When the buyer’s conveynacing solicitor detects problems in the title, he should raise requisitions on title to the seller. This article explains the correct procedure to raise such requisitions.
The requisition should be raised along with a request for a remedy from the seller. When the seller is unable to show a good title, other options such as buying a defective title indemnity insurance should be considered. Such insurance should preferably be at the seller’s cost. But if the insurance is unavailable, the buyer is unlikely to proceed.
Thus, it is the duty of the buyer’s conveyancing solicitor to advise the buyer and his lender about the defect in the title as soon as possible. It was common to deduce the seller’s title only after exchange of contract, and the only option before the buyer was to withdraw the contract and/or claim damages from a seller who was unable to provide a satisfactory title. But with requisitions, an unsatisfactory title can only cause the buyer to rescind from the transaction as there is no contract between the parties. The seller too would not have any other remedy if the buyer chooses to withdraw the contract for no good reason.
The Standard Conditions makes it necessary for the buyer to raise requisitions within six working days from the date of exchange of the epitome or abstract. But, such a prohibition is applicable to matters disclosed by the seller, and does not include issues that the buyer discovers later (after the exchange). Here again, he should raise a requisition within six days of the issue coming to his notice. It is common in modern day conveyancing to deduce the title before the exchange, thereby avoiding raising of requisitions after exchange of the epitome.
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