The nervous wait to exchange....

[b0rn2sk8]

The certificate is for building regs, the gas safe register notifies your local authority after the installer tells them its been installed, the installer should have self certified it at the time and the certificate is issued a few days later.

https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/h...tes-records/building-regulations-certificate/

It's likely the indemnity insurance is in case your local authority decides to take action because it wasn't notified or the appliance wasn't certified at the time of install. The reason its only 20 quid is because the chances of that happening are remote and the chances are it was probably fine (e.g. just the certificate is missing/lost/just didn't get issued). Everything has a certificate at the end of the day, even windows. If your happy with it then that's all that matters, its buyer beware when it comes to houses at the end of the day.

 

[fezster]

Just signed all the documentation for my place, exchange feels closer!

Only thing I realise is that the boiler hasn't got an installation certificate (installed in 2013). It has however since been serviced etc by gas safe installers. I presume this is OK? They've offered to pay for a £20 indemnity insurance but I'm not exactly sure what that is indemnifying?

Long term its likely I may replace the boiler as its a cheap 24kW unit and it's quite a big 4 bed house (1700sqft) that's 1930s built so I'm sure will be cold! Overall if I had to £2k to replace it'd be fairly insignificant on the overall house cost.

Building regs can only be enforced for a year, so the indemnity is all but useless (it's a box ticking exercise to satisfy your lender). With a boiler, a current gas safety check and service is far more important, as it tells you the boiler is safe and working as expected.

Also, a 24KW boiler may be more than adequate for a 4 bed house. Boilers are sized to the heat loss of a house (and in the case of combis, to the HW requirement).

 

[Macky]

Has anybody here for any experience with buying a property without a "build-over agreement" from the water company? It's in relation to an extension built prior to 2011 (when the regs changed) over a sewer.

From speaking to the seller, another buyer pulled out because of this. The seller and their solicitor argue that they have an indemnity policy covering any work that would need doing in terms of repairing the mess the water company could make if the sewer needs accessing.

Initially I was very wary, but from reading online seems to be fairly common. The seller has also said the sewer is outside the footprint of the property (including extension). I could just adopt this same indemnity cover right?

 

[Skillmister]

Indemnity will probably cover you in case it blows up and takes your house with it, they can only be touched by gas safe engineers, so it's probably to protect against some cowboy having installed it without your knowledge.

Could be wrong, but that is my first thought. You can ask them what the indemnity policy covers.

No it doesn't. The only thing building regs indemnity covers is if the local authority take enforcement action because of a lack of building regs. Obviously not going to happen so the indemnity is basically worthless for OP, it's essentially a tick box exercise given that lender requirements are that building regs certificates are in place for all work that would require it, and if not, indemnity is in place.

Hence why it costs £20

 

[HungryHippos]

No it doesn't. The only thing building regs indemnity covers is if the local authority take enforcement action because of a lack of building regs. Obviously not going to happen so the indemnity is basically worthless for OP, it's essentially a tick box exercise given that lender requirements are that building regs certificates are in place for all work that would require it, and if not, indemnity is in place.

Hence why it costs £20

Yeah at the time it was my best guess, but as people said it's cover for building regs.

In my defence I did also suggest asking what the indemnity covered

 

[ChrisD.]

Had another offer on my house from a couple relocating which I've just accepted. The original buyer started to become hesitant and was still viewing other properties, so I think I've made the right move. If she really, really wanted it she'd have raised her offer and stopped viewing other places.

After the horrendous ordeal with Yopa's solicitors we're now going to use a local firm known to us both and I've raised a complaint with Yopa to hopefully not pay the extra £300 fee to use theirs. The local Yopa Agent has been absolute rubbish recently and I've been dealing with all viewings and offers by myself with zero contact from him. I've also mentioned this in my complaint.

Let the countdown to the 30th June begin! Now to work out what mortgage to go for. We've initially looked at a 5 year fix with Nationwide.

 

[FlamBango]

Ok hit a bit of a sticking point. The lender has decided that the house isn't worth what I offered for it so won't give me the mortgage I need. I havnt sent the surveyor in yet to do the valuation and homebuyer survey, he's going in in a couple of weeks, so I'm not sure how the lender decided this.

Anyway, what are the chances of other lenders now saying the same?

The house was advertised between 230 and 240. My offer of 235 was accepted. This seems to fit in well with other recent sales in the area so I'm a bit annoyed the lender has done this. The mortgage broker very helpfully just told me to go back and offer 230, which was turned down initially anyway. I've told him to go find another lender. Flipping annoyed, although my buyer is draggin his heels so I have some time to sort out another lender.

 

[Jonnybmac]

Ok hit a bit of a sticking point. The lender has decided that the house isn't worth what I offered for it so won't give me the mortgage I need. I havnt sent the surveyor in yet to do the valuation and homebuyer survey, he's going in in a couple of weeks, so I'm not sure how the lender decided this.

Anyway, what are the chances of other lenders now saying the same?

The house was advertised between 230 and 240. My offer of 235 was accepted. This seems to fit in well with other recent sales in the area so I'm a bit annoyed the lender has done this. The mortgage broker very helpfully just told me to go back and offer 230, which was turned down initially anyway. I've told him to go find another lender. Flipping annoyed, although my buyer is draggin his heels so I have some time to sort out another lender.

This is my worry as houses in the area are a lot less than what I've offered but the house is different.
What do zoopla and Rightmove say about the house? Can you go back to the vendor and lowball him based on this decision?

I guess with everything going on at the moment they will be very strict on what they borrow out due to risk. I had one bank lend me more than another so it is maybe worth going elsewhere as they operate differently. Halifax are strict at the moment for example I believe

 

[Scrutinize]

Ok hit a bit of a sticking point. The lender has decided that the house isn't worth what I offered for it so won't give me the mortgage I need. I havnt sent the surveyor in yet to do the valuation and homebuyer survey, he's going in in a couple of weeks, so I'm not sure how the lender decided this.

Anyway, what are the chances of other lenders now saying the same?

The house was advertised between 230 and 240. My offer of 235 was accepted. This seems to fit in well with other recent sales in the area so I'm a bit annoyed the lender has done this. The mortgage broker very helpfully just told me to go back and offer 230, which was turned down initially anyway. I've told him to go find another lender. Flipping annoyed, although my buyer is draggin his heels so I have some time to sort out another lender.

How much difference in lending value is there and what will the LTV be? Is it just £5k or a lot more?

Presume you can't make up the difference yourself?

Any options for a different lender and/or it may be worth holding off until the 5% gvt backed mortgages land next month.

If you are on a low LTV percentage then reducing your equity and increasing the amount borrowed would free up the capital to make up the difference.

 

[ChrisD.]

I also fear our lender will value the house lower, so we ensured we had enough cash in the bank to cover any shortfall plus potentially for the stamp duty. I understand that's not an option to everyone though.

 

[Buffman]

Ok hit a bit of a sticking point. The lender has decided that the house isn't worth what I offered for it so won't give me the mortgage I need. I havnt sent the surveyor in yet to do the valuation and homebuyer survey, he's going in in a couple of weeks, so I'm not sure how the lender decided this.

Was it based on an actual in person valuation or desktop?

If they based it on an online valuation ask them to go to the property.

 

[Peerzy]

Ok hit a bit of a sticking point. The lender has decided that the house isn't worth what I offered for it so won't give me the mortgage I need. I havnt sent the surveyor in yet to do the valuation and homebuyer survey, he's going in in a couple of weeks, so I'm not sure how the lender decided this.

Anyway, what are the chances of other lenders now saying the same?

The house was advertised between 230 and 240. My offer of 235 was accepted. This seems to fit in well with other recent sales in the area so I'm a bit annoyed the lender has done this. The mortgage broker very helpfully just told me to go back and offer 230, which was turned down initially anyway. I've told him to go find another lender. Flipping annoyed, although my buyer is draggin his heels so I have some time to sort out another lender.

I would suggest you do go back to the vendor and offer £230k. It was rejected previously but with a bank valuation putting that at the value they will fear any other future buyers will also get the same and be rejected mortgages.

It's a rubbish situation for them but the options are:

1) Accept the lower price of £230k from you, lose £5k
or
2) Potentially lose you as a buyer, back onto the market, potentially lose whatever move they are buying, may miss stamp duty holiday only for future buyers to also get into exactly the same situation as you

Look at it this way - the lender may have just saved you £5k.

 

[rG-tom]

Ok hit a bit of a sticking point. The lender has decided that the house isn't worth what I offered for it so won't give me the mortgage I need. I havnt sent the surveyor in yet to do the valuation and homebuyer survey, he's going in in a couple of weeks, so I'm not sure how the lender decided this.

Anyway, what are the chances of other lenders now saying the same?

The house was advertised between 230 and 240. My offer of 235 was accepted. This seems to fit in well with other recent sales in the area so I'm a bit annoyed the lender has done this. The mortgage broker very helpfully just told me to go back and offer 230, which was turned down initially anyway. I've told him to go find another lender. Flipping annoyed, although my buyer is draggin his heels so I have some time to sort out another lender.

problem is that many banks use the same independent valuers, so another lender may get the same number....definitely present to the sellers IMO.

 

[2004typer]

I would suggest you do go back to the vendor and offer £230k. It was rejected previously but with a bank valuation putting that at the value they will fear any other future buyers will also get the same and be rejected mortgages.

It's a rubbish situation for them but the options are:

1) Accept the lower price of £230k from you, lose £5k
or
2) Potentially lose you as a buyer, back onto the market, potentially lose whatever move they are buying, may miss stamp duty holiday only for future buyers to also get into exactly the same situation as you

Look at it this way - the lender may have just saved you £5k.

Yep, I'd go back with a lower offer in the first instance, you have the data to back this up as regards what the real opinion on the actual house value is (assuming the lender is correct), so as above they may have just saved you 5k.

 

[rG-tom]

Yep, I'd go back with a lower offer in the first instance, you have the data to back this up as regards what the real opinion on the actual house value is (assuming the lender is correct), so as above they may have just saved you 5k.

I would be even clearer, say the bank has valued it at 5k less and that pushes all of the numbers down as this changes LTV etc.

 

[Arsonist]

Still floundering around waiting for solicitors to do anything. I know these things take time, but when we almost bought a house last year things moved so much faster. Have had the solicitors confirmed for about 4 weeks now but haven't had any proactive communication from them, in fact I think they replied once saying they were waiting for the vendor's contract pack and that's literally been it. Pretty sure I paid for searches within the first week or so last time, but not even a hint of that yet. The longer it drags on without any affermative action the more I worry about the vendor getting itchy feet and looking elsewhere/deciding to stay put...offer was accepted over 5 weeks ago and nothing has moved from there, is that normal?

 

[ChrisD.]

4 weeks and still waiting for draft contract seems a long time. Who are your solicitors?

 

[Arsonist]

4 weeks and still waiting for draft contract seems a long time. Who are your solicitors?

A small local one, used them last time and they were quick enough. Just got off the phone to estate agent and they're going to chase both sides up as they thought it was too long too. Will see what happens!

 

[Buffman]

Just proposed a completion date of 31st March following a survey. Exchange should be happening next week so heres hoping! Only had an approved offer since November and 1 buyer pull out...


My surveyor noted potential woodworm (which is old and not ongoing) under some stairs and i could seperately pay £150 for a surveyor then proposed remediations... But looking online it's only about £20 for a tin of woodworm killer. Seems the obvious choice?

Taking a slight risk going for exchange prior to receiving the final surveyor report but had a good 30min call with them and went thru all the points/queries I had. I've used them before and they seem fairly switched on.

 

[Skillmister]

Still floundering around waiting for solicitors to do anything. I know these things take time, but when we almost bought a house last year things moved so much faster. Have had the solicitors confirmed for about 4 weeks now but haven't had any proactive communication from them, in fact I think they replied once saying they were waiting for the vendor's contract pack and that's literally been it. Pretty sure I paid for searches within the first week or so last time, but not even a hint of that yet. The longer it drags on without any affermative action the more I worry about the vendor getting itchy feet and looking elsewhere/deciding to stay put...offer was accepted over 5 weeks ago and nothing has moved from there, is that normal?

If they're waiting for the contract pack there is little your solicitors can do and there could be a number of reasons why the sellers solicitors have taken so long to provide it. Anything from solicitor incompetence/busyness , seller incompetence, title issues, they might not have the memorandum of sale from the agents etc etc. Its a major part of the problem in why the process takes so long overall. I'm a strong advocate of bringing back a home information pack type thing for this reason so the legal pack is already prepared and ready when you have an offer accepted like with an auction property. In a climate where some local authorities have 2-3 month turnaround time for searches wasting a month at the start is a big problem.

I'm completing on a purchase for a mate next week, less than 4 weeks since offer accepted. But then on the other hand I've got ones that have been going on for 6+ weeks without contracts being issued. It's a joke.

Speak to your estate agent. They are the ones who should be getting this sorted by contacting the seller direct and making sure they have returned all the paperwork they need to for their solicitors (ID, t&cs, property info forms etc) and if they have, chasing up their solicitor to issue contracts.