Stalemate with solicitor enquiries

elb11

Hi all,

I'm buying a flat (leasehold) that was a new build a few years ago - I got the mortgage offer beginning of May and am just waiting on enquiries to move in (there's no chain). I'm a FTB and don't know a lot about which enquiries are required etc. but my solicitors and the sellers solicitors don't seem to be seeing eye to eye on whether the enquiries are valid/needed or not. My solicitors are asking for enquiries around CIL (documentation to ensure the financial responsibility doesn't pass on to me) and a demarcation agreement from the 90s mentioned in the title register which contains restrictive covenants, my sellers solicitors seem to think these aren't needed - they weren't obtained when the seller bought the flat a few years ago - and don't seem to be doing anything to try and obtain them. The communication between the solicitors also doesn't seem to be great. This has been going on for weeks now and I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on what I should do.

Thank you.

user1977

Ask your solicitor to explain the risks to you assuming you get no further response from enquiries.

Are these documents which your solicitors could get themselves from the planners / registers?

DE_612183

I'd ask your solicitor what are the pros and cons of proceeding without these, is your sols being over cautious or just trying to pad out the fees?

You could always change solicitors if you don't think they are acting in your best interests

elb11

user1977 said:

Ask your solicitor to explain the risks to you assuming you get no further response from enquiries.

Are these documents which your solicitors could get themselves from the planners / registers?

Thanks, that makes sense. I've been trying to hunt them down myself but it's not really in my wheelhouse. I think some are from the developer/management company and others from the council.

elb11

DE_612183 said:

I'd ask your solicitor what are the pros and cons of proceeding without these, is your sols being over cautious or just trying to pad out the fees?

You could always change solicitors if you don't think they are acting in your best interests

I think mine are being thorough and the documents all seem fairly reasonable to request to be honest (based on a forum search and a Google) - more of an issue with hers and also the communication between them. 

Tiglet2

Generally speaking, it will be the buyer's solicitor who will decide what is an acceptable response because it is they who have to satisfy you and your lender before they can proceed to exchange and completion.

The solicitor needs to act in your best interests and has to be satisfied that the property has good title and paperwork and warranties are passed to you as the new owner.  One day you might want to sell the property - you definitely don't want issues cropping up that should have been dealt with when you purchased as it will be so much more difficult to resolve issues later on.

Solicitors don't really have a stalemate as such.  It's more that some replies to enquiries can be very vague and ambiguous, so the buyer's solicitor wants further clarification.  The seller's solicitor might not have any further information to give.  These matters are sometimes resolved with an indemnity policy (and you can argue over who pays for it!), or sometimes you have to 'take a view', providing the lender accepts the view.  Taking a view means that the enquiry cannot be resolved, so you have to decide how important it is to you.