We are in the process of buying a Victorian semi-detached house in a large town. We have had a full level 3 building survey done and also a structural engineer survey to check on an issue that we're now happy with. We've had the environmental and drainage searches back. So we're just waiting on the Local Authority search - it was meant to be due back at the start of September but it's kept being delayed.
We are selling to a first time buyer and buying from someone who is moving in with family, so short chain. But both the seller and buyer have said they need us to complete by end of October and our sellers in particular are quite inflexible. To complete by end of October, we would really like to exchange contracts by end of September so we don't end up paying for a month of nursery fees we can't use, and so we have time to organise everything (we're moving two hours away with two preschool age children)
What would be the real risk of exchanging with search indemnity instead of the actual search results?
I've checked the local planning portal for the postcode and there's nothing bad. We know the house has had some work done without building regs, which is part of the reason we went for the very detailed surveys (& the sellers have paid indemnity for it). Our environmental search was one called Ground sure that also included a search for planning constraints and planning applications. We know our mortgage company would accept the indemnity.
What's the worst that could happen? Does anyone have experience of going ahead with this kind of search indemnity?