Indemnifying against Local Authority searches

Stixalot

hi all I've just found out the Local authority searches in my area are taking on average 60 days which is crazy and pretty much takes up all of my mortgage offer timescale and i only got it issued yesterday! I was just wondering if anyone knows if I can get indemnity insurance against this as a first time buyer to help speed the process up as i have recieved mixed signals from family and friends that i can or cannot do this.

Flugelhorn

what would you want to indemnify? what if there is a six lane highway coming through? 

user1977

Not sure why it would be unclear - it's a very common and widely-available form of indemnity insurance. And very cheap as the risks of any significant surprises is close to nil.

Stixalot

im not sure tbh i was just told i can get indemnity insurance to speed up the process as 60 days is a long time to carry out a quick search, our local council have made a mess of things and its a perfect storm of stamp duty, lack of trained personnel and a new IT system and i dont want to have to renew my mortgage offer and go through the stress of that again. Ive recieved every other search back fine its just this LA one

user1977

Flugelhorn said:

what would you want to indemnify? what if there is a six lane highway coming through? 

You don't think such plans might already be general knowledge?

Flugelhorn

user1977 said:

Flugelhorn said:

what would you want to indemnify? what if there is a six lane highway coming through? 

You don't think such plans might already be general knowledge?

actually no - when I bought my first house is the 1980s a major highway / bypass came up on the searches, I went to the local council offices and there was much muttering and a few blank looks  followed by "oh that, oh no we're not going to build that after all" 

user1977

Flugelhorn said:

user1977 said:

Flugelhorn said:

what would you want to indemnify? what if there is a six lane highway coming through? 

You don't think such plans might already be general knowledge?

actually no - when I bought my first house is the 1980s a major highway / bypass came up on the searches, I went to the local council offices and there was much muttering followed by "oh that, oh no we're not going to build that after all" 

Well, there you go. Bit of a red herring - if it were actually happening there'd be the expected local uproar. And if it was affecting the property itself, things like compulsory purchase orders would have cropped up elsewhere in the process.

I can't remember any threads here from people who have come across significant surprises revealed by searches (or which would have been if they had been carried out). Usually it's about stuff which wouldn't be in searches anyway (e.g. planning applications nearby, rather than affecting the property itself), or issues which are otherwise apparent (e.g. is the knackered road outside publicly adopted or not).

More useful to spend a few minutes doing your own research for free, rather than pay money and then wait months for the council to give you a fairly limited response.

Stixalot

The only plans i know off is a large estate is being built on fields to the rear of the property but these are already public so of no issue.

elsien

Yes, I certainly over-estimated the amount of information a search would throw it. I think a lot of people do.
When I first bought, I fully expected the searches to reference the mosque and DIY shed going up at the end of the road.
They didn’t.
Cant beat doing your own research. 

Flugelhorn

user1977 said:

Flugelhorn said:

user1977 said:

Flugelhorn said:

what would you want to indemnify? what if there is a six lane highway coming through? 

You don't think such plans might already be general knowledge?

actually no - when I bought my first house is the 1980s a major highway / bypass came up on the searches, I went to the local council offices and there was much muttering followed by "oh that, oh no we're not going to build that after all" 

Well, there you go. Bit of a red herring - if it were actually happening there'd be the expected local uproar. And if it was affecting the property itself, things like compulsory purchase orders would have cropped up elsewhere in the process.

I can't remember any threads here from people who have come across significant surprises revealed by searches (or which would have been if they had been carried out). Usually it's about stuff which wouldn't be in searches anyway (e.g. planning applications nearby, rather than affecting the property itself), or issues which are otherwise apparent (e.g. is the knackered road outside publicly adopted or not).

More useful to spend a few minutes doing your own research for free, rather than pay money and then wait months for the council to give you a fairly limited response.

I suppose these days google is your friend - then, moving to a new area, it would have been a case of sitting with months of newspapers etc in the hope of finding something iffy about the area. It was a dual carriageway bypass 100m from the end of the garden  - in the end they built the North Devon link road

Flugelhorn

Edenbridge said:

Will depend on your mortgage provider.
Some will accept no search indemnity insurance some won’t.

If they all accepted indemnity why would anyone bother with searches?