Making an offer on house needing extension

kheath74

My partner and I are looking for a home in the Stoke area and have found a great house at 180K, all new electrics, windows, kitchen and bathroom but it is only two bedrooms as the third room is a box room.

The house is in the right area and several of the same houses in the road have had extentions built on the side, we are thinking if we had an extension we could have two more bedrooms, garage and dining room, so the question comes, do I make an offer condition on planning permission being granted and how do you get an offer accepted off the market when I cannot say I will buy for sure unless I have the planning permission?

chickmug

If I were advising my seller client I would suggest against accepting an offer subject to your getting PP. But why don't you call the local planning department and ask how confident they feel you would be given permssion.

This link may be of interest.

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/genpub/en/1115311947777.html

googler

I wouldn't accept an offer if it was conditional on the buyer getting planning permission, especially if the planning application hasn't been made yet.

kheath74

Just reading on Councils website and I can see that they havent rejected a planning application for a residential extension this year, so that looks promising. I intend to call the Planning Officer tomorrow and have a quick word, I have seen several houses with extensions in the road so I am probably being over cautious! Now to find a builder to give an estimate!

not_loaded

I’d be a tad worried that you are drawing the seller’s attention to the fact that a house with PP is more valuable.

googler

Typically, if you apply for an extension of similar size, shape, footprint as those that have already been built onto similar houses, councils (well, at least my council) are usually minded to approve such applications, since a precedent has been set.

You have a choice - apply for your permission without making an offer, then making an offer once you get it - but someone else might buy in the meantime.

Otherwise, just buy the house as is, and apply later once you own it.

Your ideal is the situation I really can't see happening - the owners accepting your offer, taking the house off the market, and waiting for you to get planning to finalise the deal...... nah. What if the council has a couple of unexpected departures or illnesses within the planning department, and they get backed up, and applns take months or years to process?

samroo

I'm not sure if it is possible to get planning permission for a property you do not own. And even if it were possible what would be in place to stop the current owners then selling the house for a higher price in view of planning permission for extra bedrooms.

kheath74

Samroo it looks like you can apply for pp on any land even if you do not own it, but you are right I will not be applying and then letting the seller take advantage on that! I think a call to the planning officer to sound it out and then make an offer, I will make the planning application during the conveyancing after the exchange of contracts

Doozergirl

The house is not worth more money with planning permission for an extension. It is land that increases in value when it is changed to residential land. The garden is already residential land; therefore the house is not worth any more then it would be anyway.

If there are houses in the street that were initially identical to this one and extended then it is genuinely likely that you will get PP.

In fact permitted development changes often means you can build without PP, provided you are within certain guidelines.

slummymummyof3

I would suggest an informal chat with planning to see where the land lies before going back to the vendor. You cannot realistically expect the vendor to wait and see if you can get planning.

not_loaded

samroo wrote: »

I'm not sure if it is possible to get planning permission for a property you do not own. And even if it were possible what would be in place to stop the current owners then selling the house for a higher price in view of planning permission for extra bedrooms.

I wish I’d said that!

It is NOT an established rule that any property can be guaranteed PP to be extended in a similar manner to its neighbouring properties. That makes the property more desirable when the OPP is in place, especially if that PP were to be pushing the limits somewhat. You wouldn’t want to buy and then discover it couldn’t be done.