Selling house questions (first timer)

[kalidarkone]

So late ma's house is on the market. An offer has been accepted. The buyers have had their survey back. There are a few things for me to do like get the boiler fixed and move the last few items (washing machine, lazy boy chair, frozen food) complain to the insurance company (again) regarding a crack outside that has not been repaired and should of

Anyway my question is that they are asking for guarantees regarding double glazing installation and also inner doors and an alteration, whereby late ma had a downstairs toilet/cloak room that also houses the boiler put in. Latter over 10 years ago. Double glazing- no idea.

There is no paperwork relating to this that I can find.

This must happen all the time surely? People selling late relatives property where there is no clue regarding past work etc?

My solicitor is suggesting that I take Indemnity insurance out in the absence of said paperwork??? Really?

In a lot of ways I'm feeling positive regarding exchange and completion as the buyers seem very committed, having just had the drains inspected.

But an overview from experienced sellers or any conveyancers....would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[mx wcfc]

When we sold our last house we had to stump up for an insurance policy in case the extension was illegal.

It's a fking racket run by lawyers and insurance companies, but in our case it was the only way.

 

[kalidarkone]

When we sold our last house we had to stump up for an insurance policy in case the extension was illegal.

It's a fking racket run by lawyers and insurance companies, but in our case it was the only way.

Yeah my spidey sense is definitely screaming racket. I've asked my solicitor to explain why I would need indemnity insurance in this case, especially as both the alteration and double glazing exceed ten years.

OK and I understand that with an alteration that might require planning permission - but this internal alteration did not.

 

[MickiQ]

When we sold our first house the buyer later called our solicitor that there was a leak in the toilet and they wanted us to pay to fix it.
The solicitor told them they had bought the house has seen and to take a hike. This was in 1990 so it's possible that the law might have changed in the meantime but I thought house buying was buyer's risk.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

OK and I understand that with an alteration that might require planning permission - but this internal alteration did not.

i'm not very expert here, but think there are some things that don't need planning permission, but are supposed to be done (and possibly have something on paper to say they have been done) in line with building regulations.

i'm not sure what the consequences might be if they haven't been

 

[Elpenor]

Offer to go 50:50 on the cost of any indemnity insurance. If it’s that important to them, they’ll go for it.

 

[Hollis]

I've not sold myself, but from parents experience, ludicrous things can crop up when selling. I'd suggest just take out the indemnity insurance and be done with it.. better than some nebulous liability arising in 5 years time.

 

[Winot]

Indemnity insurance is a pragmatic solution in this scenario. We did it ourselves when selling. It wasn't very expensive iirc.

kalidarkone I would get a quote.

 

[Dr. Furface]

Anyway my question is that they are asking for guarantees regarding double glazing installation and also inner doors and an alteration, whereby late ma had a downstairs toilet/cloak room that also houses the boiler put in. Latter over 10 years ago. Double glazing- no idea.

A new build home would only be guaranteed for 10 years anyway, so alterations aren't going to be any different. So if the survey has given your property the all clear I don't see how you could be held responsible for something that may happen in the future, if at the time of sale there was no reported risk.

I'd be reluctant to even get the indemnity insurance but if the sale relied on it and it didn't cost much that's probably the best thing, but I think they're got a real cheek asking you to future-proof their purchase.

 

[A380]

There should have been FENSA guarantees for the windows. Probably on a post card sized document. Indemnity insurance is a normal simple and not expensive solution to this.

 

[Riklet]

I would probably just tell them it is what it is. Sounds potentially like tactics in getting the price down but theyre not v good at it. Their survey and the EPC should have told them a lot of this stuff anyway... double glazed or single glazed. Who cares about interior doors... they should be more bothered about the boiler service and condition

But. If your solicitor recommends the insurance then you should do that. Why mess around. You could also give these people a small token discount off price to keep them happy if they push for that.

 

[baldrick]

I took out indemnity in a similar situation when selling my mum's house. She had new windows and doors put in a decade ago, in my mind whatever guarantees you had at the time are long since expired. But it seemed an easy way to get the sale over the line.

 

[kalidarkone]

.QUOTE="Riklet, post: 18431609, member: 18282"]
I would probably just tell them it is what it is. Sounds potentially like tactics in getting the price down but theyre not v good at it. Their survey and the EPC should have told them a lot of this stuff anyway... double glazed or single glazed. Who cares about interior doors... they should be more bothered about the boiler service and condition

But. If your solicitor recommends the insurance then you should do that. Why mess around. You could also give these people a small token discount off price to keep them happy if they push for that.
[/QUOTE]


They are definitely not getting a discount! Mainly cus it's going to cost me 1 K to get the boiler fixed which I'm sucking up as it's only fair they have hot water and heating.

 

[Riklet]

They are definitely not getting a discount! Mainly cus it's going to cost me 1 K to get the boiler fixed which I'm sucking up as it's only fair they have hot water and heating.

Yeah that's fair enough! Is it not working at all? Crikey.

If theyre checking the drains etc sounds like theyre pretty committed and also quite likely to find more things that are wrong. I guess you just have to find a nice way to say "tough shit" to them

 

[Spandex]

These indemnity insurances are completely normal when selling a house. It does feel like a racket - when selling everyone wants to tap you for as much as they can, but it's also entirely standard.

We moved this year (selling and buying) and there were endless requests to see FENSA certificates, boiler installation certificates, electrical installation certificates. Any missing certificates, we were told by our solicitor we'd need to stump up for insurance, about £70 to £150 a time. In the end we were only missing one electrical certificate.

What we did find was that many of the trade bodies that issue the certificates keep an online database (usually only going back 8 or 10 years) that you can order a replacement certificate from for much less than the indemnity insurance. Hit Google and see if you can find a copy of the missing certificates.

You can ask the buyer to go 50:50 or pay for the insurance themselves, but your buyer can also tell you where to go. Buyers can be a suspicious lot, taking any minor irregularity in the paperwork as definitive proof there there is a definitely problem that will definitely go wrong and start demanding money off. It might be easier to just suck up the cost of the insurance if you can't find or get a copy of the certificate.

 

[shakespearegirl]

I’d tell them to fuck off.. when I sold my flat they wanted ridiculous indemnity’s and threatened to pull out - 10 year old dishwasher, boiler hat was 2 years old but I couldn’t find receipt for, oven installed as part of a Mobin kitchen installation that the warranty had expired on, weirdly not on the loft conversion. Had to get an indemnity on the boiler but refused the others

We had a huge drama when buying our house over an old road that had been legally closed and was now part of our garden. They got an indemnity but when a developer tried to take the land the insurance was useless and would only get involved if the developer was successful

When we sold our house last year I specified to the agents that everything was as seen and there would be no indemnity entertained. They asked for some at the last minute and I said we’d pull out..

 

[moochedit]

So late ma's house is on the market. An offer has been accepted. The buyers have had their survey back. There are a few things for me to do like get the boiler fixed and move the last few items (washing machine, lazy boy chair, frozen food) complain to the insurance company (again) regarding a crack outside that has not been repaired and should of

Anyway my question is that they are asking for guarantees regarding double glazing installation and also inner doors and an alteration, whereby late ma had a downstairs toilet/cloak room that also houses the boiler put in. Latter over 10 years ago. Double glazing- no idea.

There is no paperwork relating to this that I can find.

This must happen all the time surely? People selling late relatives property where there is no clue regarding past work etc?

My solicitor is suggesting that I take Indemnity insurance out in the absence of said paperwork??? Really?

In a lot of ways I'm feeling positive regarding exchange and completion as the buyers seem very committed, having just had the drains inspected.

But an overview from experienced sellers or any conveyancers....would be helpful.

Thanks

Probably trying to get you to knock the price down rather than do all the work. Never sold a house before only bought one but my mum had problems like this when she sold hers and knocked price down a bit in the end.

 

[Red Cat]

We did the indemnity insurance thing, it wasn't much, a bit over £100. It was to cover that we didn't have a certificate of our central heating installation being registered with the council. When we bought this one we took one out due to something about protecting the ROW, can't remember what exactly, followed the advice of our solicitors who were excellent and very efficient. It's normal to cover things that aren't covered by current regs and standards.

 

[bellaozzydog]

Tell them to poke it.






Politely decline

 

[Boudicca]

I had to take out indemnity insurance because I didn't have a Fensa certificate for the windows and because there is a very old covenant on the land which meant I shouldn't in theory have converted the garage. (There is a covenant on pretty much all the houses in the area and I did have planning permission for the conversion so it was very unlikely to come back and bite them.)

I bought a house which was a probate sale, so very much sold as seen.

I think for minor stuff there is a case for telling them to like it or lump it.

But my advice is probably to suck it up. The solicitors are just covering their backsides but they are covering yours too.

 

[WouldBe]

When we sold our first house the buyer later called our solicitor that there was a leak in the toilet and they wanted us to pay to fix it.

How much later? What's to say they haven't bashed it in the meantime that's caused the leak, cheeky gits.

 

[magneze]

What's the indemnity insurance for? If the windows stop working they sue you?

 

[Cloo]

What's the indemnity insurance for? If the windows stop working they sue you?

Something like that.

Under these circs I'd get the insurance, it's a relatively small cost in the scheme of all the sodding costs of selling.

 

[MickiQ]

How much later? What's to say they haven't bashed it in the meantime that's caused the leak, cheeky gits.

I can't remember exactly but it was around a few weeks after we moved, I didn't remember any leaks whilst we were there and we lived in the house for about 3 years together and I sort of half lived there on my own for 2 or 3 years before that. The solicitor told us we weren't liable and we never heard anything else.

 

[Epona]

What's the indemnity insurance for? If the windows stop working they sue you?

Basically, yes.
If you sell a property and do anything even fairly minor like leave some stuff in it that the new owners have to dispose of, that can come back to bite you in the arse.

 

[MickiQ]

What's the indemnity insurance for? If the windows stop working they sue you?

The light stops coming in apparently. We had all the double glazing replaced when we had the extension built in 2004 and it came with a 10 year guarantee, We never claimed on that but I've had to have
8 sealed units replaced since the guarantee ran out. Seven on the rear which faces south but only one on the front which faces north. The replacer told us that the sun breaks down the seals eventually.
(I have no idea if that's true or it's something he just made up on the spot). It's not expensive though about £50 a unit.

 

[kebabking]

In the current market, suck it up, pay the indemnity insurance (which isn't much) and walk off into the sunset with the money.

If you go on the various property buying Reddit threads, you'll see (idiots) asking if you should pull out of the only house they can buy because an extension built 70 years ago doesn't conform to 2023 building regs, or a FENSA certificate can't be found for windows fitted 20 years ago that need to be replaced anyway.

Buyers are idiots. They are ridiculous creatures scared of their own shadows, blind to their own best interests and apparently determined to cut off their own noses to spite their faces.

The certificates mean nothing at this stage, but buyers are too stupid to grasp that, so just say 'yeah, whatever....', let your solicitor spend £300 on indemnities, and wait for the fat wedge to appear in your bank account.

 

[Spandex]

What's the indemnity insurance for? If the windows stop working they sue you?

A FENSA or CERTASS certificate acts as a declaration by the workman that replacement windows meet building regulations and have been registered with the local authority; put simply that they are 'legal'. If they don't meet building regulations and haven't been registered you could (if something goes wrong) have to pay to show they meet regulations and/or pay to bring them up to standard. The insurance indemnifies against these costs in the unlikely event a new owner finds themselves landed with them. You can order a replacement certificate from the FENSA or CERTASS website if it has been registered since they went online a decade or so ago.

Writing about this shit isn't how I expected to spend Christmas eve

 

[buscador]

We've been through this recently. By the time everyone and their solicitor has written letters enquiring about this, that and the next thing, it would have been cheaper to just get the insurance in the first place. If they ask about chancel repair liability just pony up for that too.

 

[magneze]

Don't remember this from when we bought this place. Is it new? Puts me off moving tbh.