Vendor did not declare development

clairev

We have been living in our home for 5.5 years and the factory nextdoor to us has just started building a large unit backing on to our boundary. We estimate is has devalued our property by about £10k. Apparently pp was granted for this development in 1996 and the previous owners of our home knew about it. We have checked and they did not declare this on the question sheet they completed at the time. Could anyone out there please advise if we would have a case against them or our solicitors who did they conveyancing (ie should they have found this from their searches?)

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

vectistim

Did it show up when the searches were done?

clairev

no, or we were never informed it if did!

mrstinchcombe

What was the question on the question sheet?

How do you know they knew?

clairev

The factory manager told us that they knew all about it. I can't remember the exact question but it was something like "are you aware of any developments that will effect the property" Haven't got the forms with me at the moment but will check tonight. We have asked the council to send us copies of any correspondance that was sent out. Would imagine the pp would have had to be renewed between now and 96 but we were never notified and have never seen a pp sign up in area:(

themagicprincess

If your solicitor did the local authority searches and the searches came back as fine, then you may be able to seek damages from the council if they have been negligent.

The compensation will be a percentage of the value of the property, often 5%.

I moved into a house and then a fortnight later a road was built next to it! The money was nice but would have preferred not to have the road.

Doozergirl

Planning Permission was granted 14 years ago? It would have had to have either been renewed over and over again until now or it lapsed and has been regranted. Your local authority website should now have a link that allows you to search all planning applications and when they were made so you can look at the dates yourself.

But it is your own responsibility to check for developments in the area. Your solicitor carries out searches on your land for planning applications. If you were concerned about development then you should have commissioned a wider search. Whilst the answers in the SPIF form part of the contract, it is not the vendor's responsibility to tell you exactly what is going on around them, nor is it their specific responsibilty to know.

It's entirely possible that they didn't know anything about it - you'd firstly have to prove categorically that they knew. Even if I did; would I be thinking in 2005 about a planning application made in 1996 that had lapsed? If there was no PP in place at the time, there was no planned development.

More importantly, you have to prove devaluation. Your house, without any development, is probably still worth more than it was 5.5 years ago and the housing market itself would have devalued it over the last couple of years. It's very hard to state what the value is now without selling it. Being next door to a factory in the first place probably devalues it as much as it being closer would/does.

The case is not unquestionable. And because it is there to be argued, the solicitors bills for a litigator will be very large indeed. You need very deep pockets and there is no guarantee at all that you will win.

People who live in a property often feel that new development will devalue their houses but in reality, whilst it changes their outlook, when they come to sell on again, the people buyingnever knew any different. It is next door to a factory. It always was.

It is not easy to fight a case like that, it's almost entirely subjective and a sensible solicitor will warn you off it. Do the people plan to sue even have money to you? There is no use spending money to get blood out of a stone!

CloudCuckooLand

Look at your council's planning website. It should all be there. Applications, dates, lapsing, being renewed.

Have to ask, if you haven't seen any notices posted up since, why would you assume that old owners would get any better level of information? Even if they did get a letter, relying on whether they remembered a letter from 8 years earlier is your choice.

Even 5 years ago, planning information was easily available on many councils websites. You had the option of doing some research of your own.

Richard_Webster

See comments below. Also agree with Doozer's comments on the cost of a case and difficultly of proving loss etc.

If your solicitor did the local authority searches and the searches came back as fine, then you may be able to seek damages from the council if they have been negligent. Why would they have been negligent? As far as planning applications are concerned a local search only gives information about the property being searched against, not nearby land.

The compensation will be a percentage of the value of the property, often 5%.

I moved into a house and then a fortnight later a road was built next to it! The money was nice but would have preferred not to have the road. If the search did not show a road proposal that is a different matter because road proposals within 200m of the property do have to be shown - but that is not the same as planning decisions.