Solicitor failed to spot massive planning application ...

moneyistooshorttomention

That link is from an American website.

AFAIK British law is much the same in this respect - but it needs checking out.

AnotherJoe

Seems like a lot of hassle that could take months to resolve. I'd get them looking again.

HouseBuyer77

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

That link is from an American website.

AFAIK British law is much the same in this respect - but it needs checking out.

Whoops, serves me right for skim reading!

Gov.uk site also has info: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/easements-claimed-by-prescription/practice-guide-52-easements-claimed-by-prescription

nightsong

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Seems like a lot of hassle that could take months to resolve. I'd get them looking again.

For a different property, do you mean? If so I'm inclined to agree with you, though the point of this is that it's cheap - there's nothing else in this price bracket in the area. Of course it's being going on already for about five months and prices have gone up meanwhile. Sigh.

Harryp_24

nightsong wrote: »

Thank all ...

The garage is owned freehold by the owner of the maisonette, though the maisonette itself is leasehold (999 year lease).

thats weird.

Having a 28 flat building site adjacent to the property im buying would stop the purchase for me instantly. either that or ask for 20k off.

ReadingTim

nightsong wrote: »

What should we do about it? A lot of the work she has done, and is charging us top dollar for, is potentially redundant since the whole sale now hinges on whether or not the maisonette will continue to have access to its garage (an obscure point about rights in the lease) if the development goes ahead. If not there is nowhere sensible to park and they don't want the property.

You'd have to check exactly what they were supposed to flag in terms of planning applications to see if they were negligent, sloppy, or simply not told to look for them in the first place, but at least you're aware of the issue now, and can direct your solicitor to make the appropriate enquiries. However, it is possible that the answers may not be known by the time you come to exchange contracts, or may not be the answer you want to hear.

It is therefore up to your son & GF to decide whether they want to proceed or not - the solicitor can only advise - your son & GF make the decision, and bear the responsibility for it. The solicitor can't magically make the problems go away, and needs to be paid, in full, for the work they've done, irrespective of whether the purchase goes ahead.

If any of this causes you, your son or his GF a problem, walk away now. But you'll still have to pay for the work done. Notions of "Where there's blame there's a claim" and "no win no fee" don't apply here. Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear.

nightsong

Harryp_24 wrote: »

thats weird.

Having a 28 flat building site adjacent to the property im buying would stop the purchase for me instantly. either that or ask for 20k off

Zoopla says its worth £181k and they are paying £143,500. And a housing development may well be preferable to a noisy pub.