in this video i want to take a look at the type of queries that a solicitor will raise
when acting for a purchaser in the purchase of a residential property we raise pre-contract
inquiries as a matter of course on behalf of purchasers and we do that to ensure that we
obtain on behalf of our clients good title good marketable title the likelihood is our client
is borrowing money from a bank and therefore we have to give solicitors undertaking to obtain
good title and to do that we need to raise queries and satisfy ourselves about the contract and about
title about the planning and so on so we raise as a matter of course pre-contract inquiries
people who are not familiar with conveyancing in the process will wonder why it takes so
long to buy or sell a house but one of the biggest contributors to the delay
would be the whole area of raising pre-contract inquiries and getting answers getting satisfactory
answers it's not good enough just to get any answer we need satisfactory answers
the type of issues that i'd be concerned about generally would be to do with planning
is to planning an order is there planning permission granted is there certificate of
compliance with building regulations is there a certificate of compliance with planning permission
has any work been carried out on the property since the existing vendor acquired their
interest in it so planning would be a big factor a big issue it may be very clear from
the outset that the planning is in order or it may well be that the planning is not in order
and that will require pre-contract enquiries to be satisfied i have a separate video on the
whole question of planning and what you should be looking for you should have a look at that to see
what remedies are open or what you can actually do if the planning is not in order so planning
and building regulations would certainly be one area that i'd be very concerned about
another area i'd be looking at and raising contract inquiries pre-contract inquiries about
would be access to the property so if the property is in housing estate or in a village or a town
it may be very very apparent how access is gained and so on it must be checked though the access
must be checked as it's legally in place the legal entitlement to come and go from the property
in a rural area a non-town a non-village non-built up area sort of a place
in rural areas say in a parish or perhaps even in a small rural village it may not be apparent how
you access you might access up a lane or you might access through some sort of an easement
or a right of way that is something that would be very very important critically important because
you simply do not want to buy a property on behalf of a client and discover that there's
some issue in relation to accessing the property that would be a serious difficulty and a serious
problem for me as a solicitor in respect of my obligation to the lender never mind my
other issues that you'll be looking at always would be the question of services
sewage and water in particular and again in relation to a non
built up area a rural property anything out in the countryside a one-off property on its own site
the likes of a declaration of identity as to services and services being sewage and
water will be vitally important that would be another area that you'd be certainly raising
pre-contract inquiries about if it's an apartment development then you're going to be raising
MUD act inquiries mode act pre-contract inquiries multi-unit development act of 2011
governs the whole legislation the whole area of management companies and multi-unit developments
so you'll be making inquiries there about the management company whether the common areas of the
development the estate have been transferred to the management company or not what's the level of
management fees is there a sinking fund how much and so on and so forth so management company mode
act inquiries will be very important when you're buying an apartment another area of concern would
be the taxation situation that is local property tax and nppr tax we need to be satisfied that
local property tax is paid up to date or will be paid up to date when the sale is being completed
and we need to check the situation in relation to nppr tax that's non-principal private residence
tax another pre-contract inquiry that we will always look to put in as a matter of course
would be to do with finance are we permitted and we normally would be permitted to insert a special
condition into the contract making the procedure making the purchase subject to contract or subject
to finance rather so the contract will be made subject to finance remember the vendor solicitor
will draft that contract that's fine however he or she is unlikely to insert a condition about
finance because obviously it's not in the vendors interest or vendors interest vendor solicitors
interest to do so it's in my interest though and in my clients interest to ensure
that there is a special condition in the contract making it subject to finance there's a standard
sort of a special condition which the law society recommends and that's the one that would be using
another area of inquiry would be to do with any issues any queries arising from the structural
survey so if my client gets a structural survey carried out as a secondhand house
and i would strongly recommend it then there may be an issue or issues arising from that
one of them for example would be evidence or an opinion from the structural surveyor that
work has been carried out for example some sort of uh development around the back it could be a
garden shed it could be a conservatory it could be a front porch it could be a conversion of an attic
it could be a conversion of the garage into an extra bedroom those things would
all be very relevant in terms of asking the vendor solicitor what is the planning status
what's planning permission obtained is it exempt if so then we need a certificate of exemption if
that's what's being claimed they will be the main pre-contract inquiries then that i as a solicitor
and most solicitors will raise we need to be concerned about these things we do it on behalf of
the client the client may be frustrated about the pace of the transaction how it's progressing but
we must do this to protect our client to protect the lender and to protect ourselves
from a claim for professional negligence or being in breach of our undertaking to obtain good
marketable title for the bank and obviously it's in our clients interest to ensure that there's
no issues no problems and that the property is marketable we get good marketable title
because the day is sell or buy is the day that you sell our client will circumstances may change 12
months time in 12 years time and they may want to change or may want to sell the house move on
change location or whatever they want to do then we need good title and we don't want some
issue popping up cropping up then which we could have dealt with now and which we can
get some satisfaction about now so that's the whole question of pre-contract inquiries it's
an absolutely fundamentally important part of the conveyancing process the purchaser solicitor
must raise those inquiries must raise these requisitions must look for letters look for
proof of certain things and the vendor solicitor must provide it and if that doesn't happen will
then be there's going to be a problem and there may well be delays and indeed the sale may well
fall through if the purchaser solicitor is not satisfied about the replies hope you find this
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