• Solicitor Wont Accept Indemnity Policy ?

    By Guest on 12th Sep 2020

    We are selling a property which we carried out works on ourselves 5 years ago to knock through two load bearing walls. The buyers Solicitors have asked do we have building regs for the works, I advised no. They have now asked if the works included walls which were load bearing, I advised yes. They have now advised "please provide us the relevant Building Regulation Approval together with Completion Certificate for the same. Please note that we will not accept indemnity insurance in lieu of the required documentation"

    I always thought that we could provide an indemnity policy if this situation arose ?

    Thanks

  • 2 Answers

    By NotaryExpress on 13/09/2020

    It depends on the buyer's requirements. Imagine you are buying a property and the seller has knocked through the walls. You might accept an indemnity or you might want the reassurance of structural adequacy from the building regulations inspection. An indemnity policy often just provides financial compensation in the event of enforcement action, not cover you financially if the house collapses from potential defective workmanship. You could:

    1. Insist on an indemnity policy and see if the buyer calls your bluff or walks away
    2. Obtain restrospective approval from the local authority (consider the risk of the local authority not granting approval but requiring you to reinstate the walls);
    3. Find a different buyer and hope they accept an indemnity.

    www.notaryexpress.co.uk

  • By Guest on 13/09/2020

    Hi

    Thank you for reply.

    So just to confirm if the buyers are not objecting to the indemnity policy then there should be no reason except the Solicitor maybe initially pushing to check if we really don't have the policy?

    Thanks

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