Deed of variation

stressedgemma

HI

I am in the process of selling my flat that I purchased five and a half years ago with no issues. The buyers solicitor is now making me jump through all sorts of hoops which come with a price tag.
The latest one is that they are not happy with the wording in the lease her enquires are as below

"we believe that clause 8 of the 2001 lease reads "can/cannot" please can you confirm which it is and arrange for then lease to be amended"

and

"we note that the area hatches black on the 2003 lease however cannot see the rights to use this. Please confirm and amend as necessary"

My question is why didn't my solicitor who acted on my behalf pick this up when I purchased the property and would this be classed as professional negligence?

The property has been sold four times previous and clearly there hasn't been an issue before as there is no previous deed of variation or change in the lease.

Can anyone advice of what is best to do.

I have got to the point where I just don't know what else to do any more. Any advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
One very stressed out girl

davidmcn

Does your (current) solicitor think there is any merit in these enquiries? Buyers will often pick at utterly trivial points, it doesn't necessarily mean your previous solicitors were at fault for not being as pedantic.

SmashedAvacado

what is the context of clause 8? ie the full wording?

This one :

"we note that the area hatches black on the 2003 lease however cannot see the rights to use this. Please confirm and amend as necessary"

Doesnt actually make any sense - is that what theyve actually asked?

G_M

If you/your solicitor believe these are genuinely matters of concern, then

a) you may have to lose this buyer and focus on getting the lease cleaned up
b) pusuing your solicitor from 5 years ago will probably be time-consuming, expensive, and quite likely fruitless

On the other hand, if the queries are petty, then give your buyer an ultimatum: buy as is or withdraw.


But as the information you've provided here is so limited (not to mention illiterate) we cannot comment on the lease itself!

stressedgemma

Thank you for all replies.

My solicitor thinks they are rather petty, I did contact the solicitor who acted for me when I purchased the property and we thought we had resolved all the issues.

However this morning I got a call saying that it is being lead by the mortgage provider of the buyer and not their solicitor and that they would require a deed of variation or the estate agent said it might be quicker to see if the buyer would be willing to change mortgage providers.

The estate agent keeps saying there has been a change in law since I purchased the property which is making mortgage providers a bit more picky about leases

Is this true??

davidmcn

stressedgemma wrote: »

The estate agent keeps saying there has been a change in law since I purchased the property which is making mortgage providers a bit more picky about leases

Is this true??

Doubt there's been any statutory change, but the market, and lenders' policies, will change - so something which was acceptable when you bought might not be when you sell. But your solicitor will have a better idea about this than the estate agent.

AlexMac

I don't think there have been changes in the law, but there has certainly been an accelerating change in the attitude to risk of buyers' solicitors and lenders. We've been buying and selling for 40 years, and purchasers' (or their legal reps) have got massively more picky about detail which we'd never even considered as an issue in previous transactions:

- minor glitches in detail of how small bits of external spaces are described or mapped in terms of access, and whether these are communal/ shared or exclusive to the flat we were buying/selling,

- Requests from purchasers for paper evidence of rights of access over estate roads which had been used by residents of, and visitors to, all 400-odd dwellings on a huge 100+ year old estate

as well as being more picky about certificates & building regs for all and any even minor building alterations, windows, doors, gas or electrical installations.

Ask your solicitor (that's what you pay 'em for), do as G_M says in post #4 and maybe just put up with the few quid which the deed of variation will cost. When we bought in 2001, our solicitor was better than yours in that they spotted a glitch and insisted our seller pay for just such a deed in a case similar to yours. So we didn't face problems when selling on, as we did in 2011 without problems as the lease had been fixed. In that case, the flat had been bought and sold several times since the 1980's conversion without any earlier purchasers' solicitors being as picky as ours (or seemingly, your buyers)

Hard luck!