Searchbusters! Corny right? Maybe, but for good reason.
We believe fundamentally that the status quo for buying and selling property in England and Wales needs to change. It is an unfortunate fact that over a quarter of all property transactions fail. This causes untold misery, is extremely wasteful and frustrating for all concerned - so what can be done?
Put simply, buyers and sellers need to get better prepared!
We can help home movers gather the information they need to make fundamental decisions at the start of a property transaction rather than when they are financially and emotionally committed months into a transaction.
🔍 Is there a problem with flooding?
🔍 Is the property title registered?
🔍 Is it built on contaminated or unstable land?
🔍 Is there a planning issue?
🔍 Is there a drainage issue?
🔍 Is there a problem with Radon?
🔍 Is there a TPO on the grounds?
These are a just small number of literally hundreds of critical factors that could affect someones enjoyment of a property and should not be ignored.
It is easy to instruct a conveyancer and simply wait for the process to unfold but this is sometimes referred to as the 'black hole' of conveyancing, where nothing appears to happen for weeks or even months on end. This is the time where it is prudent for home movers to do their own due diligence to confirm that they are making the right decisions. We don't want people be a passenger in their own transaction; Some reports invariably take an hour or less to return and we send copies to home movers and their conveyancers as soon as they complete.
An environmental report, carried out early, gives guidance on what a surveyor should look out for and what type of survey should be done. A simple mortgage valuation survey may even be conducted from a moving car, known as a drive-by, when the Loan-to-Value allows, and will rarely pick up on structural issues which are a buyers responsibility to discover.
Local authority searches can take days, or, on some local authority areas, months to complete. If searches have not been ordered and the transaction is in an area with such significant delays, it may derail everyone's plans to move in on time. Check the timescales for your area using our latest data and if your searches have not been ordered, consider taking control and ordering them yourself.
If you are planning to extend your new home, are you aware of any planning constraints that might prevent that? Is there an old tree that you would like to remove? Have the neighbours had similar planning requests declined? The answers can often be found within your searches.
Delaying search ordering only delays your ability to find the answers to questions that could derail your transaction and prevent you from withdrawing and finding your dream home. Remember that the entire property sector champions the phrase 'Caveat Emptor' which translated means "Let the Buyer Beware". This pushes the responsibility in to the buyers court when it comes to finding out issues that could derail the transaction. But far too many buyers rely on others to highlight issues. You can be certain that the Selling Agent won't spill the beans and neither will the seller. So that just leaves your and your conveyancer.. and we all know how hard it can be to have a conversation with your conveyancer let alone be kept in the loop regarding issues that might concern you.
We offer independent and unbiased access to all of the data that is available for every home in England & Wales and only want one thing, to help home movers to move quicker with as little stress as possible.
We hope that you find solace in this article and can rest assured that we have your best interests at heart, don't be scared of searches.....Who ya gonna call? More like, when!
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