Problem with solicitor

Phil-Rh

Has anyone heard or had a similar problem?

We bought a house last year, but once we moved in we found the building and land at the back of garden/boundary wall was to be turned in to a commercial garage. I had a search myself and planning permission submitted and granted in 2012.
None of this was brought up in our local searches and we are now concerned about noise, price our house falling and future problems selling our property.
Do we have a case to complain? I'm not sure.
Thanks Phil

SmlSave

There's no problem with your solicitor, they haven't done anything wrong!

I'm surprised the local land search didn't bring anything up - contact the search provider. Not the solicitor - the actual provider of the search, most likely the council.

pfpf

a "local search" searches within the boundaries of the property you are buying, nothing else.

you have to pay extra for a wider search. ours was called a "know your neighbour plan search plus" and cost £30.00 and I found it interesting to have.

it included all planning applications and outcomes since 2004 within 250 meters of purchase property along with a whole host of other info which overall was available for free on the net but is nice to have in a file.

Phil-Rh

Thanks for your help.

pfpf

maybe its worth checking your paperwork and seeing if the solicitor at least offered the additional search option and indeed made it clear what the "local search" actually covered.

I for one thought the "local search" did everything that the "plan search" did until I got my initial paperwork from the solicitor.

not saying you'll have any comeback at all but at least you'll know in your own head.

jrtfan

I'm a bit surprised the Vendor didn't supply this information, having just sold a house myself and been obliged to put in writing facts about any development work in the local area which I was aware of. If it was taking place right at the bottom of their garden it would seem odd for them not to have known ... ?!

Not sure if this obligation might have come into effect very recently though and after you'd already bought your current house. It might be worth you looking into nonetheless, because I was told the information I supplied had to be accurate to the best of my knowledge and there might be legal implications if I withheld anything on purpose.

It's just a thought!