you giving them vital information because they don’t view the property.

It’s my experience that this is not the solicitors fault, I certainly have never heard of a dropped kerb being something that is routinely checked during conveyancing searches before.

Korra

When i bought my house i knew that i would have to apply to the council to ask for permission to drop the kerb provided i met the current requirement. If you do not have a dropped kerb, you should not be parking in the drive way. In some areas of my area, the coucil have put metal posts to prevent people from doing this.
My conveyancing solicitors did not mention it and i wouldn't have expected them to.
When you viewed the property did you not realise this was the case and research further into the process of applying for a dropped kerb?

KevinM

tom9980 wrote: »

It’s my experience that this is not the solicitors fault, I certainly have never heard of a dropped kerb being something that is routinely checked during conveyancing searches before.

It's not so much the dropped kerb that it the issue, but that there hasn't been a Permit for Vehicle Access issued...

Right now, the council guy tells me that it is (strictly speaking) illegal for me to cross a pavement to access my driveway, as that is illegal without a Permit for Vehicle Access for my property...

And he says that this lack of a permit should have shown up in the conveyancer searches...

elsien

And as other people have said, you must have noticed the kerb wasn't dropped. What questions did you ask about this at the time?

KevinM

Korra wrote: »

When i bought my house i knew that i would have to apply to the council to ask for permission to drop the kerb provided i met the current requirement. If you do not have a dropped kerb, you should not be parking in the drive way. In some areas of my area, the coucil have put metal posts to prevent people from doing this.
My conveyancing solicitors did not mention it and i wouldn't have expected them to.
When you viewed the property did you not realise this was the case and research further into the process of applying for a dropped kerb?

Why would I simply know if the property did or did not have a Vehicle Access Permit?...The driveway has a garage at the end of it, and there were two cars parked in their driveway...It's not unreasonable to take this as there not being any issues on this front...

As far as permits go, surely that is exactly what searches are for (and why I paid for them)? A search by my conveyancer should have come back as showing that a Permit for Vehicle Access was missing, and I would have taken the required steps as part of the missives...

KevinM

elsien wrote: »

And as other people have said, you must have noticed the kerb wasn't dropped. What questions did you ask about this at the time?

My initial issue is about the lack of a Vehicle Access permit...and if this is something that my conveyancer's searches should have shown up...

dunroving

The house I am purchasing has only a partial dropped kerb. It's an odd situation, as the adjoining drive (next door's) has a full dropped kerb, that extends about two-thirds the width of my driveway. It's not as bad a situation as the OP's, as taking the right angle will allow me to get on the drive without hitting the raised part of the kerb.

My surveyor picked this up, but now I am wondering if I should ask my solicitor to check there is a Permit for Vehicle Access ...

kinger101

KevinM wrote: »

And he says that this lack of a permit should have shown up in the conveyancer searches...

He's wrong. There's no reason for a conveyancer to expect the permission to drop the kerb, or be surprised by the lack thereof.

The vendor would have communicated to you the parking arrangements via the property information form. And you would have seen the lack of dropped kerb from your own inspection of the property. If you had an issue, you should have raised it with the conveyancer yourself. They're not mind readers, or omnipresent.

comeandgo

If there is no dropped kerb then you have no right to cross the pavement with your car. Your solicitor would not know if you were supposed to have relevant planning permission, it's up to you to now apply for it.