Buying house and neighbours convened party wall act and submitted false planning plan

missprice

Swlondon wrote: »

Thank you, I think that's true basis that extension is not likely to be taken down as not likely to be resolved due to cost of taking this further.

It may be about agreeing access with neighbours to maintain our wall/erect scaffolding on the flat roof of the illegally built extension which acts as a storage facility for their kitchen. We care about this house very much as it is the best location for us in proximity to very ill parents and allows us the space to take them in. We are buying the proper at a considerable reduction also so the value is there.
The seller is a very honourable lady who wants to move abroad to be with her family in her last years and we want to try and resolve it as the opportunity for all parties is too ideal to walk away. We also have no chain as does she so the time to work is out.

I cannot read the first post, too much text, not enough spaces.
However from this post above, you say you need the house to be close to parents who are moving in.
Well if they are moving in with you, you don't need to live close to them.

somethingcorporate

I don't think there is anything you can do.

You will likely have to live with it and buy (or not) on that basis.

societys_child

missprice wrote: »

- if they are moving in with you, you don't need to live close to them.

Ah, but . . .

Swlondon wrote: »

We are buying the property at a considerable reduction

Bit of cake and eat it situation here . . .

-taff

Swlondon wrote: »

We have started to purchase a detached house in a conservation area and as we want to undertake a lower ground extension to the existing cellar we asked a structural engineer to assess the work and he found what he calls an issue for major concern.

We are in a Conservation Area and the neighbour to the detached property built and received planning permission in 2002 to convert their garage into their kitchen however from the plans it proves they built an additional 3 metres further and subsequently built their wall to give barely 20 cm and no access at all to our party wall.

They also failed to submit party act notice in anyway and we really want to try and buy this house but as it is built so close it could affect our own ability to do our work as we have no access to the flank wall anymore and the gap allows for water to collect and means we cannot access our property to underpin and secure our own property.

The vendor is elderly and though she is very organise the stress of her starting legal proceedings through her insurers and likelihood of winning isn't a real possibility.

We know we can do our own building work by excavating solely from our end and we now the neighbours cannot oppose since they contravened themselves but one never knows.

Our surveyor says we have to seek legal advice and yet being able to instruct the neighbour to chop their extension back by two-three metres before we've completed Is so unlikely the council can still uphold its approval unless we go through civil courts or can they?

Is there anyway we can demand something from the neighbour to ensure our work and our property violations are satisfied in anyway at all.

The house is great value and otherwise a fantastic property and we are not willing to walk away, we just don't how to resolve this prior to purchase in the next few weeks.

..........................

-taff

No, you've most likely had it as other have said. You're not going to get planning permission revoked.

Why can't you build an extension on the land instead of underground?

ReadingTim

Swlondon wrote: »

I am aware but full stops seems unnecessary with the shortage of time I have.

Any solutions would rather not walk away

If you want people to help you, then it's in your own best interests to set out the position clearly and understandably to aid the reader as best you can. This will then help them to give the best advice they can.

If you can't be bothered to do that, why should anyone be bothered to help you?

lincroft1710

Was the Party Wall Act in force in 2002?

Even if it was, it is far, far too late for your vendor to take any legal action. Also any breach of planning permission is well past the date when it could have been enforced. The neighbour's contravention of their planning permission does not remove any rights they have to object to your proposed plans. You have no leverage to demand anything from the neighbour.

Either accept that you may not be able to extend the property in the way you want or at the least it will be difficult or walk away, the neighbour's extension is a fait accompli.

Bluebonnie

OP

Do you know the terms of the Conservation Area order?

You neeed to know the details. We can't tell you what they say, even if we had the time.

Sometimes alterations ARE explicitly permitted to those parts of CA building which are not visible to the public. If so, you can't object to the extension the grounds of the CA (which was almost probably taken into account in the grant of Planning Permission anyway) and the additional length or width of the extension may have come under permitted development at a later time.

As most people have said, live with it or pull out of the transaction. Why on earth would you want an underground extension anyway?

Cakeguts

So have I got this right? You are thinking of buying a detached house that is cheap because it is only detached on one side by 20cm and most people who buy a detached house prefer it to be detached from next door by more than this? Because it is detached by only 20cms it is difficult to maintain the wall so that has also reduced the value because any work on that wall will cost more and any scaffolding might be rejected by the neighbours especially if it is on their roof? The extension next door has made this house worth less than it would have been without all of its problems and you want to extend it downwards?

What are you going to do if you can't sell it either?