Is a historic Cavity wall insulation warranty REALLY that important?

desthemoaner

Evening all

Just on the cusp of exchanging contracts on our sale and purchase. However....our buyer's solicitor seems to be making an unholy fuss about an answer I gave to one of their enquiries. They asked if we had a warranty for the cavity wall insulation, and I said no, because the work was done by the previous owners and they didn't give us any paperwork for it ( nor did our solicitor ask for any, as I recall). I have no other information to give, and yet the solicitor keeps asking the same question, as if they think they can browbeat us into revealing the existence of a secret CWI warranty.

 I'm sure it'll be resolved when they eventually realise that they've already had the only answer we can give ( not least because our buyer is equally fed up with the situation) but it made me wonder:   has anyone else encountered examples of disproportionate focus on enquiry responses by solicitors? 

Woolsery

Have you contacted CIGA to see if they hold a warranty for your property?

FreeBear

How long ago was the work done ?

If it was more than 25 years ago, highly unlikely any guarantee would still be valid now. If the doors/windows have been replaced in the intervening years, that will probably invalidated any guarantee...

peterhjohnson

desthemoaner said:

 yet the solicitor keeps asking the same question, as if they think they can browbeat us into revealing the existence of a secret CWI warranty.

Then keep giving them the same answer! Perhaps prefacing it with "I was surprised to get your question. You asked it previously on xx/xx/22 and we answered on yy/yy/22. I repeat "blah blah"

Spreadsheetman

As others have said, simply reiterate the same answer and say there is no further information available. At some point the solicitor will ask the buyer if they want this question pursued further given the answers provided and they will answer "no" (unless they are a panicky FTB and want to dither a bit more).

It can be useful having a deep-digging solicitor though. I am in the process of buying a house at the moment and my solicitor has dug up all sorts of stuff that the two previous sales over the last 20 years don't appear to have bothered with - e.g. with services easements and covenants referencing planning conditions that no-one has bothered digging out to check.

Woolsery

Spreadsheetman said:

It can be useful having a deep-digging solicitor though. I am in the process of buying a house at the moment and my solicitor has dug up all sorts of stuff that the two previous sales over the last 20 years don't appear to have bothered with - e.g. with services easements and covenants referencing planning conditions that no-one has bothered digging out to check.

Same here. Some of the guff in ours hadn't been challenged since the place was built in 1974, plus there were things on the ground that even a solicitor couldn't find because they don't havesight of the property.

At one point our solicitor read out about 4 pragraphs about the septic tank which  contradicted each other, turned to us with an exasperated look on her face and said, "Well where, exactly, is this bloody tank?"

desthemoaner

Thanks for the replies. I don't know how long ago the work was done, and I can't really ask the previous owners , even though I have their address. Last I heard there was serious illness in the family and I'd rather not bother them with what is likely to be an unwelcome approach.

I could ask CIGA, I suppose,  but I had an exchange of texts with our buyer last night and its obvious that she's also fed up with the amount of time being taken with this one issue. She's told her solicitor ( who has apparently suggested that indemnity insurance should be provided) to drop the issue and move on towards completion. I certainly have nothing more to add to my answer to the enquiry.

user1977

Well, as a minimum, how long ago did the vendors buy the property?

I agree it's often pointless chasing for guarantees in general. Unfortunately surveyors tend to say "[x] work has been carried out, your legal advisors should check for any guarantees" and solicitors think they ought to chase that up to the ends of the earth without really engaging brain. After all, the important point is that the property now has the insulation (or the non-rotten joists, or whatever) - guarantees are a nice bonus to have (though even if they exist they're often quite restricted in what they cover, or have bureaucracy involved in transferring them to new owners) but they don't really add to the marketability or value of the property.

theartfullodger

Useful evidence for any EPC, especially if renting out or when this incompetent weak and corrupt government change the rules and require better thermal ratings.

user1977

theartfullodger said:

Useful evidence for any EPC, especially if renting out or when this incompetent weak and corrupt government change the rules and require better thermal ratings.

I haven't seen anybody ever look for evidence of anything when preparing an EPC! It doesn't sound like there's doubt that the insulation exists anyway - the existence of a guarantee isn't going to affect the EPC.

desthemoaner

user1977 said:

Well, as a minimum, how long ago did the vendors buy the property?

I agree it's often pointless chasing for guarantees in general. Unfortunately surveyors tend to say "[x] work has been carried out, your legal advisors should check for any guarantees" and solicitors think they ought to chase that up to the ends of the earth without really engaging brain. After all, the important point is that the property now has the insulation (or the non-rotten joists, or whatever) - guarantees are a nice bonus to have (though even if they exist they're often quite restricted in what they cover, or have bureaucracy involved in transferring them to new owners) but they don't really add to the marketability or value of the property.

The issue concerns our property. The people we bought it from in 2014 had the place built to spec in 1973, so they were here for just over 40 years. When we bought this place we were given absolutely no information about the cavity wall insulation. TBH I don't feel inclined to go chasing warranty bodies and the former owners for information on stuff that to my mind is of little real consequence.  

 Fortunately our buyer agrees with us and has made her position clear to her solicitor. She wants her to set the CWI issue aside and get on with making sure that completion takes place on the 27th of this month, because that's what the 4 people in the chain have agreed, in principle.