indemnity against restrictive covenant requested for house sale

LesliesD1

I am selling my house and have been asked by the buyers solicitor to take out an indemnity because the Land Registry have noted on the Title a missing deed from 1763 which was not produced when the title was first registered and which apparently contains an unknown restrictive covenant.  
There is a mention in a later deed that there was a deed dated 1763, but no details of a restrictive covenant - so how does anyone know this existed and how could it be enforced?
It seems I am being asked for indemnity IN CASE the missing deed contained a restrictive covenant AND the beneficiary of the covenant pops up and claims I have breached the terms of an unknown covenant.  
I don't want to hold up the sale, but I also don't want to pay an insurer for what seems to be a vanishingly small risk.
Any advice?  Is the Land Registry likely to have more information?

CSI_Yorkshire

How much is the indemnity policy and is it worth holding up the sale for that amount?

user1977

If the land registry says the deed is missing that means they don’t have it, so no, they’re not going to have more information.

eddddy

I suspect the buyer's solicitor is just asking because it's a standard question they always ask.

• If you say "yes" and buy the policy - nothing more will happen

• If you say "no" the solicitor will probably advise the buyer that it's a tiny risk, but the buyer can choose if they want to pay for indemnity insurance

So if you say "no" -

• The buyer might make their decision, and you'll hear nothing more about it.

• Or you might have a super-nervous and super-stroppy buyer, who kicks up a fuss about it - and demands that you pay for a policy.

sheramber

Does your buyer need a mortgage?

Our seller bought a house with a 100 year old covenant that no houses were to be built on the land.  No one knew who now owned the covenant.

The buyer's lender insisted on an indemnity policy which the buyer paid for.