Invisible cowpats

I dealt with a purchase in the recent past where there was a notice of payment of an improvement grant showing in the legal report for work which had been carried out at the house more than five years previously. The grant conditions still applied. The council could not explain why it had taken them years on end to register the notice. 

The missives were closed and the sellers ended up falling foul of the provision for a good and marketable title to be exhibited. We negotiated a settlement allowing our clients a discount on the price in return for accepting the title as it stood, but we could have insisted on a notice of cessor, which would have resulted in a loss to the sellers of over £4,000.

If it is not already standard procedure, it might be an idea when taking particulars for the sale of a property to quiz the owners as to whether they have received any grant assistance for any works carried out such as a wet room or a stairlift, particularly if the seller is elderly or if the property is being sold out of an executry.
These notices of payment can lurk unseen for years on end. I had a case once where the notice was only recorded about five days before the grant conditions expired, so for four years 11 months and three weeks it was an invisible cowpat just waiting for someone to step into it.