Received an 'Alleged Breach of Condition' from Council Planning Control - Help!

sgtpepper_2

Hello, we've received a letter outlining a breach of condition regarding planning that was taken out 2 years prior to us buying the property.

In a nutshell:

Before we bought the house, the owner had planning permission approved to build another house on the land belonging to his existing property. One of the conditions was that both properties have on site parking in the form of a shared drive leading up to individual garages.

Before carrying any work out he sold the piece of land that the new property was to be built on and a house was built and followed the plans, but only and understandably on his property and land and not to the existing property which was included in the approved planning obtained by the seller. That seller sold the original house to us, and we have lived here for nearly two years before receiving this letter from the council.

We replied to the letter with the following;

"Dear Ms XXX,

We have received your letter regarding the above alleged breach of planning condition.

At the time the planning permission was granted the property of XX Main Street was owned by Mr XX. He sought planning permission to build a second dwelling on the garden of XX Main Street as detailed in the permitted plan.

However, after having permission granted, he sold off part of that land, now called XXa Main Street. The builder that bought that land built the house as described in the plans, but as he was not the owner of XX Main street, he did not carry out the remainder of the plan, to erect garages and access at XX Main Street. I do not understand how the planning permission could still have been applicable when the builder didn't own part of the land to which the plans referred.

Mr Original Owner did not build that garage or access on XX Main Street, and he subsequently sold the property to us shortly before XXa main street was completed. Our solicitor did not express any requirement for us to carry out the part of the plans that fell on our land.

I would like you to clarify the legal position here. As far as I can see, the builder chose to carry out the part of an approved plan that fell on his land but not the part of the plan that required there to be garage and access to XX Main Street (Impossible, as he didn't even own the land). This letter suggests that because he chose to do that, we are now obligated to build something on our land? Because somebody moved into that house? I cannot understand how we can be legally obligated to do so? Surely the planning permission became null and void as soon as the land was divided?

I do hope that I have managed to communicate the situation effectively. It may be helpful for me to explain this over the phone or in person. Please can you get back to me as soon as possible regarding the legality of this situation? It is, of course, a little worrying to be suddenly told that we must lose part of our land and finance a building project just because the builder on the adjacent land decided to build something.

Kind Regards

X"

Can they enforce us to build something on our property because of plans taken out by the seller who then sold half of the land to someone else who did not follow them on property he didn't own?

The planning stated that no one was to use the new property unless the conditions are met, the neighbours have been living there for over a year now. So surely the result would fall onto them and not us?

I'll be contacting the solicitor we used to buy the property to see if she can help, but is it the work of an uninformed bungling council who don't have a leg to stand on or will we be punished for something that's out of our control?

Any help appreciated, thank you!

sgtpepper_2

Ps we received a reply today basically asking that we meet and talk about how we'll meet these conditions. Surely if we refuse they have to take action on the habitants of the new build and not us?

Cash-Cows

Planning permission and planning conditions stay with the land. In buying a house and land you are essentially agreeing to comply with planning conditions.

Doozergirl

Why would next door be responsible for planning conditions set on your land? They'll be responsible for their own side.

You are both, in effect, obliged to carry out what is in the plans on your own sides of the boundaries.

You can call the council bungling of you like, but it goes without saying that planning permissions do not become null and void when a property changes hands!

both properties will be required to have adequate parking. It may have been a condition on granting the new build, but both houses have to comply with local planning guidance on new builds when land is split.

I think the planners should be explaining the situation to you, not you explaining it to them. They're the ones that set the rules.

MisterBaxter

I would certainly make contact with the solicitor that did the conveyancing work when you bought the property. As 'Cash-cows' said planning consent is attached to the land not the applicant but your solicitor should have picked this up when they completed the searches and should have investigated and advised on the implications. There may also be some comeback on the vendor if they knowingly and willingly concealed or failed to provide information during the pre-sales enquiries process (the Solicitor will advise on this but it would be litigation.)

It may be possible to get the planning consent amended and it is certainly worth discussing options with the planners; make it clear what outcome you would like to see and see if the would be something they would agree to. Unfortunately I don't think you can lay the blame for this one with the planners; there was an application and an approval with conditions, for the most part they don't really care who owns the land at the time of the application and it is not uncommon for a land owner to obtain consent to increase the value of their land before sale. In this case the planning consent was enacted as work started so the planners would expect the conditions to be discharged.

sgtpepper_2

Doozergirl wrote: »

Why would next door be responsible for planning conditions set on your land? They'll be responsible for their own side.

You are both, in effect, obliged to carry out what is in the plans on your own sides of the boundaries.

You can call the council bungling of you like, but it goes without saying that planning permissions do not become null and void when a property changes hands!

both properties will be required to have adequate parking. It may have been a condition on granting the new build, but both houses have to comply with local planning guidance on new builds when land is split.

I think the planners should be explaining the situation to you, not you explaining it to them. They're the ones that set the rules.

Because it's stated that the new dwelling can only come into use when all of the conditions were met. The conditions have not been met so nobody should be living there and if we do not meet them then surely it makes the dwelling built unfit for use?

katipip

So, if the new dwelling can only come into use when all of the planning conditions are met, surely that's not your problem.

The problem lies with the owners of the new build.

sgtpepper_2

katipip wrote: »

So, if the new dwelling can only come into use when all of the planning conditions are met, surely that's not your problem.

The problem lies with the owners of the new build.

That's what we thought, the not complying with conditions would effect the new dwelling not ours, but maybe we could be fined in the process.

sgtpepper_2

System

You can get planning permission without ownership of the land, it doesn't mean you can force an owner to do that work when permission is granted.
Seems strange that the seller didn't include a right of way to carry out the works since they were selling it separately.
The person carrying out the works has to comply with the conditions, no one else.

sgtpepper_2

This is the proposed plans to put a drive and garage onto our garden, taking up about half of the space and rendering strips of land useless.