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Buyers want me to pay £130 + VAT for indemnity policy for tiny, bike-sized wobbly shed. Thoughts?
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Mark_Michalowski
Posts: 59 Forumite


Hello lovely people
My sale is dragging on and on (mainly due to MY conveyancers, it has to be said). But now my buyers are saying they want me to buy a £200,000 indemnity policy for £80 + conveyancer's markup of £52 + VAT for one of the two small, bike-sized, chest-height sheds down the size of the house. I'm guessing it's the one that's more noticeably leaning away from the wall is the one they're referring to, since they specifically say "shed (lean to)" singular, rather than both of them.
This sounds like madness - LOL! The shed didn't cost as much as the policy to buy!
What, exactly, is the policy protecting me from? The buyers saw the shed leaning away from the wall when they viewed at the start of August (although the winds have pulled it over further) so why it's suddenly come up now, I don't know.
Should I just pay it and get it done with?
I guess I could pull it down and burn it or take it with me (but the roof's full of holes, so that seems daft).
What are the implications if I say "No, sorry...." or is that not even an option considering that we're (hopefully) very close to agreeing exchange and completion dates?
thanks in advance
Markxx
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Comments
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£200k?!! I mean how on earth could a loss like that be incurred, except somehow the bike sheds catch fire burning down the house?!! Which would be covered under house insurance rather than indemnity.
Have you asked what they want to be insured against?
My local council would take the two of them away for £25. I'd do something like that if I it was me.
Although, I mean you wouldn't want to jeopardise a sale over £132+VAT ...but why do the need it??
A bike shed at the front of the house may require planning but not the side as far as I'm aware. I cannot think of any reason why else they would need an indemnity policy, and when I say "need", I mean, if it is a planning breach and the council intervenes surely all the do is take down the sheds.1 -
Just tell them no.
If they want an indemnity policy which will only benefit them then they pay for it.2 -
LOL!!Ta for that - made me smileThey're just two little self-assembly bike/lawnmower sheds from B&Q. They're both leaky and rubbish and need pulling down or rebuilding and fastening to the side of the house. I think the "take it down" option is probably the best. I guess I can do it whilst I'm moving a very useful pile of decent-condition old housebricks that my buyers have also suddenly decided they want me to remove.Is there no end to the stuff that occurs to them, right at the last minute?Hey ho...Mxx1
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Just say the sheds are at end of life and were in that condition when seen(as reflected in the house price) Also say you are happy to pull it down if they wish?Initial mortgage bal £487.5k, current £258k, target £243,750(halfway!)
Mortgage start date first week of July 2019,
Mortgage term 23yrs(end of June 2042🙇🏽♀️),Target is to pay it off in 10years(by 2030🥳).MFW#10 (2022/23 mfw#34)(2021 mfw#47)(2020 mfw#136)
£12K in 2021 #54 (in 2020 #148)
MFiT-T6#27
To save £100K in 48months start 01/07/2020 Achieved 30/05/2023 👯♀️
Am a single mom of 4.Do not wait to buy a property, Buy a property and wait. 🤓4 -
"Lean to" suggests that they think something is attached to the house, rather than freestanding?Let's establish what this indemnity is for, before anything else. The solicitor is either going to be thinking planning or building regulations.Does your house have permitted development rights? Is it a 'normal' house or is it listed, in a conservation area or AONB? For most people, it wouldn't require planning permission.Building regs... if it is an actual
detached shed for shed type objects then it should be exempt.
You can guess at this stuff, but the best thing would be to fire back a question asking why the solicitor thinks an indemnity
policy is needed. Then we can bat back with a qualified answer as to why it isn't!This isn't the buyers, this is their solicitor.Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
6 -
As Doozergirl says, the first step is to establish what the Indemnity insurance is for. For example, is it:- Planning Permission
- Building Regulations
- Breach of Leasehold Covenants
- Absence of Easement
- Eavesdrop, Overhang & Trespass to Air-Space
And then find out why the buyer's solicitor feels that type of policy is needed.
Bear in mind that the buyer's solicitor won't have seen the property - so they will be relying on the buyer's description (which might have been a very poor one or two line description in an email.)
The buyer might have been trying to describe one thing in an email - but the vague description meant the solicitor imagined something completely different.
2 -
Just say no , lose the sale, and start again.
Or not.2 -
The reason (which your solicitor ought to have explained to you along with the request, assuming the communication did in fact come via the solicitors) is much less important here than the trivial value of the shed. And the solicitors likely don't know what "shed" means here (for all they know it could be some extravagant working from home annexe or similar). So explaining what the "structure" here actually is should help people see sense.1
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Mark_Michalowski said:LOL!!I'm moving a very useful pile of decent-condition old housebricks that my buyers have also suddenly decided they want me to remove.
I got a solicitors letter demanding a removed the handful of bricks that were in our garden before we had even gotten to the point of packing.1 -
user1977 said:The reason (which your solicitor ought to have explained to you along with the request, assuming the communication did in fact come via the solicitors) is much less important here than the trivial value of the shed. And the solicitors likely don't know what "shed" means here (for all they know it could be some extravagant working from home annexe or similar). So explaining what the "structure" here actually is should help people see sense.No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?1
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