Making an offer on house needing extension

planning_officer

You don't have to own a property to apply for planning permission to extend it - anyone can apply, providing you serve notice on the owners, letting them know you have applied.

Technically, there is no such thing as 'precedent' in most planning decisions - whilst the presence of similar extensions nearby may be a good indication that permission would be forthcoming for something similar, it's not a guarantee, as rarely are two plots exactly the same in terms of their relationship to the street and neighbouring dwellings.

chickmug

planning_officer wrote: »

You don't have to own a property to apply for planning permission to extend it - anyone can apply, providing you serve notice on the owners, letting them know you have applied.

Technically, there is such thing as 'precedent' in most planning decisions - whilst the presence of similar extensions nearby may be a good indication that permission would be forthcoming for something similar, it's not a guarantee, as rarely are two plots exactly the same in terms of their relationship to the street and neighbouring dwellings.

Pleased to hear this advice as it is so true.

Also even where the planner says it should go through doesn't mean it will. I had a case where the party assumed they would get permission from the reassuarnce of the planner and the commitee turned it down.

The party exchanged on the purchase. Bad decision as we had tried to tell him it was not 100% cast iron but he was an 'agent hater' and disregarded our advice.

spuds_2

If I were the seller, there is no way I would accept an offer which was conditional on planning permission being granted. PP can take months to come through and as Chickmug says, even with a positive response from the planning dept., it is not guaranteed as they judge each application individually based on the specific plans submitted.

You are taking the right approach in speaking to the planning dept for advice, but I think it is unlikely that the vendor will accept a conditional offer. If they did and planning were refused, then you would not buy and the rejection would come up in subsequent searches. Unless they are desperate sellers then I don't see what they have to gain by accepting your terms.