Deed of certificate - Can’t find the previous owner

Chief_of_Staffy

The solicitor won't be happy, no. The question asks for a statement of fact, not mitigated by 'to the best of your knowledge' or similar. It's not actually the solicitor's fault that they will not allow you to proceed on that basis, it's the outrageous idiocy of the legislation that mandates that one private individual must research the affairs of another private individual in order to get a fair price for their property, when the seller has no means whatsoever of achieving this other than through the goodwill of the previous owner.

One option you might want to investigate is to find out and list the specific issues that are covered by the Building Safety Act protections, which is what the question refers to, e.g. cladding, fire doors, documented historical defects, etc. If you can prove that none of these are an issue, or any remedial work would be below the consequential cap, you will be able to declare that whilst you can't vouch for the status of the previous owner, none of the protections that would be in place best case scenario are relevant. Your buyer would need to accept this, of course. Basically, you can sell without answering the question at all, but you may be forced to accept a price reduction.

GDB2222

Chief_of_Staffy said:

The solicitor won't be happy, no. The question asks for a statement of fact, not mitigated by 'to the best of your knowledge' or similar. It's not actually the solicitor's fault that they will not allow you to proceed on that basis, it's the outrageous idiocy of the legislation that mandates that one private individual must research the affairs of another private individual in order to get a fair price for their property, when the seller has no means whatsoever of achieving this other than through the goodwill of the previous owner.

One option you might want to investigate is to find out and list the specific issues that are covered by the Building Safety Act protections, which is what the question refers to, e.g. cladding, fire doors, documented historical defects, etc. If you can prove that none of these are an issue, or any remedial work would be below the consequential cap, you will be able to declare that whilst you can't vouch for the status of the previous owner, none of the protections that would be in place best case scenario are relevant. Your buyer would need to accept this, of course. Basically, you can sell without answering the question at all, but you may be forced to accept a price reduction.

I assumed it's the buyer's lenders? 

Chief_of_Staffy

GDB2222 said:

Chief_of_Staffy said:

The solicitor won't be happy, no. The question asks for a statement of fact, not mitigated by 'to the best of your knowledge' or similar. It's not actually the solicitor's fault that they will not allow you to proceed on that basis, it's the outrageous idiocy of the legislation that mandates that one private individual must research the affairs of another private individual in order to get a fair price for their property, when the seller has no means whatsoever of achieving this other than through the goodwill of the previous owner.

One option you might want to investigate is to find out and list the specific issues that are covered by the Building Safety Act protections, which is what the question refers to, e.g. cladding, fire doors, documented historical defects, etc. If you can prove that none of these are an issue, or any remedial work would be below the consequential cap, you will be able to declare that whilst you can't vouch for the status of the previous owner, none of the protections that would be in place best case scenario are relevant. Your buyer would need to accept this, of course. Basically, you can sell without answering the question at all, but you may be forced to accept a price reduction.

I assumed it's the buyer's lenders? 

That might be even more difficult, then.

doodling

Hi,

I would be going to the conveyancers who you used to buy the flat and asking them why they did not obtain this information for you at the time you bought it and that you feel they may be liable for any loss in value of the property you have suffered as a result of their negligence.  Get them to deal with your current solicitors and do any chasing required.

tom741

it’s apparently a new law that came into power AFTER we bought our flat..

tom741

it’s a cash buyer there is no lender. 

doodling

Hi,

tom741 said:

it’s apparently a new law that came into power AFTER we bought our flat..

You said you bought your flat after February 2022.  The relevant act received royal assent in April 2022.  When exactly did you buy the flat?