Buying new build and discovered planning hasn't been discharged.

mistaoononymous

You may be right, but the CPR was tightened up in 2008 and then 2013 to come down on estate agents not providing information. The lapse in information is also more due to the seller's solicitor since our solicitor had asked for proof that planning had been discharged. Regardless, I will report the estate agent to the ombudsman and see where that gets me.

k3lvc

mistaoononymous wrote: »

You may be right, but the CPR was tightened up in 2008 and then 2013 to come down on estate agents not providing information. The lapse in information is also more due to the seller's solicitor since our solicitor had asked for proof that planning had been discharged. Regardless, I will report the estate agent to the ombudsman and see where that gets me.

It'll get you nowhere - it's only the EA's role to represent those elements that they could have reasonable knowledge of, not to go digging to see if every possible issue has been complied with. This is clearly the responsibility of the legal teams hence the numerous questions asked/searches done during the process

Davesnave

You have not answered the question in Post 6. "Are you still happy to go ahead and buy? If so, would a financial consideration via the final price not be a better way to go?"

Doozergirl

mistaoononymous wrote: »

You may be right, but the CPR was tightened up in 2008 and then 2013 to come down on estate agents not providing information. The lapse in information is also more due to the seller's solicitor since our solicitor had asked for proof that planning had been discharged. Regardless, I will report the estate agent to the ombudsman and see where that gets me.

You may be angry, but it doesn't make the estate agent the one to vent your anger on.

Estate agents are marketing agents. It is absolutely not reasonable to expect that an agent would check that planning conditions had been discharged. Not in their remit at all. Absolutely in the remit of your solicitor who has done their job in finding the issue.

Fact is, your vendors have missed something from the planning process. They perhaps didn't think it would affect sale, didn't understand the language used or perhaps missed it altogether and were clueless. I would certainly never expect an estate to even begin to understand the language used in a planning approval document. It's hard enough to read it myself. Even if they saw the document, it would look to a lay person like a stamp of approval, not a request for more information.

This is all part of the process. Your solicitors are hired to find problems and see that they are rectified. It's normal. The only problem here is your own timescale. You're not supposed to give notice to a landlord until you have exchanged in order to protect yourself from the situation you find yourself in. The dance of a property purchase is rarely set to the beat of our own drums.

Complain about the estate agent by all means, but if checking searches and applying for Local Authority paperwork was their job, you wouldn't need a solicitor and our whole system would be different.

Alchopops

Hi, I have to ask whereabouts (town) are you buying? PM me if you prefer, but this is exactly the problem we have potentially in exactly the same circumstances from a small local developer.

daveyjp

Very sloppy conveyacing solicitor. A good one would check all paperwork regarding planning was in order before completing the sale.

Just hope the site investigation and any remediation were done properly.

Have a look at the planning portal to find out what the contamination may have been.

davidmcn

mistaoononymous wrote: »

Honestly, yes, I don't think it's too much to ask that an estate agent makes a five minute phone call to determine that what they are selling can legitimately be sold. Without planning having been discharged lenders will not and cannot be expected to provide a mortgage.

A new build development can easily have dozens of planning conditions, possibly spread over several consents. It's unrealistic to expect anyone to independently verify them in a 5 minute phone call, and it ain't the EA's job.

mistaoononymous

I suppose the fear is that this could lead to the buyer withdrawing from the sale process

mistaoononymous

You are right, but the problem has been made much worse by the estate agents who have told us on multiple occasions that all of our solicitors enquiries have been answered. The seller's solicitors have also on numerous occasions claimed that information has been submitted that not only hasn't been but actually doesn't exist. We allowed over three months for the process to complete. We are chain free and had our mortgage already in place so this should have been ample time.

Doozergirl

I'm confused. So your solicitor told you that they weren't happy after months of the EA saying that they were? The EA might be passing messages from other parts of a chain simply to ensure that things are actually progressing, but if I wanted to know what my own solicitor was up to, I'd be asking them. If there was no chain then I'd hardly be speaking to an EA at all unless I wanted news from the other party.

There is no reason for an EA to lie to you about your own purchase when it is solely your own solicitor's job to make it happen.