Local Authority Search Indemnity Insurance

As referred to, it is a type of insurance which means that you're insured in the event that an order is served causing you to sell the property under the price paid for the property.

What is covered with no search indemnity insurance?

You would need to check the terms in your own insurance policy, however here is what one policy states:

All or any of:

1. disposal for value of all or part of Your interest in the title to the Property following an Order which causes You to realise a reduction in Market Value; or
2. actual dispossession from all or part of Your Property following an Order which causes You to realise a reduction in Market Value; or
3. such other event following an Order which causes You to realise a reduction in Market Value
   If you are buying or selling a house, you’ve probably heard of indemnity insurance – it is becoming an increasing feature of housing transactions. But before you hand over hundreds of pounds for policies, find out what it is and if you really need it.
   

   What is indemnity insurance?

   Indemnity insurance is a type of protection purchased during housing transactions. It is a one-off payment for a policy that then lasts forever.
   It is used to offer protection if there is a potential problem with the property that could result in local council action or legal problems in the future.
   “Legal indemnity insurance is obtained in order to offer protection to a buyer (and a lender) where there is a defect in the title, which cannot be resolved,” says Sarah Ryan, head of conveyancing at Co-op. “Legal indemnity insurance does not remedy the insured defect, but merely offers financial compensation should a claim be brought in the future.”
   Typical reasons for taking out indemnity insurance include to cover missing building regulation certificates, planning permission issues or missing professional installation certificates for fires or windows.
   Indemnity insurance is often associated with older properties, where historic rights are still on the deeds.
   “The right of Mrs Miggins to draw water from a well may have been essential back in 1860,but it might be a bit inconvenient if her heirs and successors could still wander into your garden with a bucket today,” says Henry Pryor, a property buying agent. In this example, you would purchase an indemnity policy to protect yourself from future claims from the Miggins family to access water on your land.
   
   Please email  us at info@valueconveyancer.co.uk if you need to find out more

Conflict of interests in conveyancing

Under the SRA code of contract 2011 you cannot act( do work for ) a client if this causes a conflict of interest or has any risk of crossing over into the conflict of interest definition.

This is where your duty to act for 2 or more clients that are involved in the same deal and cause the advice or work to cause a conflict between them .

There can be exceptions explained later in this post.

As a conveyancing professional or solicitor, you might be approached by the buyer and seller to act for them in the same property transaction; in most cases this is not acceptable as conflict will arise in the conveyancing process, as when one client is buying a property from another some of the advice you might have to give the buyer or seller might not be agreeable to one of the parties and you are always supposed to have the best interests of your client in the process , this would mean that one of your clients best interests will not be looked after in favour of the others interest .

Chapter 3 of the SRA Code includes an indicative behaviour which states that you may not have achieved the outcomes that the code requires if you act “for a buyer (including a lessee) and seller (including a lessor) in a transaction relating to the transfer of land for value, the grant or assignment of a lease or some other interest in land for value”.

There can be an exception for circumstances where the 2 clients have a substantially common interest; in a property sale/purchase between 2 clients this is usually never possible even though they both a have a strong common interest in the property 1 is buying and 1 is selling it, some issue that arise from searches will be more concerning to the buyer than the seller as it will be the buyer that will have to deal with the issue to be able to purchase the property , it might even be the case that you have to recommend to buyer property has to many issues to make it a smooth transaction.

The indicative behaviours in the SRA Code suggest that you should only act for both the lender and the borrower on the grant of a mortgage if:
 • the mortgage is a standard mortgage (such as one provided in the normal course of the lender’s activities, where a significant part of the lender’s activities consists of lending and the mortgage is on standard terms) of property to be used as the borrower’s private residence
 • you're satisfied that it is reasonable and in the client’s best interests for you to act
 • the certificate of title required by the lender is in the form approved by the Law Society and UK Finance (formerly the Council of Mortgage Lenders)

Even if these criteria apply, you should still consider each case to make sure there’s no conflict of interest.