Conveyancing

[Barquentine]

What is the extent of a solicitor's duty to report things about a property a friend of mine bought? There was a condition in one of the planning permissions that removed the resident parking scheme from round this new block of flats. The solicitor sent him the planning permission and said the flats had been built with building regs etc but didn't mention the lack of car parking. The estate agent did not make him aware of that either. He says to be fair he never explicitly raised this point, but he thinks the solicitor should have told him, but the solicitor says he should have said he wanted to make sure he had parking. I said I think the solicitor should foresee everything that might be of concern to a house-buyer.

[bednobs]

personally i agree with the solicitor. If residents parking was improtant to your friend, he should have made sure it had it

[bednobs]

ps how is the solicitor supposed to know what is and isn't a concern to a buyer? If you don't drive, or don't have a car, parking is not going to be on your radar. If the solicitor were to have to list everything a property DOESN'T have, she'd be there forever

[tonywiltshire]

If parking was important to your friend it should have been raised with his conveyancing solicitor who would then know what to look out for, it can be very difficult to second guess what is a priority. Non-solicitors carry out most of the work in conveyancing but the responsibility will rest with a named solicitor. If your friend feels strongly over the matter he can raise a complaint initially with the senior partner of the firm concerned.

[woofgang]

who was the solicitor acting for? your friend (buyer) or the seller? Estate agents always act for the seller, and while they are not allowed to lie and must answer questions honestly, they are not obliged to give information they are not asked for.

[bushbaby_de]

The solicitor did what they were required to do by forwarding the documents. Why didn't your friend read the planning permissions? The forms the solicitor send always ask you to make sure that the extent of what you're buying matches your expectations - the solicitor doesn't know what the buyer thinks might or might not be included because the solicitor never visits the property. I think your friend is on to a loser here.

From the planning side, it is unusual for local parking schemes to be suspended for occupiers unless there is either a) sufficient parking at the site or b) another condition requiring the owners to make prospective purchasers aware of the lack of entitlement to parking permits. I'd suggest your friend have a good read of the planning permission and perhaps talk to the seller/developer (or put a link to the planning permission on here and I'll have a look for you)