Council's & Planning Permission - urgent advice required

Becks045

I purchased a flat earlier this year with lovely views of a listed hospital (been coverted into flats) and sea views.

Anyway it has transpired that on the plot of land between my flat and the hospital (part of the hospital land) they have got planning permission to build 220 flats in a 5 storey-block. Great eh?!! I will lose my views (apprently you are not entitled to views of the sea), lose light and privacy in to my property and in my opinion completley de-value the property.

I have found out that the council didn't actually write to the person I purchased from. The building is no 13 and cut into 3 flats so Flat 1, 13 xxxxxx Rd, Flat 2, 13 xxxxxxxx Rd and Flat 3, 13 xxxxxxx Rd. The council only wrote to 'the occupier, no 13 xxxxxxxx Rd, which of course no-one would have bothered to open/read as effectively that address doesn't exsist.

The council themselves gave planning permission in 1989 to cut the building into three flats and naturally each flat pays council tax so the council are very well aware that there are three flats there.

Anyway after complaining as by them not writing to the flats, they didn't have the option to complain this new development, its basically too late now.

The council say tough. Can they do that? Surely legally they have a duty to inform local residents particulary ones that are going to be effected as dramatically as a new 5 storey building going within 10 meters of your front door.

Can anyone help as basically the council are saying its tough despite when I spoke to them a month ago and two people from the planning office said, we should cross-reference before we send letters out with council tax as our details on houses are out of date!!!!!! The council say there was a sign on a lamp-post but if someone is house-bound or just doesn't notice this, is it tough?

Badger_Lady

I don't know the answer to this, but it might be - I've often heard "it's your responsibility to check out plans clearly displayed at your local authority" (sometimes on a website).

Fingers crossed someone else will have better advice for you! :-)

oramgepekoe

Becks045 wrote: »

I have found out that the council didn't actually write to the person I purchased from. The building is no 13 and cut into 3 flats so Flat 1, 13 xxxxxx Rd, Flat 2, 13 xxxxxxxx Rd and Flat 3, 13 xxxxxxx Rd. The council only wrote to 'the occupier, no 13 xxxxxxxx Rd, which of course no-one would have bothered to open/read as effectively that address doesn't exsist.

If the plans were going through before you purchased why didn't they show up on your search?

Becks045

The reason they didn't appear on the local authority search is beacuse a LAS only informs you about the property you are buying, nothing else. I've only just discovered this. So for example, they decide to build a huge supermarket two doors away from you and planning has been granted it would not appear on your local authority search!!! So whats the point in that?!

Badger_Lady

When I bought mine it said "Your property is in an area affecting my an existing application for planning. You are advised to contact your local authority for details of this application".

Did you not have a similar warning from your conveyencer? The search doesn't give details of such applications, but does warn of being within a close radius of one.

Canucklehead

Good afternoon: If your flat is located where I think it is, planning permission was granted for the project in March 2007. When earlier in the year did you purchase your flat?...the various developments on the site have been running for a couple of years now and would have been evident when you viewed the flat... your solicitor should have pick up on this during the conveyancing process.

Canucklehead

Becks045

I have managed to obtain a copy of the local authority search and the council did infact instruct and refer the solicitor to a 'local plan' where it outlines about the development. I've asked the solicitor about this either did he look at it and not notice it affected us or why didn't he inform us of this 'local plan' so we could investigate ourselves. He refuses to communicate with me on the matter now so I am dealing with the Law Society.

However seperate to the fact that our solicitor was useless and failed to tell us this fundemental peice of information we discovered that the council didn't even write to the correct address so potentially the person we purchased from can/could claim they didn't know about it!

We bought the flat in March 2007 and I do know for a fact that the people we bought from knew about the development and have written to their solicitors about falsely filling in the sellers information form.

Badger_Lady

Hang on a minute... I have every sympathy for your situation, but...

a) Local searches

Surely your Solicitor gave you a copy of these, and this is where you have now spotted the reference to this development. It is (arguably) your responsibility to check these searches before you instruct your solicitor to exchange.

b) Your seller

You say that the council failed to write to the seller, and that you only just found out about the development, so how can you claim you "know for a fact that the people we bought from knew about the development"? It seems unfair to place the blame with them for something that was picked up separately.

Maybe you should stop placing the blame with everyone else, and look realistically at your options now. Do you want to continue living there? Is it worth trying to sell on? Yes, your property value may be affected if work goes ahead, but any amount of false blame is not going to help.

Becks045

A) Local Authority Search - we didn't get a copy of this, all we were told from our solicitor when we exchanged and completed was in his report where it said everything was satisfactory with the findings from the local authority search. The only reason we have a copy now, is that I got a duplicate by going to the council offices.

Your seller - we know that they knew about the development as had attended neighbours meetings about objecting the development. We've been told this by 2 seperate neighbours. Ok, they might not have got the letter, given it was semi-sent to the correct address but they did know about the development. Apprently there were also signs up on lamposts, ads in local press and leaflets about the development.

I'm not placing the blame with other people for no reason. Our solicitor failed to relay the information from the local authority search to us and the sellers didn't bother to inform us of the development either.

Badger_Lady

That's sounds fairer then - just needed that clarification!

In that case, the seller should have declared it in their questionnaire (assuming the solicitor asked them if they knew of any planned works). It sounds like they might have sold off the property ahead of its devaluation - very sneaky...

Richard_Webster

The reason they didn't appear on the local authority search is beacuse a LAS only informs you about the property you are buying, nothing else.

Can I make this point loud and clear for everyone's benefit:

Local Searches do not tell you about nearby development proposals!

It is an obvious point that a solicitor should always make when reporting to clients buying property because people always seem (mistakenly) to think that it tells you about these.

There might be reference to a local plan in a search result but if you expect every solicitor to get a copy and read each local plan (they are complicated and sometimes quite thick documents) and explain it to you then sorry but conveyancing charges would double or triple straight away. As local plans are often couched in terms of what might be permitted subject to various constraints etc they (a) give the impression to a lay person that these things will actually happen (when they are only expressions of what would be allowed if applied for) and are (b) assumed to guarantee that other things won't happen. However, people win planning appeals by showing the ministry inspector that the Council's Local Plan is flawed and full of inconsistencies.

On your main beef - have you thought of reporting the Council to the Local Government Ombudsman? He is concerned with maladministration - which could well include the kind of foul up over the addresses that you mentioned.