Written question WQ86883
- Asked by
- Mark IsherwoodConservative
- To be answered by
- Minister for Climate Change
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 10 days
Question
Are vendors, estate agents or conveyancing solicitors legally required to inform prospective purchasers that they are moving into a pre-assessed area for wind energy designated by Future Wales and, if not, what consideration has the Minister given to introducing such a legal requirement?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Climate Change
There are no legal requirements on sellers, estate agents or conveyancing solicitors to inform prospective purchasers that they are moving into a pre-assessed area for wind energy designated by Future Wales.
In terms of the residential conveyancing process there are two pieces of guidance which are relevant: -
• The Law Society’s Conveyancing protocol. This requires Solicitors acting on behalf of buyers to provide advice on the need for searches and the type of search that is appropriate. These could include area specific searches.
• The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. A lender will require various searches to be undertaken when a buyer is purchasing a property with a mortgage, and they will set out what they require.
The law in relation to property, solicitors and certain activities of estate agents are outside of the Senedd’s legislative competence. I would support in principle a review of the legal requirements around this issue by the UK Government.