Unadopted road & adjacent pp, lower our offer?

Gloomendoom

Got to agree with the above. If there is land big enough to fit a house on, even if it isn't in some cases, it's a potential building plot waiting to be exploited.

Davesnave

Squifflabiff wrote: »

We would never have bid anywhere near what we did if we’d know the issues so I don’t see why it’s unreasonable to renegotiate the price, if the seller chooses to go with the other bidders then that’s fine, we’ll be happy to walk away then.

People aren't saying that it's unreasonable to renegotiate when new facts come to light, but when facts were out there and easily accessible, it's bit rich to blame the owner for not mentioning them in a system where "buyer beware" has always been the case.

Mossfarr

It really depends how much you want that particular house doesn't it?
In a bidding war £3000 above asking price is not a massive amount of money. Would you still be considering buying if there had actually been a house on the empty plot - would it have made any difference to you?
Only you can decide if you still really want to buy it with the planning & road issues.

moneyistooshorttomention

There are indeed developers that have never had any real intention right from the outset to ensure that a road gets adopted. They will say that it will be/look as if they are making the effort to ensure it will be/it never does....

With the set of circumstances you mention - I'd be pulling out of the purchase personally.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Why do you assume the house wasn't originally priced with this in mind? Why do you assume the vendor didn't imagine you knew about this? Why do you assume the other party in the bidding war didn't know about this?

If you think you can get a better house for the same money, pull out and buy that one instead. If you can't get a better house for the same money, you haven't been ripped off.

Davesnave

Here's another practical example for you.

A barn conversion in my area is currently on the market. Opposite it is a modern barn that no one could miss on a viewing. The barn is currently storage for a thatching business. One can't get anything much more quiet and benign than thatch to live next door to!

However, the barn had it's original planning extended to include storage and it's original permission still exists. It once housed animals and, who knows, it could house them again if markets change after Brexit. For all anyone knows, there could be a pig unit there again in a few years!

Should the barn conversion owners point this out?

AnotherJoe

How much would it be reasonable to drop our offer by

Nothing. Either stick as you are or pull out.

It sounds as if you wont like the house if the new one is built, so i suggest you pull out.

I think it can be pretty much guaranteed that your already stressed buyer will go back to previous bidders if you try to shaft them now (and thats what it will seem like to them). Any time there's land spare there's always a chance someone will build a house on it, PP on it now is incidental, even if there wasnt PP on it now there could be in future. Even if it lapses it could be reapplied for and granted.

As for "wouldn't have paid anywhere near what you have if you'd know about the issues", you've paid a mere 3% over AP. Hardly massive. And i doubt they would even be issues to anyone else.

Pull out.

FWIW in common with other posters here if you tried a reduction I'd dump you and not reconsider even if you then went back to your original price since Id suspect you would drop it last minute, day of exchange type of thing.

EachPenny

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

One has to learn a degree of cynicism to think "Betcha they ain't planning to just leave it and will be regarding it as "spare land" instead (there's no such concept - but that isn't how builders see it)"

But it is natural (or should be?) for people to wonder what is going on in the area surrounding them - which should apply to the area around a property they were looking to purchase. Even if the prospect of a house being built on the piece of land doesn't spring to mind, then the question ought to be asked "what is going on with the land next door?" It could be worse than a house - it could be earmarked for a children's playground

That inquisitiveness ought to apply well beyond the boundaries of the prospective purchase - will the lovely view be spoilt by a new housing estate being built, will the tranquility be ruined by that new bypass, will those green fields become a 24/7 distribution depot? It doesn't take long to find these things on the local council's planning website.