PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

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

Options
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
«1

Comments

  • MaryNB
    MaryNB Posts: 2,319 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 9 March 2022 at 1:31AM
    £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.
  • Slithery
    Slithery Posts: 6,046 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Just tell them no.
    If they want an indemnity policy which will only benefit them then they pay for it.
  • LOL!!

    Ta for that - made me smile :)

    They'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...

    Mxx
  • Sistergold
    Sistergold Posts: 2,135 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    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. 🤓
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 18,033 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper

    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
    or something else.

    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.




  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,710 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Just say no , lose the sale, and start again.

    Or not.
  • user1977
    user1977 Posts: 17,914 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    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.
  • atarisrocks
    atarisrocks Posts: 645 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    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 now know where my old buyer went.

    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.
  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 26,278 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 9 March 2022 at 10:33AM
    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.
    It’s one of the flaws in the conveyancing system that the solicitors never see the property that they are working on. 
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.2K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 599.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177K Life & Family
  • 257.6K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.