Property Searches

First thing that came to mind was building insurance. Would you be covered if any fault appeared that could have been picked up in a Search.

Germanshepherdsmum

Nicky7of7

I am in the process of buying a new build. The building sales office advised me that a search wasn’t necessary as I don’t need a mortgage and all my new neighbours have had one done. My solicitor advised me I should have one. It cost £300 but it has given me peace of mind.

Never, ever believe what builders’ sales people tell you. All they are interested in is a quick exchange of contracts to secure their commission. Searches take a little while. If you asked them what questions search forms contain they wouldn’t have a clue. I worked for developers for many years.

No indeed. I was encouraged to buy a new build off lan with a lovely L shaped south facing garden. I didn’t.

When it was built a wall actually made the garden square and the leg part of the L although owned by the house was a grass area fronting the road. Technically it was as on the plan but completely changed the desirability of the house.

Nothing to do with searches. Just don’t trust builders or their agents.

A search is not a survey 4allweknow

We bought our house, which was built in the eighties, as cash buyers last year. We still paid for searches and a survey as we wanted peace of mind that everything was ok, which it was. Even so, we have encountered a few minor problems, but this is normal and nothing that could not be easily resolved.

We are in the process of buying a house and we are cash buyers so no mortgage but searches are being done through our solicitor. I thought you had to have them done.

You don’t have to if you’re not getting a mortgage but you’d be daft not to and your solicitor would make a written record of his advice to have them.

Agree with GSM. I ve bought and sold without mortgages and would never ever not do the searches !

Some searches can prove to be misleading. A search done for my buyer claimed that, as there was a stream at the end of my garden, the house could be liable to flooding. What it failed to take into account was that the house was at an elevation of approximately 8 ft higher than the stream. I put this right through my solicitor and the sale went through with no quibbles.

If something emerges down the road the searches are critical imho

Always remember that the search only covers the property the subject of the search, eg 45 High Street. It doesn’t cover proposals for any nearby premises unless you ask your solicitor to do this - there will be an additional search fee. The seller should disclose proposals for development of any nearby premises of which they are aware, but I would rather rely on what the local authority say than try to sue the vendor later on.

Keeper1 It isn't just what is happening on the estate. There could be a plan to zone some nearby land for industrial development, or a longer term plan for wind turbines or solar farms.

The searches cost so little, or you could always do them yourself. We did them ourselves for DMiL when we needed them quickly and the Council was running a months delay.

Unfortunately the search will only provide information in respect of the property the subject of the search. You need to ask your solicitor to enlarge the search area - there will be an increased fee but worthwhile.

Just bought a retirement home for my dad and only had the very basic searches done. I work on the theory that these are sold on a very regular basis and if there were major issues they wouldn’t sell. I’d only have full surveys done on pre war property or anything that has been expended.

Surveys and searches are not the same.

Even on a new estate, the construction standards can vary considerably across the estate depending on the sub contractors employed by the building company and developer.

A lot also depends on the type of ground the house is built on. I lived in an area where the underlying geology was a mix of sand and clay, and in the early 1970s when we had a prolonged dry period stretching over several years, the differential drying out of sand and clay led to subsidence in houses that had been built 10 or 20 years previously. It wouldn't apply to all houses on an estate, or even adjacent houses, Just a random sample across the estate depending on the make-up of the ground immediately under the house.

Another house we lived in was on a gravel sub soil and our next door neighbour had a sudden subsidence problem because a waste pipe had fractured and had been leaking into the ground, probably for years and the escaping water excavated a large hole under a corner of the house.

Then there are the things people do to their houses that cause problems: taking out internal load bearing walls to make rooms bigger, hacking at rafters to get more room in the roof.

In my working days I used to see a magazine sent out to people working in building services. Each issue featured a photograph of something someone had done to their house that put the welfare of anyone living in it at risk and covered wiring horrors, rerouted gas boiler flues, or the lack of flues, constructional changes that put the structure at risk or other matters that led to severe damp and mould problems.

Buy a house without a survey, because it was an estate and houses sold regularly! People who are naive enough to think like that are the ones that most need to get surveys done - and the same applies to searches.

A cautionary tale Surveys are all very well but don’t always reveal everything. When purchasing a house in the eighties we had a full survey and searches carried out BUT what it did not show up was difference of opinion about boundaries. The land only extended to about five acres and we had disputes on two sides.
The morel of this tale is visit the neighbouring properties or land owners and check for yourselves

Surveys and searches will not reveal boundary disputes. The vendor should disclose such matters.

I thought searches were a compulsory part of the normal conveyancing procedure?

Not unless you’re getting a mortgage.

Germanshepherdsmum

Not unless you’re getting a mortgage.

Ah.

But surely anyone would want a search done, although I know some people who have done their own.

Anyone with any sense would certainly want searches done.

You do need searches - and you need to be ready to chase them up as they can cause delays. But I would not buy without. Many solicitors farm the job out to search firms.

It’s usual to use search firms nowadays and they tend to be quicker.

Germanshepherdsmum Slip of the fingers if you note I mentioned searches a little later
No boundary disputes showed up On one side the parish council wanted to turn a hollow way into a linear park but backed down when they saw the deeds. The other was a long affair. A double fenced piece of land they admitted it was on our deeds but claimed previous owners back in the fifties used to use it as a way through to another field. They were claiming adverse possession. It would have been expensive to resolve had we not been able to respond to solicitors letters ourselves The outcome was the land was registered in our name but we had to wait twelve years for full title This meant if we had put the property up for sale within that time the prospective buyers would have to be informed of the dispute