The Engineer's role in conveyancing

Once finance has been arranged and you have found the property you wish to purchase the next step is to appoint a solicitor. There are a number of items the seller must provide to accompany the contracts. Sample items include;

• Certificates of Compliance for Planning and Building Regulations
• Folio Maps
• BER
• Declaration of Identity

Your solicitor will ensure that all of these legal documents will be provided prior to the sale closing. The person purchasing the property may need to arrange the following:

Survey Report

It is recommended by most solicitors that the buyer themselves arrange for an Engineer or Architect to carry out a survey on the property. These surveys are called Structural Surveys, Prepurchase surveys or Condition Surveys.  It is simply a survey carried out by a professional Engineer or Architect  which outlines any concerns that the purchases should be aware about prior to making the purchase. Further information on these can be found here.

Planning Search

Another recommended service which is becoming more and more popular is a planning search on the site and surrounding areas. The vendor of the house will furnish you with a Certificate of Compliance with Planning but this only relates to the site being purchased. By carrying out a planning search on the surrounding areas you can find out what the council is planning for the area or what has been granted on neighbouring sites. Thus for example when buying a townhouse you may be unaware that a large development that has been granted permission on the adjacent building and will be constructed in the coming years.

By getting D O Sullivan Consulting Engineers to carry out the Planning Search you can make your purchase with full reassurance that the location of your purchase has no unwanted developments in the pipeline