Indemnity insurance

[emilyslarkin]

Anyone know anything about indemnity insurance when buying a house and able to give some advice or recommend someone to speak to? Our house purchase is stuck because the property comes with a right to park (that we don’t need) in a private car park owned by a company in Cayman that no one has ever heard from or can get hold of. We need us to take indemnity insurance in case they show up but our solicitor can’t find a broker who will take it on. Let me know if you’ve had a similar situation, thanks! 

[Sue]

10 hours ago, [email protected] said:

Anyone know anything about indemnity insurance when buying a house and able to give some advice or recommend someone to speak to? Our house purchase is stuck because the property comes with a right to park (that we don’t need) in a private car park owned by a company in Cayman that no one has ever heard from or can get hold of. We need us to take indemnity insurance in case they show up but our solicitor can’t find a broker who will take it on. Let me know if you’ve had a similar situation, thanks! 

What do the present owners say about it?

Do you get to park in this private car park free? Are there strings attached to that? If not, I'm struggling to see what the problem is, but then I'm not a lawyer.

Who might show up? The owners of the car park? Do they have an interest in the actual house in some way? What might happen if they showed up?

[Penguin68]

If you are buying the property and it comes notionally with a parking space which might be reneged on by a third party then I think it would be the seller that needs to take out indemnity insurance in case the right (to parking) which is being sold evaporates. The seller needs to indemnify you against failure to deliver what is purportedly being sold. 

[the_hermit]

Yes it's up to the seller to buy the indemnity insurance, but advising indemnity insurance is often a lazy get out for a conveyancing solicitor who can't be bothered to advise properly or look up the relevant law.

 

[Gloves]

A quick google - https://www.clsl.co.uk/insights/a-guide-to-limited-or-no-title-guarantee-legal-indemnity-insurance

It is the purchasers responsibility - Not the seller @the_hermit 

[CPR Dave]

This should be relatively straightforward and very cheap.

 

It might also be something your seller took out when they bought that can be passed on to you.

[the_hermit]

Sorry yes you're right my mistake.  I looked up our previous purchases and we had to buy policies both times we bought houses (although one we split the cost with the seller because we argued the seller's solicitor was wrong in their opinion).  It is true though that the amount of indemnity insurance you have to buy is proportional to the laziness and inversely proportional to the quality of the conveyancing solicitors on both sides.

Edited May 24, 2024 by the_hermit

[CPR Dave]

It is still often cheaper than paying for another hour of their work though!

[the_hermit]

Yea but conveyancing is normally fixed fee, at least when we've done it.