Has my mortgage company acted negligently?

marcinda64

In 2007 we bought a rennovation project property and because of the state of the property we paid the mortgage company for a valuation survey to be carried out. The property was being used as a farm right up to the day that we moved in.

Subsequently, we have found out that the property does not have General Permitted Development Rights (GPDR) despite the solicitor having written to us "this property benefits from general permitted development rights which means...." GPDR, for those who do not know, gives you the right to build a shed, deck or carry out hard landscaping without planning permission on the property's curtilage. We cannot even put a close drier out in the [STRIKE]garden[/STRIKE]/paddock without planning permission.

A consequence of this is that we have paid residential land prices for agricultural land (ie: £400k per acre for land worth £5k per acre).

We have been through the Legal Complaints process and it was agreed that this is a case of professional negligence for the solicitor who believes that there is no difference between a paddock and a garden!

As part of the professional negligence case we have to have a forensic valuation of the property for which we need to have curtilage defined. The amount of curtilage is key to the value of the property.

The logical conclusion from this is that the surveyor who valued the property should have asked the extent of curtilage at the time of valuation especially as there was cattle still living in the barns when he valued the property.

So, the question is, based on the fact that the surveyor was acting on behalf of the mortgage company (& the contract for the valuation was between the mortgage company and the surveyor), can we tell the mortgage company that they acted negligently by employing a negligent surveyor?

Thank you for reading this epic tale which is currently doing nothing for my OCD.:think:

BitterAndTwisted

Are you saying that you bought a renovation project without instructing a surveyor yourself to carry out a full structural survey and relied on the mortgage company's valuation survey alone?

PasturesNew

If it was a farm up to the day you moved in, is it still a farm?
Did you have Change of Use?
What are you doing to the building?
Are you a developer/speculator, who was doing this as an income stream?
Was it a residential mortgage, or a commercial one?

G_M

marcinda64 wrote: »

In 2007 we bought a rennovation project property and because of the state of the property we paid the mortgage company for a valuation survey to be carried out. The property was being used as a farm right up to the day that we moved in. You had no choice. All lenders get valuations done, for their own protection, and pass the cost on to the borrower. However, the valuation is for their benefit, not yours. You cannot rely on it for anything.

Subsequently, we have found out that the property does not have General Permitted Development Rights (GPDR) despite the solicitor having written to us "this property benefits from general permitted development rights which means...." GPDR, for those who do not know, gives you the right to build a shed, deck or carry out hard landscaping without planning permission on the property's curtilage. We cannot even put a close drier out in the [STRIKE]garden[/STRIKE]/paddock without planning permission.

A consequence of this is that we have paid residential land prices for agricultural land (ie: £400k per acre for land worth £5k per acre).

We have been through the Legal Complaints process and it was agreed that this is a case of professional negligence for the solicitor who believes that there is no difference between a paddock and a garden! I'm unclear. Is the issue
a) that the 'curtilage' is not as extensive as you thought, so the GPDR is no use to you, or
b) that there is NO DPDR, so you cannot build even within the curtilage?
As part of the professional negligence case we have to have a forensic valuation of the property for which we need to have curtilage defined. The amount of curtilage is key to the value of the property. What is a 'forensic valuation '?

The logical conclusion from this is that the surveyor who valued the property should have asked the extent of curtilage at the time of valuation especially as there was cattle still living in the barns when he valued the property. Maybe, but as the valuation was for the Lender's benefit, not yours, that is irrelevant.

So, the question is, based on the fact that the surveyor was acting on behalf of the mortgage company true (& the contract for the valuation was between the mortgage company and the surveyor), can we tell the mortgage company that they acted negligently by employing a negligent surveyor?you can tell them anything you want. Maybe they'll agree, maybe not. Maybe they'll care (in terms of the security the property provides them for their loan) maybe they won't. But they certainly won't either need or want to compensate you. You should have done your own valuation and investigation.

Thank you for reading this epic tale which is currently doing nothing for my OCD.:think:

'OCD'?

Your only (remote) hope is a negligence claim against the solicitor if b) above is true. If he specifically told you there was GPDR, and there isn't, then he made a mistake.

However, as a solicitor he could not be expected to know where the relevant curtilage started/ended.

I'm amazed that someone embarking on a 'development project', particularly on a working farm which is obviously 'agricultural', did not double/treble/quadruple check what they would/would not be allowed to do.

Sorry. Not much help, but 'naive' jumps to mind.