help, solicitor just contacted me on my house sale - planning application problem

stolt

we sold and moved out of our house about three weeks ago, and everything went fine, just took a phone call from our solicitor stating that our buyers are distraught because they have now found out that there is a planning application on house which is at the end of the road we lived on. we signed the form from the buyers solicitor stating that there was no known planning application and i have just checked online again to see if there is but it still shows that the planning application back in february was refused at committee level, and then a subsequent application in april was withdrawn, no other application has been made, and hadn't been when we were there.

My solicitor has said i need to be careful with what i say, but i honestly didnt know that a appeal had been granted and thought that the application had been refused and that was then end of it, I have just spoke to the council and the appeal is pending and probably will be for some time and she did say that it could take some time too.

where do i stand, solicitor said he will talk to be again tomorrow when he thinks it over but was it wrong of me not to declare it even though there was no planning application granted? what can happen in the worst case scenario, that the money is taken back from us?
surely the local land searches would have pulled this kind of thing up as well, and i assumed (wrongly i know now) that if there was any planning applications that they would be found and checked etc and as no queries were raised there were obviously no planning applications.

any suggestions, advice would be greatfully received

SquatNow

If you genuinely beleive permission had been rejected then you acted in good faith when you signed the form.

I can't see how they have any comeback on you in this case... they would have to prove you knew about the permission. Given that the online database appears to show that it was rejected, while they may moan about it, it's the fault of their own solicitors.

They are probably just trying it on, hoping for a little cash to help pay the mortgage.

Debt_Free_Chick

...our buyers are distraught because they have now found out that there is a planning application on house which is at the end of the road we lived on...

Let's be clear here ...... .what question were you asked? Weren't you just asked whether you knew of any planning application in relation to the property you sold and the immediate neighbours?

our buyers are distraught because they have now found out that there is a planning application on house which is at the end of the road we lived on

Well, they should have asked THEIR solicitor to do an extended search to cover the whole road or undertaken their own research, shouldn't they?

Seriously .... dig out the Seller's Information Property Form you completed. Ask your solicitor if you don't have a copy.

.....and breathe......


As far as I know, one is not asked about "planning applications in the road/locality in general" - just those related to the property being sold and the immediate neighbours i.e. those either side.

merlinthehappypig

I don't think it matters whether or not the planning application had been granted. If there was one pending and you were aware of it you should have declared it.

It doesn't seem, though, from what you have said that there was an application pending at the time you answered the question. If I read you correctly it had been considered and refused at that stage.

No doubt a solicitor will be along to give you better advice, but it doesn't seem to me that you have done anything wrong. Unless you were formally notified that there was an appeal, how could you know? Were you written to by the council at the time of the original application for your views or did you just find out through the grapevine?

stolt

thanks for the replies so far, feel a little more relaxed now!!:o

i havent got a copy of the sellers form on me, we are in rented house and there are boxes etc everywhere.
we were formally written to by the council planning dept back in february, the whole close objected as well as the road where the house that asked for planning is based on and it was rejected it was on that basis, and then we put our house up for sale, it now shows on the councils website that appeal is pending but no dates are given.

hard to describe without a picture but we lived on a close of 14 houses, and they fanned along the house that wanted planning permission ie some o its garden was made into our close about 30 yrs ago. the actual house is not part of our close and is on the road off ours.

we have not been formally notified of any appeal at all and we where of the understanding that the planning application had been stopped because the first application was withdrawn and the the second was rejected.

just really worried that a court will think purposely moved because of the planning, and now we have to prove it was the other way round, in fact the house that applied for planning is currently being rented out and has tennants.

as someone pointed out, it could be that they were trying their luck and will ask for some money, but surely the searches should have pulled something up and if the appeal has now been granted then it was done after we moved and then maybe they will have some recourse with their solicitors regarding the searches.

SquatNow

rofl - It's not even on your f(*&^ng road, tell them to go screw themselves.

"They didn't tell us that there was a planning application to build a tescos 2 towns over."

PasturesNew

What is the permission being applied for?
1 house into 2 flats?
1 house into a 24 hour homeless hostel + all night petrol station?
A front porch and brick garage?

merlinthehappypig

I don't believe for one minute that you have anything to worry about.

You were consulted, you objected, the planning was refused. The IP form asks if you are aware of any outstanding planning applications that might affect the property, not if you are aware of any historical applications that may or not have been granted. I would have done the same on the IP form.

You weren't formally made aware of any appeal, so that's that. As you suggest this is a matter for the buyer's solicitor who should have picked up the appeal during the searches (that is if the appeal was in force at the time and hasn't just been made)

stolt

hi the planning application is demolished the 4 bed house that is on there the land and build a block of flats and then a detached house on the other side of the large garden, the access of the flats will be via the close (actually there is a turning circle in the road and that was going to be made into a driveway for the parking spaces for the flats,
there is a large pond on the grounds and the house was going to go right next to it, there just wasn't the room, i suspect that they tried for the over the top application and then reduce it on appeal to get the application they really wanted.

the house does have a double garage on our close and has a side gate to the garden of the house. but officially the house is on another road and is about 80ft from our house.

i've tried to do a quick map on paint to give people an idea, sorry its not that good, but then it did only take me five mins!!


hope this works, may have to double click image...

stolt

Thanks for all the replies, will speak to my solicitor in the morning, lets hope he sees things my way too before he writes back to their solicitor.

Richard_Webster

As a conveyancing solicitor I keep coming across situations where buyers think that searches and enquiries will in some foolproof way tell them about all proposed future developments in the locality.

Looks to me as if the buyers are cross and have gone to their solicitors. the solicitors probably told them that they would have to prove you knew there was an appeal...

If I was approached by a buyer in that situation I would point out to them that it was going to be difficult to prove anything. I would probably end up offering to write a letter in the hope that it would achieve something but suspecting it would not.

It may be the same here. Possibly the other people's solicitor did warn them and did tell them there were limits to be what could be found out and they should make their own checks. Possibly he is waiting for your solicitor to write back pointing out that you genuinely didn't know about any appeal and were not expected to investigate to see if there was one. When he gets a letter from your solicitor it will be easier for him to explain the position to his distraught clients...

They could have carried out a PlanSearch which gives more information about nearby planning applications. These are never completely up to date so even that wouldn't give a complete guarantee that the most up to date information would be revealed.