House purchase with pending planning app

white_noise

I am in the process of buying a house that has a planning application submitted for it. The end of consultation was march 2014 and the online search comes up 'This case has not yet been decided' (Feb 2015).

I have spoken to the case officer and they say that they requested more information from the applicant, but likely it was going to be rejected.

In relation to the property purchase i am not interested in the planning application or getting it approved. Do i need to formally request that the application be withdrawn by the vendor before exchange, or will a change of owners mean the application will automatically be withdrawn?

I don't want to be financially inconvenienced or liable for the application that i have no interest in.

WN

davidmcn

Change of ownership is irrelevant. You don't become liable for the application just by being the owner. There won't be any costs anyway. If you want it withdrawn, the applicant will need to be the one requesting it.

princeofpounds

Planning permission is not attached to the property title in any way. You can apply to build a multi-storey carpark in Buckingham Palace if you like, doesn't matter if you own the land or not.

So you do not need to do anything re the outstanding application if you are not interested in it. And indeed as davidmcn says, it is for the applicant to withdraw it, not you.

The only thing I would say is that whilst you might not care about the application, a future buyer might. So you might be better off asking the vendor/applicant (I presume they are the same) to withdraw the application rather than have a refusal on file. It leaves the 'potential' in place should you ever wish to sell.

Of course that might be totally irrelevant 10 years down the line, it's just a small thing that might matter in a limited set of circumstances.