Whether it has any plans to ensure that obligations for the maintenance of common ground are adequately highlighted prior to the sale of a …

Maintenance obligations relating to a property and any common ground in which it has a share are set out as title conditions in the relevant title deeds. These conditions form part of the agreement of sale of the property. Under current arrangements an agent acting on behalf of the purchaser will demand to have sight of deeds containing conditions of tenure as part of the process of concluding missives. This usually takes place after the purchaser has made an offer to buy the property.Solicitors and other purchasing agents should draw to the attention of their clients the obligations to which they will become subject when they purchase a house. Obligations for the maintenance of common ground should therefore be brought to the attention of a prospective purchaser prior to the conclusion of the sale of a property as part of the existing process of house purchase. The Housing Improvement Task Force which reported in March 2003 has recommended that sellers of residential properties should provide a "Purchaser's Information Pack" when the property is put on the market. The pack would contain standard documents and information including a statement of the obligations attaching to a property. The intention behind the recommendation is that prospective purchasers should be informed of any common property obligations before they make an offer to purchase. The Executive is consulting on the recommendations of the Housing Improvement Task Force and will come to a view on what action it should take later in the year.