Documents Possibly Lost

obeygiant1987

Hi

I'm close to completing on a house purchase. We should hopefully be setting an exchange date in the next couple of days with the aim of completing by the end of next week.

I've just today gone to get the documents that I have so far from where I thought they were and they are no longer there. I can't find them anywhere so there is a chance they have been misplaced/accidentally discarded and won't be found. This is things like the land registry documents, search results, and other bits you get back at that stage of buying a house.

Are these documents entirely necessary to keep hold of? Am I best asking my solicitor if they are able to send copies from what they have? And can I expect a charge for new copies of anything?

Thanks

davidmcn

Land Registry stuff is registered on the Land Registry's computer - all you would have had are out-of-date printouts.

Search results would be out of date and (in England & Wales) the buyer gets these rather than waiting for you to produce them.

Depends what the "other bits" are. Things like planning/building control consents might be useful (though copies can be obtained from the council), guarantees, etc. But if you're talking about exchanging imminently then it sounds like the buyers have already done their due diligence and aren't still waiting to see anything like that.

obeygiant1987

Thanks for your response.

I am the buyer in this case. I'm not selling a property. The documents are the title report that outlines things that have come up such as covenants, community infrastructure levy, a copy of the land registry documents including the plan with coloured outline for the property boundary, gas safety records (though I do have a copy of this in an email), EPC report, fittings and contents form, and results from any searches I paid for. There might be other things but that's what I remember to be the main contents.

davidmcn

obeygiant1987 wrote: »

Thanks for your response.

I am the buyer in this case. I'm not selling a property. The documents are the title report that outlines things that have come up such as covenants, community infrastructure levy, a copy of the land registry documents including the plan with coloured outline for the property boundary, gas safety records (though I do have a copy of this in an email), EPC report, fittings and contents form, and results from any searches I paid for. There might be other things but that's what I remember to be the main contents.

Oh right, sorry I assumed you were extracting things from storage in preparation for a sale. Just ask your solicitor to send them to you again? They'll have it all on file, probably just a matter of emailing them to you and then you can keep backups if you're in the habit of losing stuff...but like I said, these things aren't as vital as many people tend to think they are.

Yellow_mango

I have recently completed on a house purchase.

All those documents were uploaded by the solicitor on a website for me to view. I theoretically have access to them indefinitely on the website, but have no reason to think I would ever need to.

The only document I have referred to post-completion is the Property Information Form as it had details of utility providers, and stuff like where to find the stopcock.

Going up to exchange you will also need to make sure you’re comfortable with the Fixtures & Fittings, and also worth having a copy of that handy on completion so you can check they’ve left what they said they would.

I’m sure your solicitor can send you new copies of those. They will probably have come from the seller’s solicitors via email anyway.

Apart from that, as long as you and your solicitor has reviewed, asked any relevant questions, and are happy with them, then I don’t think you’ll need them again. When you come to sell, the buyer will need to request new ones.

I’m assuming you have signed and returned the transfer documents and mortgage deed?

da_rule

You would probably only have been sent copies/print offs at this stage.

Most local search results are delivered to solicitors electronically so there should be additional copies available.

Any certificates/deeds you had in relation to the new property would also likely be copies as sellers don’t normally release originals until the matter completes.

davemorton

davidmcn wrote: »

Land Registry stuff is registered on the Land Registry's computer - all you would have had are out-of-date printouts.

Search results would be out of date and (in England & Wales) the buyer gets these rather than waiting for you to produce them.

Depends what the "other bits" are. Things like planning/building control consents might be useful (though copies can be obtained from the council), guarantees, etc. But if you're talking about exchanging imminently then it sounds like the buyers have already done their due diligence and aren't still waiting to see anything like that.

Not relevant in this case, but as I have learnt to my cost, it all depends on when the house was last sold/bought.

obeygiant1987

Thanks for replying everyone. Fortunately my partner was able to find them after she came back from work; seems our son had moved them and hidden them as he likes to do, usually with his toys.