Certificate of lawfulness

marvel01

We are in the process of selling our house. We were about to exchange contracts when the buyers solicitor advised us he wants a certificate of lawfulness which our local planning have said is not necessary and would take 8'weeks to go through which could likely mean our purchase will fall through. Apparently about 50 years ago someone obtained planning to turn the house into flats and planning was never acquired to return it to a single dwelling. They asked us for all of our utility bills for our 8 year occupation (to prove single dwelling), they then asked us to pay for an indemnity policy which we did and now they have asked for this. Planning have assured us they couldn't take action even it had gone from flats(which I don't think was actually done) as 1- It is over 4 years and 2- you don't need planning to decrease from flats to house. They have said it is,pointless ( cost 395.00 and time!). I am starting to wonder if even after this they will think of something else.

Has anyone any experience of this please?

Hoploz

Your solicitor needs to write back stating that this has already been addressed with the indemnity policy agreed.

The indemnity policy won't have been purchased yet as this would only be done at the last moment ready for completion

marvel01

Thanks. Our Solicitor did tell them it had been addressed but they still wan this certificate.

cayennepepper

Speak to your Buyer directly and explain. Or involve the estate agent. They will spell it out to them.

AdrianC

MrsDeedee wrote: »

Thanks. Our Solicitor did tell them it had been addressed but they still wan this certificate.

Somebody needs to compromise, then.
Either:
* you need to shrug, give in, and get the certificate even though you know it's a waste of time.
* they need to shrug, accept it's not happening, and get over themselves.
or
* the sale's not going to happen.

If the time delay means that your chain will fall through anyway, then the first and third options are pretty interchangeable for all practical purposes.

Richard_Webster

If the conversion into flats never took place and it has always been a house then no certificate required because the change of use never took place. Just getting a planning permission doesn't change the use until the permission is implemented.

If it was implemented and then changed back to a single dwelling more than 4 years ago then again no problem - you could get a certificate but in practice not necessary. Trouble is a lot of conveyancerrs don't relly understand planning law and get all worried about it.

If the planning authority decided to do anything then the owner could appeal on the gorunds a) use lawful anyway and b) even if not lawful, planning permisson should be granted. The latter is the killer - would the Council really have grounds for refusing in circumstances like that? - so they would lose on appeal and therefore woiuldn'ty start proceedibgs int he first place.

As others have said, the real difficulty is persuadibng another solicitor of this. Also sometimes he may have reported it to the mortgage lender who doesn't understand the law and makes a silly requirement.

Nobbie1967

Not that it really matters as Elaine's above, but won't the indemnity be null and void since you have approached the local authority on the issue. May be best not to mention this to the other solicitor.

MrJB

Just a minor point - the cost of a certificate of lawful use is 50% that of a full application so less than £200.

G_M

Who is 'they'.

The buyer?
Their conveyancer (a solicitor or cheap conveyancing warehouse?)?
Their mortgage lender?

davidmcn

I'm impressed that a search has dug up planning records from 50 years ago.

I wouldn't be looking for planning permission for the construction of a 50 year old house, so I don't see the relevance of there being any other historical planning consents.

pathtofreedom

It might not be the buyers that are worried, but the solicitor might have to inform their mortgage company and they might be the people wanting it before letting their mortgage go through. So if it isn't required for the mortgage, maybe you can offer to pay for the application as long as it completes by x date with no come back on you depending the results. If it is dependant on their mortgage though you'll just have to wait for it really.