What do I need to check about property title?

[poordeveloper]

Hi all,

Looking to make an offer on a PPOR property in the next few days. We're considering making it unconditional since we're OK for finance and there are several other interested parties.

One thing I'm not sure about is what checks I should be doing on the title before making an offer? Should this be done by a conveyancer/solicitor or can I ring up the land office (or other department) and check it myself?

A colleague suggested adding a clause to the offer of "conditional on approval of contract by my solicitor". Is that a good idea and is it necessary?

Many thanks,

PD

 

[farmilor]

Your solicitor will complete all necessary checks for you.

not sure about that additional clause though, seems like a bit of a useless one to me.

 

[Ms Jade]

PD, your solicitor should be able to see if anything looks fishy in the 3 day cooling off. You should send them the section 32 straight away if you don't know what you're looking at. Also, measure the land so you're sure that ut matches the title. It's amazing how fence lines can move over the years.

If you can get away with the clause you should try to. It's usually used as a general "get out" clause, in so far as your solicitor can say "I'm not happy" and get you out of it. I think it's likely that the REA would have seen this before so wouldn't really regard your offer as unconditional. Try running it by them, though.

 

[poordeveloper]

Thanks Farmilor and Ms Jade. I think I'll keep it unconditional and rely on the cooling off period.