Mortgage Valuation Loft Conversion - Vent/Panic!

eddddy

Als156 said:

 There's 2 possible outcomes I see: 

1. Correct paperwork is located, valuation completed and we can move forward. 
2. Nothing is located and therefore the seller needs to sort either a change in the lease or regularisation of the planning or accept a greatly reduced offer for a 1 bed house (i think?)

Just to emphasise - this isn't an either/or choice.

The lease needs to show that the 2nd floor is owned by the seller.

Planning Consent won't override the lease. (And if the conversion was done over 4 years ago, Planning Consent isn't an issue.)


If the 2nd floor isn't owned by the seller, it's probably owned jointly by all the joint freeholders. So the seller will need to persuade them all to sell/transfer it to the seller (or to you).

All the joint freeholders will probably have to agree to the sale/transfer. They might all agree very easily, they might refuse to sell it, they might ask for a stupidly high price, they might be disinterested and refuse to sign the documents. They might want to ask their solicitors advice about it (and expect the seller to pay their solicitor's bill).

So it might get resolved in days, or it might take months, or it might never happen.

user1977

Als156 said:

however he was a cash buyer, so possibly it never came up? 

That's not likely to be relevant - solicitors are going to do the same amount of due diligence no matter where the money is coming from. It's entirely possible that there is in fact nothing wrong and the surveyor is ringing alarm bells unnecessarily, based on their lay interpretation of incomplete paperwork.

GDB2222

user1977 said:

Als156 said:

however he was a cash buyer, so possibly it never came up? 

That's not likely to be relevant - solicitors are going to do the same amount of due diligence no matter where the money is coming from. It's entirely possible that there is in fact nothing wrong and the surveyor is ringing alarm bells unnecessarily, based on their lay interpretation of incomplete paperwork.

Surely that’s the point- incomplete paperwork. But it’s up to the seller to get complete paperwork, not the OP.

user1977

GDB2222 said:

user1977 said:

Als156 said:

however he was a cash buyer, so possibly it never came up? 

That's not likely to be relevant - solicitors are going to do the same amount of due diligence no matter where the money is coming from. It's entirely possible that there is in fact nothing wrong and the surveyor is ringing alarm bells unnecessarily, based on their lay interpretation of incomplete paperwork.

Surely that’s the point- incomplete paperwork. But it’s up to the seller to get complete paperwork, not the OP.

My point was more that the paperwork may in fact all be complete, but the surveyor appears to have only looked at the Lease. And not, say, the variation which means the loft is already included.

GDB2222

user1977 said:

GDB2222 said:

user1977 said:

Als156 said:

however he was a cash buyer, so possibly it never came up? 

That's not likely to be relevant - solicitors are going to do the same amount of due diligence no matter where the money is coming from. It's entirely possible that there is in fact nothing wrong and the surveyor is ringing alarm bells unnecessarily, based on their lay interpretation of incomplete paperwork.

Surely that’s the point- incomplete paperwork. But it’s up to the seller to get complete paperwork, not the OP.

My point was more that the paperwork may in fact all be complete, but the surveyor appears to have only looked at the Lease. And not, say, the variation which means the loft is already included.

user1977 said:

GDB2222 said:

user1977 said:

Als156 said:

however he was a cash buyer, so possibly it never came up? 

That's not likely to be relevant - solicitors are going to do the same amount of due diligence no matter where the money is coming from. It's entirely possible that there is in fact nothing wrong and the surveyor is ringing alarm bells unnecessarily, based on their lay interpretation of incomplete paperwork.

Surely that’s the point- incomplete paperwork. But it’s up to the seller to get complete paperwork, not the OP.

My point was more that the paperwork may in fact all be complete, but the surveyor appears to have only looked at the Lease. And not, say, the variation which means the loft is already included.

That’s possible, of course, but there’s no indication from the OP that there is a variation. 

Als156

GDB2222 said:

That’s possible, of course, but there’s no indication from the OP that there is a variation. 

Well, here’s hoping there is but it’s not appeared yet!

GDB2222

It’s just possible that the seller knows that the title is defective, which is why it was sold last time to a cash buyer, probably at a discounted price. If so, just make sure you don’t pay full price now.

Als156

GDB2222 said:

It’s just possible that the seller knows that the title is defective, which is why it was sold last time to a cash buyer, probably at a discounted price. If so, just make sure you don’t pay full price now.

I’ve replied twice and it’s not posting how strange. Yes 10k under asking price, considering the offer it was a good deal, which makes me think it wasn’t the dodgy carpets and proximity to a main road that was driving it…

Emily_Joy

GDB2222 said:

It’s just possible that the seller knows that the title is defective, which is why it was sold last time to a cash buyer, probably at a discounted price. If so, just make sure you don’t pay full price now.

Any reason why they haven't bothered to put the title right before selling?

GDB2222

Emily_Joy said:

GDB2222 said:

It’s just possible that the seller knows that the title is defective, which is why it was sold last time to a cash buyer, probably at a discounted price. If so, just make sure you don’t pay full price now.

Any reason why they haven't bothered to put the title right before selling?

Purely speculative, but maybe they don’t want to alert the other owners of the freehold to the problem? The cost of buying the right to use the loft space could be a large percentage of the value of the property (say 25-50%), and maybe they are hoping to find a buyer who will take a chance. 

Or, they have raised this with the other freeholders and the cost of sorting it out is very high.

Or as @use@user1977 says, it could all be a mistake by the surveyor, and the paperwork could be hunky dory.