Shall we skip searches?

coronacaution

Hi there, we've had an offer accepted on a 3 year old house, on a local new build redrow estate. We know the area well, have a number of friends on the same estate, have looked at all the local planning permissions to understand the estate development plans and I grew up around the corner for 20 years until buying first home and moving away.
My question is, is it possible to/or unnecessary in this instance to not ask conveyancer to do the searches? Im aware of the current delays when it comes to this part of the home buying process at the minute so it was a thought that crossed my mind to speed things up. Wondered what others thought about this if they were in my shoes! Thanks. 

davidmcn

If it's a cash purchase, yes it's up to you, and I would say the risks are tiny. If you're buying with a mortgage then your lender will at least want search insurance.

Slithery

Do you need a mortgage or is this a cash purchase?

If you need a mortgage then you lender will insist on either searches or search insurance.

lesalanos

The mortgage company will likely need some of the searches doing.  You can skip the rest if you want.

[Deleted User]

If you're a cash buyer then you can skip them. A relative skipped them when they were buying a 3 year old house a couple of years ago, same with survey. 

coronacaution

Sorry I missed that info, we're buying with a mortgage. Didn't think about the lender wanting that info as security for them, that makes sense. Thank you for the replies. We'll see if we can get away with running the minimum searches for the lender only. 

ele_91

Depending on where you live, searches aren’t so slow now. We only waited 7 days in Leeds.

Irishpearce26

coronacaution said:

Sorry I missed that info, we're buying with a mortgage. Didn't think about the lender wanting that info as security for them, that makes sense. Thank you for the replies. We'll see if we can get away with running the minimum searches for the lender only. 

There is no minimum searches, lenders will want all searches completed so that they know what the risk is to their investment. You could check to see if they would accept search indemnity insurance. My searches in Worcestershire took 9 days to come back.

Thrugelmir

coronacaution said:

Im aware of the current delays when it comes to this part of the home buying process at the minute so it was a thought that crossed my mind to speed things up. 

Delays were caused by the rush to beat the stamp duty deadline. All will blow over now and settle down again. As volumes return to a more manageable level. 

davidmcn

Irishpearce26 said:

coronacaution said:

Sorry I missed that info, we're buying with a mortgage. Didn't think about the lender wanting that info as security for them, that makes sense. Thank you for the replies. We'll see if we can get away with running the minimum searches for the lender only. 

There is no minimum searches, lenders will want all searches completed so that they know what the risk is to their investment. 

No they don't, and few have a blanket refusal to accepting search indemnity insurance (after all, lenders are only concerned about the tiny risk of suffering a shortfall on repossession because of something which would have been revealed in the searches, rather than any of the practical hassle such things might cause an owner). It seems to be more the solicitors who have difficulty in streamlining procedures.

tim_london

Ditto what others are saying.

Flood risk and estate planning aside - the solicitor (and you) needs to know who owns which piece of road.  For example how do you know if the piece of land outside your house is private vs council managed and whether there is a risk that legally you cannot access the property because you'll need to trespass private land etc.  Solicitor can't do they job as per law society guidelines and you're at risk too.

It's £150ish, not worth the hassle in trying to avoid it.