Selling house, previous owner never got building completions for a garden shed,

rhep87

Morning folks, we are supposed to be selling our house in 2 weeks time and something has been flagged up.

in 2011 it looks like the previous owner build a small garden shed 6m X 2m, applied for planning permission which was granted and subsequently built the shed to the approved plans.

The local council has no documentation that a certificate of completion was submitted.

The shed is just a shed, not attached to the property and we have all the plans that were submitted, approved and the letter of approval.

Not sure what the next step would be here to keep things on track.

Ironically, the solicitors representing our buyers are the same ones that we bought from in 2014.

Any advise or knowledge if there were exemptions in Scotland at the time would be appreciated to help resolve this issue.

Just can't see why the previous owner would go to the trouble of attaining planning permission, building a shed and then not submitting a completion notification?

davidmcn

Are you getting confused between planning and building control? There's not (normally) any need to tell the planners that you've completed the works. Do you mean there was a building warrant for the shed but there's no completion certificate?

agrinnall

Why was PP required at all? Is the building and/or its garden listed?

rhep87

Yes, there is planning but no completion certificate

rhep87

planning was required as it is a masionette (technically a flat) with an upstairs neighbour

davidmcn

rhep87 wrote: »

Yes, there is planning but no completion certificate

But there is a building warrant? If so then this would have come up when you bought too, so what was the discussion then?

rhep87

davidmcn wrote: »

But there is a building warrant? If so then this would have come up when you bought too, so what was the discussion then?

It never came up at all when we bought the property - or at least the solicitors we used never seen fit to mention it.

Things are complicated further as looking at 2004 plans of the site, the sheds are actually there - 5 years before these new ones were approved. Perhaps why our solicitors didn't mention it at the time if they thought the sheds were pre-exisiting.

So it sounds like the previous owners perhaps replaced the older brick shed with this new one... same size etc... or the sheds that are there now could even be the same as those shown on the 2004 plans and the previous owners got planning permission for the new shed but never built.

davidmcn

rhep87 wrote: »

It never came up at all when we bought the property - or at least the solicitors we used never seen fit to mention it.

Things are complicated further as looking at 2004 plans of the site, the sheds are actually there - 5 years before these new ones were approved. Perhaps why our solicitors didn't mention it at the time if they thought the sheds were pre-exisiting.

So it sounds like the previous owners perhaps replaced the older brick shed with this new one... same size etc... or the sheds that are there now could even be the same as those shown on the 2004 plans and the previous owners got planning permission for the new shed but never built.

The property enquiry certificate they got in 2014 would (or should) have mentioned the building warrant on it (and the fact that there wasn't a relevant completion certificate). If you want to have some fun then your solicitor can ask them !!!!!! they did about it in 2014...but the easiest solution is just to get indemnity insurance. Your current solicitor should be advising you on all this anyway.

dunroving

rhep87 wrote: »

Morning folks, we are supposed to be selling our house in 2 weeks time and something has been flagged up.

in 2011 it looks like the previous owner build a small garden shed 6m X 2m, applied for planning permission which was granted and subsequently built the shed to the approved plans.

The local council has no documentation that a certificate of completion was submitted.

The shed is just a shed, not attached to the property and we have all the plans that were submitted, approved and the letter of approval.

Not sure what the next step would be here to keep things on track.

Ironically, the solicitors representing our buyers are the same ones that we bought from in 2014.

Any advise or knowledge if there were exemptions in Scotland at the time would be appreciated to help resolve this issue.

Just can't see why the previous owner would go to the trouble of attaining planning permission, building a shed and then not submitting a completion notification?

Who flagged it up, with whom, how and why?

If it has been flagged up with the Council, you can kiss goodbye to indemnity insurance.

dunroving

rhep87 wrote: »

It never came up at all when we bought the property - or at least the solicitors we used never seen fit to mention it.

Things are complicated further as looking at 2004 plans of the site, the sheds are actually there - 5 years before these new ones were approved. Perhaps why our solicitors didn't mention it at the time if they thought the sheds were pre-exisiting.

So it sounds like the previous owners perhaps replaced the older brick shed with this new one... same size etc... or the sheds that are there now could even be the same as those shown on the 2004 plans and the previous owners got planning permission for the new shed but never built.

Unless you invited your solicitor around for tea, why would they even know the shed existed? Are you saying the searches should have revealed the planing permission application?

Silvertabby

6m x 2m isn't a 'small shed' - it's a whopping great outbuilding! Isn't there something about if a 'building' is greater than a %age of the house/garden size it must have PP?