Seller has lied on Law Societies Property Information Form (TA6)

libbyliberty

He told the current owner that the only way he wouldn't build it would be if she gave him £75k. Feels like he holds all the cards as he has the planning.

Andypandyboy

I can sympathise with him in some regard, he had planning and then up pops a house next door and he ends up in dispute due to no fault of his own. I supose he feels the issue is that the house you are buying should have had his planning taken account of before it was built.

Equally, all owners of "your" house since should have had the planning made known to them before buying. I agree the EA should have told you, but they do work for the seller, so whether they are bound to disclose that kind of information I don't know.

I think to get redress you would have to have defined for you what " a dispute" means in the legal sense and whether this falls under that category.

Horrible though it is, I think I would walk away. You want to enjoy your new home not wonder when the diggers will be moving in and how much that is going to devalue your home.

pinkteapot

thesaint wrote: »

No, the neighbour made the Estate Agent aware of this.

Have fixed my post for the benefit of other people reading the thread.

getmore4less

libbyliberty wrote: »

her main angle was the loss of value to her house. .

That a rediculous claim

All the things that effect the real value were already there in 2006

They paid too much when they bought it.

How can you miss a set of foundations?

Andypandyboy

I think that would be quite possible.

You are intent on viewing the property not peering over into the garden next door. I would imagine most people would expect a planning issue to come up via their solicitor and not consider they may have to do a recce themselves.

moneyistooshorttomention

libbyliberty wrote: »

He told the current owner that the only way he wouldn't build it would be if she gave him £75k. Feels like he holds all the cards as he has the planning.

Do you want this man as a neighbour? - whatever price you were able to pay for the house.

He's tried to blackmail the current owner. What would he try and do to you if you bought it?

My suspicion would be that, if he really wanted the extension, then he wouldn't be prepared to be "bought out" of that planning permission to do it. I would rather think he won't be going ahead anyway - put like that - and that "I'll take £75k to shut up and forget it" boils down to he has decided to forget it anyway but is hoping to "have cake and eat it" and get a payoff for not doing what he now doesn't intend to do anyway.

But there are no guarantees of that obviously.....:cool:. You could try buying the house anyway (at a suitably reduced price to allow for that possible extension) and then just call his bluff and refuse any "kind" offer of a similar nature he made to you. If that worked - then you'd have a cheaper house AND no extension. You'd just have to put up with an unscrupulous character next door - who might try and pull some other sort of stunt on you at some point.

It's a gamble all round - and its up to you to work out what you think the odds are.

getmore4less

Andypandyboy wrote: »

I think that would be quite possible.

You are intent on viewing the property not peering over into the garden next door. I would imagine most people would expect a planning issue to come up via their solicitor and not consider they may have to do a recce themselves.

When buying you check everywhere nearby.

Use google maps and street view to do a historic viewings and look in the surounding areas.

If the foundations have been there since 2001 good chance they are on google maps.

Wonder how much the OP proposals were going to impact next door.

Andypandyboy

getmore4less wrote: »

When buying you check everywhere nearby.

Use google maps and street view to do a historic viewings and look in the surounding areas.

If the foundations have been there since 2001 good chance they are on google maps.

Wonder how much the OP proposals were going to impact next door.

Of course you do what you can, but I still think it would be easy to miss or simply not have the opportunity to see the foundations.

libbyliberty

You can see the foundations on google maps but in all honesty it was only last night when we visited the property and the neighbour showed us the foundations we realised what they were. Both from google and from the bedroom window of 'our' house it just looked like a square patio so I can easily see why it was missed back in 2006 and again by us. I did look out of the window when we did our viewings but never did it look like foundations to me. The planning is also on the planning website but given that it is dated 2001 all concerned since have assumed that it has been done, the next door house has lots of add on so I can understand why it isn't obvious. Thank you all for your comments and advise, much appreciated.

getmore4less

OK fair enough,

I suggest that next door put a sign up as it is obvious from the window.

Any way their plans can be changed to avoid the window to window

There may still be room for a comprimise you get a load knocked of(they are going to have trouble selling now) they still get to build, you get your house and do your building(migh be savings here if you cooperate on trades).

They may be quite decent people to live next to at least they made an effort for you not to get stitched up.