No NHBC certificate for current house

afterthegap

Hi All,

Hoping someone can help shed some help or advice here. We are in the process of selling our 4 year old property that was issue with a ‘cover note’ of which I have provided our buyer solicitor a copy.
However we have been told today that our property doesn’t look to of ever been registered with the NHBC hence our solicitor is now having to retrospectively apply for one.

This does seem odd, as a cover note was provided and I recall filling out the NHBC survey after 6 weeks or so.

My question is; whose responsibility was it to register this in the first place? And how long might it take to get it sorted?

If it’s any coincidence then our buyer is using the same solicitor we did when we bought the property and it is now them who is flagging this up.

We are most frustrated and the deadline for our respective purchase exchange has already passed by a week.

Thanks

G_M

I imagine it was the responsibility of the developer to register with the NHBC.


And it was your responsibility, with the advice ofyour solicitor, to ensure that the property you were buying had an NHBC warranty.

davidmcn

The purchasing solicitor should have ensured it was registered with NHBC.

The NHBC itself is fairly efficient at confirming whether a property is on its records, has anyone actually checked?

afterthegap

Our solicitor requested a duplicate and it transpires that it wasn’t registered.

poppy10_2

afterthegap wrote: »

Our solicitor requested a duplicate and it transpires that it wasn’t registered.

Is this the same solicitor you dealt with when you bought the home in the first place?

chanz4

how did it get the mortgage as Halifax asked for a copy of our houses

afterthegap

Yes our buyers solicitor is the same one we used when we bought the house.
I can only imagine that the cover note sufficed for our mortgage at the time (also Halifax).
If it was the responsibility of the solicitor to register it with the NHBC after completion then surely they can point the finger back at themselves to sort it out ?
My dilemma, not being a legal professional is that I don’t know who should actually of done it or whether you can now even get a back dated one.
Added to the fact that if we can how long would it take, considering our new house exchange deadline has already passed 😬

Lucky_Duck_2

When selling my last house it came to my attention that our solicitor involved in the purchase from the developer had filed away the NHBC paperwork rather than progressing the registration despite the obvious wording on the front page of the document.

Fortunately the property was on the NHBC database so we were able to get an electronic and a hard copy for the buyer. Presumably this was done by the developer notwithstanding the above.

Warrantyexperts

That's a really odd situation you have there! Normally the developer will register with NHBC when they start the build. They have a responsibility for the first 2 years after completion to respond to any claims and the NHBC would ask them to jump through various hoops to register. NHBC would not issue a cover note unless the property was registered with them. They should have inspected the property during the build and signed it off in order for a cover note to be issued. Are you sure it is a cover note? Normally the solicitor will furnish NHBC with your purchase details after completion in order for a final certificate to be issued.


If you don't have a warranty then you could have problems with your mortgage company so you need to make sure on this. Some insurance brokers offer a forensic service where they can search the warranty market to find if your property has a warranty with any of the providers. Could be worth searching that out to see if they can shed any light on it but you'll end up paying a fee. To be honest, if you've rang NHBC then they are really good with their records so if it's definitely not registered then you may need to get an alternative. That's going to be expensive but there are some options available if you only want to protect the lender.

afterthegap

Thank you for your reply.

I called the nhbc myself this morning and explained the situation. Our current solicitor has now competed the registration process that our solicitor when we bought the house never finished off.
The chap on the phone was very helpful and sent me a copy of the certificate via email there and then.
All looks to be back on track and the exchange of contracts is scheduled for tomorrow.
Thanks all!