Deed of certificate - Can’t find the previous owner

tom741

Hey
we are in the process of selling our flat, we bought it after Feb 2022, and we understand we need some information from the previous owner, we reached out to their solicitor but he is saying he is not getting them to answer. this is going for few weeks now. is there anything at all we can do? we are stuck in a situation and not sure what to do. 

silvercar

What sort of information do you need? I would have though that after 3.5 years ownership you have no reason to contact the previous owner. All the information you should need would have been sought at the time you purchased.

tom741

what do you mean ? i need to know if this was the only home of the previous owner. how can i know this information? 

silvercar

tom741 said:

what do you mean ? i need to know if this was the only home of the previous owner. how can i know this information? 

At least now we understand what the information is that you need to know. Why would you need to know this?

silvercar

I'm going to take a wild guess. Is this the issue?

In England, if a leaseholder of a flat with unsafe cladding also owns three or more properties, they are considered a "non-qualifying leaseholder" and are likely responsible for paying for the cladding remediation costs themselves, under the rules of the Building Safety Act 2022. They are not protected by government funds or a cap on the costs for these unsafe materials, unlike qualifying leaseholders. However, these owners may still see their costs reduced if the developer who built the property takes responsibility for the defects. 

Link to a longer article. 

It is more complicated than whether the previous owner owned other properties, it also depends on value and how many properties they owned, as well as whether the developer is taking some responsibility.

Anyway, maybe confirm before I disappear down the rabbit hole.

tom741

i think you are right. although we don’t have cladding in our building..

it’s all very confusing for me too. basically we need to fill out this form , and since we don’t know how many (if any) flats the previous owner had we can’t proceed.. 

we know we need to check number 2 or 4.

our solicitor is chasing the previous owner solicitor but he is unable to hear from his previous client and we are stuck now. 

what can we do? i mean what if the previous owner is traveling or just not in the mood to answer

theartfullodger

tom741 said:

what do you mean ? i need to know if this was the only home of the previous owner. how can i know this information? 

Who cares?  Why do you need to know,  I've bought and sold houses since the 1970s, often when owning other houses.  Never (apart from mortgage and insurance) been asked about having multiple properties. Why please?

Best regards to all 

tom741

Hey, apparently there is a new law and you require to have this information or you can’t sell 

JGB1955

What happens when you tick box 5?

SDLT_Geek

tom741 said:

i think you are right. although we don’t have cladding in our building..

it’s all very confusing for me too. basically we need to fill out this form , and since we don’t know how many (if any) flats the previous owner had we can’t proceed.. 

we know we need to check number 2 or 4.

our solicitor is chasing the previous owner solicitor but he is unable to hear from his previous client and we are stuck now. 

what can we do? i mean what if the previous owner is traveling or just not in the mood to answer

You do not need to know how many properties the owner on 14 Feb 2022 had, if you know that the then owner was living in it as their only or principal home on that date.

That information might be apparent from the papers at the time of the purchase.

For example you might know that the flat had been let out.

Or there might be a stack of service charge information making it clear the seller was living there then.

The electoral roll might help.

tom741

so if I think the previous owner lived in the flat as her main home how can i prove it ? i remember the estate agent when we bought told us the seller live there but i dont have anything to prove it