A buyer who exchanges contracts is, broadly, stuck with what they have bought. The law assumes they have looked before they leap — the seller rarely has to volunteer bad news. So the buyer's solicitor carries the real work of finding out what the property is really like before there is any way back. Get this stage right and the buyer is protected; get it wrong and the solicitor may be the one paying for it.
This lesson takes you through that investigation step by step:
- Caveat Emptor and the Buyer's Due Diligence — why the burden falls on the buyer, and the limited exceptions to that rule.
- Standard Enquiry Forms — the forms used to question the seller in residential and commercial deals, and how the two differ.
- The Local Authority Search — what the LLC1 and CON29 reveal, and the remedy if they miss something.
- Other Searches and Contaminated Land — water and drainage, environmental, mining and bankruptcy searches, and who pays for contamination.
- Searches in Unregistered Land — the extra checks needed where there is no register to rely on.
- Replies, Misrepresentation and Remedies — what a reply actually promises, and what happens when it turns out to be false.
- Professional Negligence of the Solicitor — when the buyer's own solicitor becomes liable for getting it wrong.