Conveyancing Focus
Due diligence in property transactions
by Gavin Casey
Consider the difference between handling a transaction for a property in your neighbourhood and one in a city far from home. hilst the fundamentals are the same - you’re still following the Law Society Conveyancing Protocol and conducting the same due diligence checks on the property – you will have a markedly different perspective on the local transaction. The difference being local knowledge. You will already be familiar with many of the issues. The Law Society Conveyancing Protocol requires that you ‘Make such searches as required’. If it’s a local transaction, you’ll know what the obvious issues are. Search alerts from your provider flag potential issues like flood risk when you’re dealing with transactions further afield.
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planning information groups have been sweeping through their portfolios and adjusting what their key reports contain, and in some cases cost. New providers are attempting to break into the market with alternative propositions. One of the first steps to deciding what searches are required is to know what is available in the first place. A review may well be long overdue. At Index we have no limitations on what we can provide you with. The conveyancing protocol also states that ‘If any further planning documentation is required, ascertain whether copies can be downloaded from any local authority or planning authority website.’ This is where being local really comes into its own. If you handle lots of transactions within a small number of local authorities, you’re all set. I’m sure you have a system for retrieving documentation where required. However, not all transactions are local, and local authorities vary widely in their approach to making documents available. With more than twenty local offices, and plans to expand, not contract our network of offices, we know how to secure them. We call it document retrieval. It’s a free service for our clients.
Search alerts So far so good, but only up to a point. Search alerts will will tell you tell you about known issues within a postcode. But what about emerging issues? I live in Pinner in north west about known London, situated at the foot of the Chiltern hills. Some issues within a homes and at least one school were built over disused postcode. But chalk mines. There were no dramas until a sink hole what about appeared in the school's playground. Long before the emerging BBC were filming outside the school or the wider world issues? were talking about ground stability, the locals were discussing what was going to happen to house prices. And the kids being bussed to overflow school locations If you would like to review what due diligence reports are available, or if which were somewhat less desirable. This story could be replicated you would like some help retrieving those documents, give us a call. across the country. Local issues emerge and are known within the We would love to help.■ community before becoming more widely known. If you choose to work with a search provider with an extensive network of local offices, they can help you negotiate those issues as your trusted partner on the ground. For more information please contact Gavin Casey or You may not have local knowledge on every occasion, but they will. Being Peter Hercock at our office on 0208 6167251 or email local matters when it comes to local matters. gavin.casey@indexpi.co.uk or peter.hercock@indexpi.co.uk One of the key issues with choosing what searches are required is to balance cost with benefit. Two bed new build flat in housing zone where there is significant development occurring? A professional opinion on development risk may be disproportionate in terms of cost and unnecessary in terms of impact – expect more flats nearby. For the Town House in Prime Central London don’t leave home without said professional opinion – the costs are proportionate and the potential impact significant. You know that to which I refer. Due diligence reports come in all shapes and sizes and with and without professional opinions. When was the last time you reviewed what or who you use to assist with your enquiries? The major environmental and CENTRAL LONDON
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