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?

Chief_of_Staffy

And also, regardless of the specific date you sold, you'd expect the conveyancer to be fully conversant with pending legislation. That's what we pay them for. So even if you purchased several months before the act became law then the solicitor had a duty to collect that information. Tell them that.

tom741

i think you are missing the point

the law came into power a day after we bought our flat back in 2022. at the time we bought it no one knew about this law. and there is nothing we can do about it. it is what it is

the question is, how do we get out of this situation, we must provide information about our seller. the seller is not answering and everything is stuck

does someone ever had something like this? and idea ? we offered maybe indemnity insurance but of course there is none. 

tom741

this is the law:

A 

Leaseholder Deed of Certificate is a document a leaseholder completes to prove their eligibility for protection under the Building Safety Act 2022, which shields them from potentially high costs for building safety defects in their building. To get this protection, a leaseholder must submit the completed Deed of Certificate to the building owner, along with supporting documents showing they are a "qualifying leaseholder". The Deed confirms the lease meets the Act's requirements for qualifying leases.