Sold House With Driveway Without Drop Kerb

Badger50

I don't think there is really a problem with crossing the footway for access - apart from the practical problem of parked vehicles obstructing the drive. If the kerb is lowered you can get them ticketed or even towed, but if the kerb isn't lowered there is nothing you can do. Although in a street where I lived the footway was quite wide and one of the drives with no lowered kerb was obstructed more often than not. The occupiers just used to turn right or left and drive along the footway as far as they needed, often quite a long way, to find a gap in the line of cars parked on the roadside. I do think that was taking the mick.

TreeLeaf

I'm in the process of trying to claim back money now for this and the info I've gathered so far is the below:

As soon as you can write a letter of complaint/claim for the cost of putting in a drop kerb/vehicle cross over, to the estate agent, property surveyor and property lawyer about the fact that you've been sold a house that stated it had a driveway, though is not actually a legal driveway due to it not having a drop kerb. The hard standing is not fit for purpose. A car is not insured if it is parked on a hard standing and no drop kerb. Wrongly informed/false advertisement. Full survey needed to have picked this up. The lawyer needed to check that what the previous owner had stated on the forms they filled in was true, if they started they had a driveway.

If after 8 weeks you haven't received any solution you can contact the below who are free and impartial, to assess the matter and help to come to a resolution:

Estate Agent:
Contact the Property Ombudsman if the agent is a member of the TPO,  for the estate agent claim/complaint..... Have a look at their website for loads of info: https://www.tpos.co.uk/
Template for letter to agent: https://www.tpos.co.uk/complaining-to-an-agent
Loads of other info too.
Here's a video of the TPO and Phil Spencer about what the TPO offers.

Surveyor:
The surveyor claim/complaint...... RICS is the governing body....... The same applies, they have to be members of RICS, have to give them at least 8 weeks to reply and make a final offer...... See their website for more info: https://www.tpos.co.uk/complaining-to-an-agent

Lawyer/solicitor:
The same as above..... Membership, 8 weeks to get a final offer/reply.
Legal Ombudsman: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/
They have letter templates too.

All the above you can ring for help and advice before writing the letter and let you know more about the process....... You can also pay to go the lawyer root of cause.

k3lvc

TreeLeaf said:

I'm in the process of trying to claim back money now for this and the info I've gathered so far is the below:

As soon as you can write a letter of complaint/claim for the cost of putting in a drop kerb/vehicle cross over, to the estate agent, property surveyor and property lawyer about the fact that you've been sold a house that stated it had a driveway, though is not actually a legal driveway due to it not having a drop kerb. The hard standing is not fit for purpose. A car is not insured if it is parked on a hard standing and no drop kerb. Wrongly informed/false advertisement. Full survey needed to have picked this up. The lawyer needed to check that what the previous owner had stated on the forms they filled in was true, if they started they had a driveway.

If after 8 weeks you haven't received any solution you can contact the below who are free and impartial, to assess the matter and help to come to a resolution:

Estate Agent:
Contact the Property Ombudsman if the agent is a member of the TPO,  for the estate agent claim/complaint..... Have a look at their website for loads of info: https://www.tpos.co.uk/
Template for letter to agent: https://www.tpos.co.uk/complaining-to-an-agent
Loads of other info too.
Here's a video of the TPO and Phil Spencer about what the TPO offers.

Surveyor:
The surveyor claim/complaint...... RICS is the governing body....... The same applies, they have to be members of RICS, have to give them at least 8 weeks to reply and make a final offer...... See their website for more info: https://www.tpos.co.uk/complaining-to-an-agent

Lawyer/solicitor:
The same as above..... Membership, 8 weeks to get a final offer/reply.
Legal Ombudsman: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/
They have letter templates too.

All the above you can ring for help and advice before writing the letter and let you know more about the process....... You can also pay to go the lawyer root of cause.

18 months on and you're still clutching at straws here
You chose to go ahead with a purchase knowing that there was no dropped kerb and are looking to blame others for your gamble

davidmcn

TreeLeaf said:

A car is not insured if it is parked on a hard standing and no drop kerb. 

Says who?

NewShadow

TreeLeaf said:

Full survey needed to have picked this up. The lawyer needed to check that what the previous owner had stated on the forms they filled in was true, if they started they had a driveway.

Did you have a full survey carried out? 
Was this noted in the survey? 
Did you raise your concerns with regards the lack of dropped curb with your conveyancer after reviewing the contract and associated papers? 
What about if the seller had put a desk in one of the bedrooms, rather than a bed... do you think you can also sue because it's not a real study...? I mean, there's no oak panels 🤑

Bossypants

Why didn't you start this ridiculous process 18 months ago? Or are you just self-isolating and bored?

eddddy

Is the EA a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme?

If so, back in 2013, the Property Ombudsman instructed an EA to pay a house buyer 25% of the cost of installing a dropped kerb.

As in your case, the EA advertised the property as having off street parking, but the Ombudsman said that a professional EA should have known that driving across the pavement is illegal, if there is no dropped kerb - so should not have advertised off road parking.

You could try a similar complaint - but I guess it depends on the precise facts of your case, compared to the 2013 case.
Here's a summary of the 2013 case. https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/an-undropped-kerb-misleading-action

purpleumbrella

TreeLeaf said:

The lawyer needed to check that what the previous owner had stated on the forms they filled in was true, if they started they had a driveway.

Your lawyer didn't view the property, you did.