Search costs and issues they can cause

Search fees are dictated by a range of things , if you have chosen or the lender has specified official search from the local authority the fee can be between £50 and £250 depending on the local authority ,also different local Authorities charge differently for additional items on top of the standard search. You can review the specific local authorities website to see what their charges are at that time , on Average Drainage reports will cost you on average about £30 to £40 plus VAT , whilst environmental reports cost between £30-35 plus VAT .

Non official private company searches that can be used in 75% of the circumstances mostly range between £75 and £120 for the standard search. Most solicitors will offer a fixed fee bundle that covers (Local Authority, Drainage and Water, Environmental and Chancel reports) the total cost is around £300-£250.

Issues the local searches can uncover.

Some properties are in a flood plain area, this could mean the particular lender you are using might withdraw its offer if the solicitor gets this on the search report as they are obliged to report this to the lender, although rare if you are buying a property close to a river or surrounded by water the risk of flooding could be an issue.

Local land charges register    

This search will normally list the parts of the register which have entries relevant to the property searched , an example if no Financial charges are on the property searched , no mention of the 2 types of financial charges will be mentioned .

Part 1 General Financial Charges

If there are any financial charges that are not known at this time E.G if there is future plans passed to adopt a private road, they could register a charge on the properties that will front onto the road to pay for them to be brought up to standard, it might not have an actual amount but the potential buyers of the property will be given notice by the search then your conveyance will discuss it with you and see if you want to proceed to purchase completion.

Part 2 – Specific financial charges

If the council has already carried out rechargeable works, such as the making up of a road and a house on the route needed boarding up as it has been left empty and the cost is Known, a specific financial charge will be registered.

Part 3 – Planning Charges

In this section, the local land charges search will have a list of any planning applications, this will tell you if they were granted, granted with a condition, pending or refused. It will also include any listed buildings consents, planning enforcement notices or tree preservation orders.

We will be putting up a post about planning permission at a later date.

Miscellaneous Charges

This is where charges that are off no specific category, e.g. smoke control orders (this one states that only smokeless fuels can be burnt in this area) and other non-categorized points will be placed here.  

Fenland way maintenance charges

This is charges to pay for fenland maintenance and only apply to properties situated in the fenland area, hence it is very rare and localized.

Land compensation Charges

These relate to prospective compensation claims under the land compensation act 1973, this covers where land has been acquired under the compulsory purchase procedure.

New towns Charges

This is related to charges covered by the new towns act 1981.

Civil Aviation Charges

This section relates to those charges covered by the civil Aviation act 1982

Opencast coal Charges

This relates to those charges covered by the opencast act 1958, some areas that are near to coal, or other mineral mining operations, and additional mining report might be necessary to satisfy your lender, we will go into these reports on another Post.

Listed buildings

This will reveal if the property is listed and what grade of listing it is, if the property is listed it will restrict the building of extensions unless the extension fits in with the original style of the property. Even putting double glazing can be an issue, unlike standard buildings were planning permission is time barred by the local authority, planning permission for listed buildings local authority action is not time barred. You can be made to remove or put back to original and alterations made without permission at any time they are discovered by the local authority.

Light obstruction notices

These are charges covered by the Rights of Light act 1959. These notices can be registered were a tree or building obstructs light, or blocks the view to neighboring land. Usually when land is developed and sold or sold for development a provision that removes any right of Light that the purchaser may otherwise have. So neighboring retained land could be developed by the purchase in the future.

Land Drainage schemes

This is a charge that covers drainage of an area by the local authority or environment agency, the expense for this could be charged to the property land owners in the vicinity covered in the area of the scheme.

Planning and buildings regulations

This will reveal whether any applications for building regulations approval for any work done to the property have been granted or refused.

Point G deals with certificates of compliance relating to replacement windows, roof lights and Glazed doors. Since 1^st April 2002 it has been required that under building regulations that such work either has to be inspected and certified by building control or else , if the installer is a member of Fensa ( a body set up to regulate the double glazing industry) the installer will self certificate this once the windows have been installed . When work is self certified, the Window Company will inform the local Council of this and will make an entry as per point 1.1g.

Planning designations and Proposals  

Local councils will usually or often have a development plan for the area governed by them. This part will reveal the existence of a plan if there is one, where you can go and inspect the plan if there is one, so any proposals can be check if it will affect your property searched in the future.

Roads

On the search inquiry/Application form the roads that give access to the property should be listed, if none are listed the road at the front of the property will be searched automatically. The information that will be shown will be as below.

Part a) any roads, highways that will be maintainable at public expense.

A road maintainable by public expense (an “adopted highway “) is a road that is public, which gives everyone rights of way. Such a road is maintained by the highways agency from public funds,

 

New roads that will be built, but will not affect properties that front onto it financially 

Sometimes when the highways agency /Department build a road, the properties that front on to it will have no charge to pay. Sometimes roads fronting properties will be private and the local Authority will have no Jurisdiction over that road , or help with the maintenance of that road .If the road is private it will be ok as long as the property in question has right of way over the road to the property by Vehicle or by foot . If there are no rights of way the title will be deemed as defective, this will be need to be remedied. Also a covenant exists, that each property fronting the private road is responsible for an equal share of any costs of up keeping the road.

Most private roads when set up and built by a developer are governed under a management company that is also set up or employed to, run and manage the road. When a property is sold it will be a requirement for the new owner to enter into a contract with the management company that looks after the road.

There is not much that can be done if there are no covenants covering road repair, or sometimes they may not be a covenant that is sufficient to cover road upkeep. This will be reported to the Purchaser and the mortgage company if a mortgage is involved and the purchaser/Lenders instruction should be taken. In some circumstances this could stop the lender wanting to continue to offer finance for the property and the purchase might fail.

Other Matters

Under the environment law each Local Authority is now duty bound to survey all the land in its district or borough and compile a register of areas which are deemed as contaminated. Majority of Local Authorities have not started or even finished compiling its registers for this , if Land that is on the register, is found to be contaminated then the authority has the power to order the land owner to clean up the site at the site owners own cost . The cleanup of contaminated land can run into thousands of pounds so this section of the search should be looked at carefully. You can also carry out a search of the environmental register to establish if the land is likely to be classed as contaminated in the future. In some circumstances it might be possible to carry out a physical site investigation, usually this is done on large scale development sites and costs for this can be very high.

Radon Affected Area

Radon gas is a potentially life threatening gas which rises from the ground, if the necessary barriers are not in place, the gas can enter the property through the ground. A radon affected area is classified by as an area in which more than 1% of the properties that have been surveyed have shown a level of Radon gas that reads above the actionable level. If the local authority search reveals the property to be in an affected area, the purchasers acting solicitor should make enquiries, to see if the seller has ever had the property tested for Radon gas, of if the sell is aware of any radon gas problems. If radon gas has been identified as affecting the property it might not be dangerous but the purchaser should be notified so they can pay for further test or discontinue the purchase of the property.

 

local authority searches explained

Local Authority searches explained

Local Authority searches are one of the most important things that are used in house purchases in the UK. The job of your conveyancer is to make sure that when your purchase completes the title is sound. Searches are nearly always required if you are using a mortgage to fund the purchase. If you are buying totally for cash then they are not required but you will be advised strongly by your conveyancer that you should still buy them in all cases. If you still insist that you do not want to buy them as a cash buyer you would need to put this in writing to your conveyancer .

What’s included in a Local Authority search.

There are two parts to a local authority search – a LLC1 and A CON29.  

Firstly the LLC1- Local Land Charge register search – this goes into attendant restrictions to land or property. Typically these are the items listed below:

A building that is listed

A building or land located in conservation area

Has a tree protection order for that street or area.

Could be in need of improvement or a renovation grant.

In an area that has a smoke control

Part 2 of the search is –the CON29- SUPPLIES INFORMATION RELATING TO ROADS AND HIGHWAYS.

This covers planned new roads, railroads and any major structure that could be built in the future and affect your property.

Environmental search - looks for major waste pipes near or beneath your proposed property, civic dump sites near the property, and possible contaminated arrears .

Water authority searches - these will show public sewers within the boundaries of the property which could affect future building, extensions etc.

Chancel repairs reports; this one tells your conveyancer if your property is liable for church repair contributions.

The difference between official searches and personal searches

Official

You have two types of local authority searches - official or personal. Official ones are requested directly from the local authority. A council member of staff will conduct the search from the local land charge searches register, and then they would get the search order stamped by a council officer.

Personal search

The personal search method is conducted by an agency not within the council that is not affiliated with them; they work from the same register as the council though.

These searches are usually cheaper and quicker, they often are covered by insurance that covers information accuracy etc. It is not clear on what is best as the information is usually the same, but some mortgage lenders will express a preference to which ones should be ordered by the conveyancer.

Some lenders and conveyancer believe that official search places greater emphasis on being comprehensive. They are local liability and regulatory search code compliant, rather than the speed of the personal searches.

Most conveyancer have found  that the standard of the personal search has raised a great deal in the last decade, and if the search was ordered from a commercially aware search agency, it will provide a greater level of control. The price of them and speed they can be obtained (if accepted by the mortgage lender) put them in favour with most conveyancers , especially when the market pushes for speedy transaction's to be carried out.

It is usually down to the lender, it will be requested within the solicitor legal pack when the mortgage offer is issued, or the conveyancer can check the Council of Lenders handbook to see which search the mortgage lender being used will accept.

To be continued, how much do searches usually cost and what can be found on the searches that could halt your purchase.

How to complain about your conveyancer

Hopefully this is something you will never have to deal with when using a conveyancer, if you follow the previous posts instructions it should help avoid having to complain about your chosen conveyancer.

Step one - write to your case handler or email them the issue you are unhappy about.

I would recommend that you first have a conversation with the person in the firm who is dealing with your case first. Email them as it is best to have a written record of your discrepancy to fall back on if first contact about the complaint is not successful.

If you are not getting anywhere with the case handler

If the case handler isn’t dealing with your discrepancy as you would like it to be dealt with then ask to speak the manager or owner or if the firm is large enough the complaints manager. Refer the emails you have sent to your case handler and ask him to intervene. Go through the complaint with the manager/owner or complaints manager.

Usually at this stage the complaint will be resolved.

The last resort if you are still not getting anywhere.

Solicitors/conveyancers are regulated by either the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) or the CLC (The Council for Licensed Conveyancers). Once you have established which one, then you can go to their website. You should only contact these regulators if all else has failed with the discussions you’ve had with the firm itself .

Solicitors are made to take out a professional indemnity insurance to cover any financial loss due to negligence. If the fault could not be resolved and you’ve contacted the regulator, the case could be then referred to the Legal Ombudsman who will look at the case and make a decision if there is negligence on the solicitor’s part.

If it is found that the firm was to blame for any financial loss, a claim will be made on the firm’s professional indemnity insurance so that any financial loss you suffered is paid back to you.

This final stage isn’t a fast process as files and evidence will need to be reviewed before any decisions are made.
In some circumstances the solicitor/conveyancer will decide to rectify the issue themselves after you've told them you will contact the regulator, as the regulators could impose further penalties. Also the firm will be contacted by the regulator and asked to supply files, case records, etc. This is very time consuming so the regulator will give them another opportunity to come to terms with you before taking the case on themselves.

Our next post will be about searches, what they are and what implications they could have on your purchase or even sale .

Simple guide to how conveyancing works

What is conveyancing? The process involves the legal transfer of home ownership, from the Vendor (Seller) to the Buyer of the property. The conveyancing process starts when you have offered on a property and the offer has been accepted. Initially you would need to find a conveyancer that you want to work with, and instruct them to work on your behalf so that the legal ownership can be moved from the vendor to yourself the buyer.

Some questions you might want to ask the conveyancer you are considering using to complete your purchase. 

 1. Ask them for a quote?

Conveyancing prices vary considerably; usually they are more expensive the closer to London the conveyancer is based, so initially you do need to ask them to supply a comprehensive quotation before proceeding to instruct them.

2. Check firm is on your mortgage lenders panel? 

If you are buying the property using a mortgage, you will need to ask the conveyancer if they are on the panel for the lender being used. This is a very important question as you could start the process with them and find out they cannot act for you with the lender you are using.

2. Check if you need to physically visit the solicitor/conveyancer?

A vast majority of mortgage lenders will not insist that you visit the conveyancer in person, and will allow for the process from start to finish to be carried out by post or even online .If you are using a lender that is ok for you to complete the transaction through the conveyancer by post or online then you will not be restricted by location.
Location can have an affect on pricing, the further north you go the cheaper the conveyancing becomes in most instances. Some conveyancers are even offering totally paper free, electronic transactions, so if you are good with working on the computer this is a hassle-free way of dealing with the conveyancer.

3. Check who will be dealing with your case within the firm? 

Some firms consist of 2 or 3 people who work within the firm on conveyancing. Also, some firms do not specialise in conveyancing but offer all the other normal solicitor services, Immigration, criminal law and litigation etc. Then you have firms that are set up as pure conveyancing firms who only offer conveyancing and do not get involved with any other area of law. I have found that conveyancing only firms tend to offer speedier service as they are not distracted with other areas of law. You will need to ask who your point of contact will be and who will be working on your case. If your property is leasehold, enquire if the person dealing with your case had good experience in this area of conveyancing as this is more complex than a freehold purchase.

4. How you will get updates 

Another thing you need to ask is how you will receive updates. Will it be by post, email or online tracking if offered. Some of the more modern firms offer a log-in to a tracking system were you can see the real-time progress of your case. This has the added advantage of not having to try to get through to your conveyancer, and gives you peace of mind.

5. How much it will cost you if the sale does not go ahead?

There are various components  to the pricing of your conveyancing. The main admin legal fee pays the conveyancer for the time taken to deal with and complete your case; miscellaneous fees are searches, CHAPS payment fee, Land Registry, and so forth. Some firms will charge you the admin legal fee even if your case does not complete due to various reasons, plus any other fees paid out for on your behalf like searches etc. If possible, try to find a firm that offers a no completion, no fee service - if the property purchase fails you only pay for what the solicitor/conveyancer has spent out on your behalf (e.g searches) but no admin fee will be charged. This will alleviate some of the out of pocket expenses if the purchase fails e.g. the vendor pulls out.
Some firms will offer an indemnity policy that will cover all the costs off the transaction if it fails for any other reason than you pulling out of the purchase. These policies can cost from £10 to £50 and are well worth it if available.

6. In today modern society usually there is a way to check feedback of the solicitor/conveyancer you are going to use. Ask where you can review this.

There is no better way to check a firm's performance than by reading reviews . If your chosen firm is proud of its track record it will have no problem directing you to where you can find feedback from  past clients .

9. When do I need to pay for conveyancing fees?

It's important  to check when you'll be expected to pay the conveyancing bill - usually search fees are payable once the contract are received from the sellers solicitor, and these fees are non refundable unless an insurance has been taken out. In the majority of cases, deposits are collected either near exchange or on the day of the exchange of contracts. Disbursements need to be paid usually as and when they are ordered by your conveyancer. The final bill is usually paid on completion, and you will be sent a completion statement in advance of the completion date.

Please see my next post - it will be how to settle disputes, and who to contact if the firm does not listen to your issues.