Wayleaves

Buying property in the country isn't like buying in the city or town.  There are things to consider which the town buyer probably would never give a second thought to: such as, where does the electricity come from?  What about water and drainage? Telephone?  Where are the boundaries?  Do you have right of access?

In the country people often work things out between themselves without troubling with the legals.  This can be fine as long as everyone gets on and knows what's been agreed.  But what happens if someone changes their mind, or a dispute arises, or neighbours fall out or property changes hands?  That right of access you thought you had can suddenly be blocked off.  This is where a good solicitor who will look after your interests is invaluable.

The wayleaves for electricity, water and telephone were not complete, as the solicitors acting in the previous sale hadn't done their job properly.  We had to tidy up the mess, which cost us more than a thousand pounds in extra fees.  But eventually, about two years after we first saw the plot it was done.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Property Buyer

Entry was 26th June 2009 - about 6 weeks away so we had to get various things underway, including finding an architect as the planning permission was due to run out early in 2010.  We didn't want the existing approved design since it was created for a particular client and his special needs, but we thought we might as well speak to the architect who drew up the plans as well as one we had researched on the internet and was based in the Borders.

Choosing an architect is like choosing a partner - s/he must be someone you can work with and whose ideas you respect and who respects yours.  Having met both on site we felt we could work best with Keith as he seemed most in tune with our aspirations.  At our next meeting we drew up a design brief - the kind of house we wanted, how many rooms, size, eco features, what we didn't want and the all important budget.

Meanwhile, we waited for the offer to be accepted...and waited.  I phoned the selling agent who said there was no problem and we waited.  The entry date came and went and we continued to wait.  Looking round the plot we wondered where the septic tank had been hidden as the particulars stated that one had been installed.  We walked up the road a bit and found a builder working on a new house and asked him if he knew anything about the site.  He said he'd been contracted to build the house but when the client died he had been left owing a considerable sum which almost put him out of business, so he took the tank away as part payment.  This wasn't entirely true, as it turned out the tank had been blown away in a winter storm, ending up in the river some distance below.

Eventually the offer was accepted, but by that time the entry date had passed.  We thought that since there was no septic tank we should get a discount on the price and asked the solicitor to negotiate.  However, the seller was unwilling to settle for less as there was a mortgage on the property.  It turned out that the late owner and his wife were separated and she knew nothing of the site.

We visited the site several more times, walking in the area and hoped it would be ours before too long, even though the entry date was a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately, our hopes were misplaced and a couple of months passed without much sign of activity.  The seller had chosen different solicitors to the ones who acted for her husband and this led to complications and delay in getting the necessary documents to our solicitor.

As things dragged on into the autumn and early winter it became apparent that certain parties had not done their work properly and other parties were in no hurry to rectify matters.  The seller's solicitors even said that they were simply "acting as a post box".  Wayleaves/servitudes hadn't been sought for various services from all the adjoining landowners and although this may seem an arcane matter it could prove problematic if you don't have a right to lay an electricity cable across somebody's land to your property.

Weeks passed, months passed.  We spoke to the seller to try to get things moving, but we had no leverage, for if the sale fell through the plot would revert to the bank and she didn't seem bothered if that happened.  As time went by it became more and more frustrating and stressful.  Solicitors acting for other parties were incompetent, unhelpful and uninterested in reaching a speedy resolution.  They had screwed up first time round and instead of doing all they could to get it correct they dithered and bungled unprofessionally until eventually we had to pay extra to get the wayleaves we required.

Research

We'd renovated several houses over the past thirty years, but now was the time to build our own. The first thing to decide was which part of the country we wanted to live in. It had to be rural, it had to be near a reasonable sized town which we could cycle to for shopping and other facilities and not at the top of a huge hill. Some areas were ruled out as we'd already lived there or they didn't appeal, which narrowed it down to Perthshire, Dumfries & Galloway and The Borders.

So down to some research. The solicitor's property centres are a good place to start, together with estate agent portals such as Primelocation. Google searches for "building plot/site" usually threw up some interesting hits. Of course a lot of the plots were dross - too small, one of several plots being sold by the same vender, too near a town, no view, on the wrong side of the glen, surrounded by woodland, too expensive and so on. We had a profile of the ideal plot and a budget, but very few came anywhere near. However, you have to start looking, because it's only when you see something on the ground that you can decide whether to short list or dismiss it and often the photo on the website has little connection with reality - it doesn't show that the site is nearly vertical, or next to a quarry.

I downloaded some particulars of likely sites and plotted them on my mapping software. Then off in the motorhome to see what they looked like on the ground. Several plots didn't take long dismiss, but there were a couple still worth a look. One was near Lauder, the other near Selkirk, but the latter was quite a bit more expensive. We looked at the first one and although it was promising it wasn't quite what we were looking for. It was one of 3 sites side by side and next to an expensive house built on spec. The views were pleasant, if not spectacular and you could hear a bit of noise from the main road, though it wasn't excessive. However, the plots were very open which would mean little privacy once the other sites had been developed, so we decided against it and left the other one till later.

We then went off for a few days on other business and on the way back decided to look at a site near Jedburgh and another near Selkirk. The first one was up a steep hill so it was discounted and the Selkirk one was at a farm and seemed to be in a small quarry. We then decided we might as well look at the more expensive plot and drove along a quiet road to a small hamlet and found the site slightly above a group of fairly modern houses. The view was extensive to the south and west with slopes leading up to low hills on the northern side. At about 2 acres it looked ideal and was far and away the best one we'd looked at. But it was more than we had considered paying. On the other hand, it was so much better than anything else available and had already had some work carried out on it.

We took a walk up the hills behind to think it over. The gentle, dry slopes with good paths, excellent for dog walking only made us more certain it was what we wanted. I phoned the agent to discuss details, hoping that the seller might take a lower offer than the asking price. The seller was prepared to accept an offer at the asking price, but not lower and wanted a quick settlement. I said I would instruct our solicitor to get an offer in right away. It was mid-May 2009.