What are Enquiries When Buying a House?

Conveyancing enquiries, also known as pre-contract enquiries, are a necessary step when buying a house. They ensure the buyer has all the relevant legal information about a property before they commit to buying it.

What are conveyancing enquiries?

The buyer’s solicitor will raise enquiries after they have received the draft contract and other documents from the seller’s solicitors. Enquiries are a list of questions to learn more about the legal aspects of the property and its history.

They often take place alongside property searches to ensure the buyer has a comprehensive overview of the property. The typical searches which are carried out include an environmental search, a local authority search, and a water and drainage search. These searches may highlight concerns, which the buyer’s solicitor can then raise further questions with the seller’s solicitor about.

What do enquiries include?

Enquiries when buying a property often cover:

• Boundary limits and any easements or covenants applying to the property
• Alterations to the property including those requiring planning permission and building regulations consent
• Fixtures or fittings to be included in or excluded from the sale
• Any leasehold terms or arrangements
• Queries about the title register and any documents referred to on it
• Risk of natural disasters, e.g. flooding, ground stability, etc
• If the services are connected and fully functional
• Solar panels
• Private drainage arrangements

How long do enquiries take when buying a house?

Typically, the searches and enquiries process can take several weeks to complete. The length of time taken will depend on the number of questions raised, how quickly satisfactory responses are received and the searches carried out. Any issues with the property which become apparent during this process may need to be rectified before the transaction can proceed, so this can also affect the time taken for enquiries to be resolved.

Once the buyer’s solicitor has received responses to the enquiries from the seller’s solicitor, they will compile a report for the buyer to review. If the buyer has any further questions, they can then raise these with their solicitor.

If there are any defects with the property title, buyers may be able to obtain indemnity insurance to protect them and/or their mortgage lender from potential future financial implications.

After the enquiry process has been finalised, the next steps are for all parties to sign the contract, transfer and any other necessary documents. Following this, the parties and their solicitors will then be able to discuss and agree a completion date and then contracts will be exchanged. It is at the point of exchange of contracts that the transaction becomes legally binding on the buyer and seller, and the agreed completion date becomes fixed.

At DFA Law, our residential property solicitors can help you through the enquiries and searches process. Email info@dfalaw.co.uk or call 01604 609560 for more information.