Planning permission granted for community centre

rio

We are in the process of selling our house. We live opposite an area of parkland, and at the end of last year planning permission was granted for a temporary community centre to be put up roughly opposite our house. However the committee who wished to erect the centre were told that the permission was only granted for three years and they would then have to reapply to keep the building. So they have decided to look for another site, where the building can be more permanent.

Will the fact that permission is granted for the building show up in any searches? and if so what do we do about it? Obviously any prospective buyer will be put off if they think a community centre is going to be built opposite, even though it has been well publicised that it will not go ahead. Will the council have marked that the committee are unwilling to proceed? What do we tell our EA, potential buyers and our solicitor?

seven-day-weekend

The planning search will only be upon your land, unless specifically requested otherwise.

Debt_Free_Chick

rio wrote:

Will the fact that permission is granted for the building show up in any searches?

Yes - that's exactly why buyers get searches. To be honest, if you were the buyer you would want to know about it.

and if so what do we do about it?

Nothing you can do about it.

Obviously any prospective buyer will be put off if they think a community centre is going to be built opposite, even though it has been well publicised that it will not go ahead.

I guess some buyers would be put off - buy perhaps not all. Depending on the local area, some buyers might see it as an improvement in local facilities.

Will the council have marked that the committee are unwilling to proceed?

Doubtful. The Council is only interested in ensuring that any potential development is lawful. The PP lapses anyway after 3 years, if work does not begin by then. Anyway, the committee could change its mind again and go ahead - provided they do so within 3 years of the date of the PP then they would not need to go back to the Council for new PP.

What do we tell our EA, potential buyers and our solicitor?

Tell the EA what you know. If you have newspaper clippings showing that the Committee has abandoned the plan, that might help. However, the buyer's solicitor will almost certainly tell the buyer that the Committee could change their mind and the development could still go ahead.

If the buyer's directly ask you what you know about the PP, you must answer truthfully. Other than that, you don't need to volunteer this information - although it might seem odd to some if you don't and wonder if you were trying to hide this information. Difficult to know what to do for the best in these situations.

Perhaps if someone commented on how nice the park was, you could say something like ... "Yeah, they were going to build a community centre there, but the plans have been abandoned"

Let's see what other MSEers think you should say.

HTH

silvercar

Keep quiet unless asked. By the time they get the searches back they will be more committed to your house than if you told them about it on first visit.

Debt_Free_Chick

seven-day-weekend wrote:

The planning search will only be upon your land, unless specifically requested otherwise.

Ah .... I thought it would show a more "public" development if it were that close to the property.

The buyer's solicitor might, I guess, take a look at a large green space opposite the property - but it depends

hhmmmm.....

silvercar

Searches will show developmant plans for the sorrounding area. Years ago I sold a flat and the searches showed up a road development program a whole block away. Recently a search showed up extension plans of the house next door.

Searches are going to show anything that the council have written to you, as the owner, about. They may also show things further afield if they are large.

rio

I have checked with Companies House, and the management group that were in charge of getting the centre off the ground is in the process of being wound up. Would this help us prove that the plan has been abandoned? The newspaper article about the decision not to develop the site was not very complimentary about the local area, and even though we have lived here for 19 years with no problem, I doubt it will help us sell. The only other thing we have is a general letter to residents saying that the centre will not be going ahead, but it is not signed and was basically written on someone's computer and then printed off.

Would it be possible for our buyer's solicitor or the buyers themselves to approach the centre management group to establish what is going on? Obviously if we did it there would be no proof that we hadn't concocted a reply ourselves.

clutton_2

i think you are going into this in way way too much depth. wait and see what questions the buyers ask - as already said, don't offer information - the law is Caveat Emptor - Buy Beware - its up to them to find out, it is not up to you to volunteer information.

stay cool !!!!

Victoria_Falls

The search that is carried out will only reflect the planning applications / land charges etc related to "your" property. Next door applications only appear on searches as the line plotted on the plans may cross into your boundary, this is only because the council has been careless in drawing it and the search will include this just to be extra sure. There are products that solicitors offer that include planning permissions within 250m of the area of a particular property. One product is Know Your Neighbour. These products are still relatively unpopular and only the more conscience buyer will get this product. Some searches do include "zoning" this is the information that is show on the councils Local Development Plans (Local Plan / Unitary Development Plan) This shows how the land is allocated i.e residential development, open space etc.

I honestly wouldn't worry about your situation at all.

seven-day-weekend

silvercar wrote:

Searches will show developmant plans for the sorrounding area. Years ago I sold a flat and the searches showed up a road development program a whole block away. Recently a search showed up extension plans of the house next door.

Searches are going to show anything that the council have written to you, as the owner, about. They may also show things further afield if they are large.

The Planning part of the search (which is what the OP is referring to in this instance) will only be for the land that goes with the property, unless specifically requested otherwise. The planning search will show the zoning of the area on the Local Plan/Unitary Development Plan. In the case you mentioned about next door's extension plans being shown, either the solicitor had specifically asked for that, or the boundary had been incorrectly marked on the plans. Highways searches cover more of an area.

I undertook planning searches for four years!