Planning permission

Thinkthin

Hi all

I purchased this bungalow in Sep 14. Yesterday the neighbour over my back fence had diggers in, in preparation for foundations going down. I went round and asked what she was building. (I have an unobstructed view from my kitchen window).
She told me that she had sold part of her land and that they were building a 4 bed dormer bungalow. This was new to me!!!

Apparently in Apr 14 planning permission was sought and was contested by the previous occupants of my house. It was only passed in Jan 16.

The seller did not make me aware of this when I was purchasing the house and my solicitor did not pick this up on local searches.

The planning office have confirmed that there were a few neighbours complaining.

I have had sight of the plans and it states a dormer bungalow however it has windows on each gable end (one end which will over look my garden, kitchen and one of my bedrooms). From googling "dormer" it states that these should be an extended vertical window from a sloping roof.

My back garden is only 20ft deep before a 6ft fence. The "dormer" will be built a garage length on from that. There is also comments of conifers being planted.

I'm assuming that I cannot do anything about the planning permission but surely I should have been made aware of it prior to purchasing this house??

Does anyone know where I stand on this?

Thanks for reading x

seven-day-weekend

Your standard searches will only pick up any planning permissions within your boundary, unless you have instructed otherwise.

AnotherJoe

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Your standard searches will only pick up any planning permissions within your boundary, unless you have instructed otherwise.

Sorry but that is bunkum. Local searches will pick up planning in your local area, not within your boundaries. Otherwise they would be pointless.

AdrianC

Thinkthin wrote: »

but surely I should have been made aware of it prior to purchasing this house?

Is there any particular reason you didn't look at the council's planning website yourself?

noh

We are in the process of buying.
The property information form TA6 to be completed by the seller has the question

"Is the seller aware of any proposals to develop property or land nearby, or of any proposals to make alterations to buildings nearby? If yes please give details."

What was your sellers reply to this question?

Doozergirl

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Sorry but that is bunkum. Local searches will pick up planning in your local area, not within your boundaries. Otherwise they would be pointless.

I'd put a tick in the pointless box then.

It specifically searches major developments like road building, not bungalows in neighbours gardens.

If planning permission was rejected when the previous occupant lived there, then they could very fairly tick the box denying knowledge of any proposals if previous proposals had been rejected; there were no longer any proposals.

Speaking as someone who has a bit of battle gaining planning permission for a bungalow on their land, neighbours often think that when one plan is rejected, all plans are rejected.

AdrianC

noh wrote: »

We are in the process of buying.
The property information form TA6 to be completed by the seller has the question

"Is the seller aware of any proposals to develop property or land nearby, or of any proposals to make alterations to buildings nearby? If yes please give details."

What was your sellers reply to this question?

It may very accurately have been "No". Would they have received notice about the planning application directly from the council? Would they have remembered it?

noh

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Sorry but that is bunkum. Local searches will pick up planning in your local area, not within your boundaries. Otherwise they would be pointless.

The standard search is property specific.
It will show planning applications for nearby roads railways etc but it does not show planning applications for nearby properties. I you want that info an additional search is required or as mentioned previously do it yourself using the councils planning website.

davidmcn

AdrianC wrote: »

It may very accurately have been "No". Would they have received notice about the planning application directly from the council? Would they have remembered it?

All direct neighbours should have received notification of the application. And "not remembering" would be too handy a defence to be valid. But the OP should bear in mind that if the planning application had been made the day after they exchanged, they'd probably be in exactly the same position now.

Thinkthin

Hi
Thanks for all of the replies.
TBH I had just gone through a messy marriage breakdown . I thought that I was paying for my solicitor to check these things. At no point did the seller inform me of the planning application. Neighbours did get letters and the seller and the house next door did object. In fact he sent 4 letters to object . This was in April and May 16.

I have no idea on legalities etc but I thought that I would have been made aware.

The garden portion the lady over the fence sold isnt that big / wide and that is why the gable end faces me. These bedroom windows will be plain glass.

noh

Thinkthin wrote: »

Hi
Thanks for all of the replies.
TBH I had just gone through a messy marriage breakdown . I thought that I was paying for my solicitor to check these things. At no point did the seller inform me of the planning application. Neighbours did get letters and the seller and the house next door did object. In fact he sent 4 letters to object . This was in April and May 16.

I have no idea on legalities etc but I thought that I would have been made aware.

The garden portion the lady over the fence sold isnt that big / wide and that is why the gable end faces me. These bedroom windows will be plain glass.

I assume you mean April May 14.
The key thing is what was the sellers answer to the question I highlighted above?
You still have the paperwork? If so dig it out and determine what the sellers reply actually was.