Thanks for the speedy response! However, I would be interested to know if the building warrant situation (or lack of) can be addressed post-purchase. It's a bit easier to call an attic 'floored loft space' than move a bathroom or windows.
Because this is in Scotland (where a building warrant appears to be required for practically any change), I would have thought there would be a higher occurrance of 'post build' warrants than anywhere else. Time to cross post to UK DIY I think and see if anyone there has experience with building warrants.
I've got a relative who works for building control in England, when i was looking at knocking down an internal wall I asked his advice, and he said that realistically i could knock it down - as its not load bearing, however if I knock it down without prior building warrant I could have problems when it comes to selling.
He said if I did follow this method, and then the new owner required the building warrant it would be possible to get one post event - but only if it would be possible to get one pre event at that time (if that makes) sense. Ie suppose I want the work done in 2000, I don't get the building warrant (and do the work anyway) although the building control would have given one, and then in 2002 the legislation changes and building control decide that I now could no longer get the work done, when it comes to selling in 2003 I will not be able to get the warrent even though the work was done in 2000, however if the legislation didn't change in 2002 then i could get the building warrant post work no problem.
Thus if the changes that have been made meet current regs there would be no problem in either them or you getting the warrant.
Do you like the changes? If so I'd probably just keep my mouth shut, you can always change them back prior to sell> The full story (or rather, the original post). Flat is in Edinburgh, for the
I've not been involved in the Edinburgh property market for a good few years, I'm worried by this....
: : > As we're paying 64% over the o/o price for the property, I want > the paperwork done and above board before we buy it.
Is this a typo?
You are paying 64 percent over the offers over price?
So (all but) two thirds more than they were asking?
Is this the way of the market at the moment? Did you deliberately go over-the-top to land a unique gem, or do you believe that others bidders weren't (going to be) too far behind?
When I were a lad (or some such) the offers over price was meant to be a reasonably serious statement of what the sellers thought the property was worth. It would be round about where the valuation ought to be. Properties sold at around a 10% premium on that.
What sort of valuation did you get?
In another message, you say....
Thankfully the days of having to survey every property before putting in an offer seem to be behind us, as our solicitor recommended against getting any surveys done before getting a place, and just made getting a satisfactory survey a condition of the offer. Out of the last three properties we bit for (2 colonies and a comely bank flat), one had 7 notes of interest, 6 offers and no survey done prior to offering, one had 12 notes of interest 7 offers and no survey, and the latest had 6 notes of interest, 6 offers and 1 survey (valuation). When we got it, we got a homebuyer survey done, rather than buy a copy of the valuation.
I'm not surprised that people are reluctant to survey if o/o prices are barely half what they should be!
Surely all that this discussion tells us is that the o/o price is a complete game played by selling agents and surveyors. When looking for a new flat all that a buyer knows is that they will pay more than the asking price.
Once you have found a property that you are interested in, most solicitors worth their salt should be able to tell you what properties in the same street/ postcode went for in the last few years (all espc solicitors have access to the database of o/o and selling prices), add whatever their magic number is depending on how much the most recent neighbouring property went for, and so give you a fairly good estimate of where the valuation would come in at. Then it is up to you to decide how much to put in on top.
So with a good agent you effectively get the seller's survey that would allow buyers to only survey the property that they end up buying.
Or, alternatively, hunt out fixed price properties, especially scanning the espc website on a Wednesday when they tend to change.
"Crawford Buchanan" wrote | Once you have found a property that you are interested in, most | solicitors worth their salt should be able to tell you what properties | in the same street/ postcode went for in the last few years (all espc | solicitors have access to the database of o/o and selling prices),
The most recent date (of registration) and price achieved by house sales (for Scotland) is available online at
formatting link
Checking the date is free, it costs GBP 1 per house if you want the figure emailed to you (for 2 or more searches in one report)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.