Planning application to raise value before sale

Mrs_Wren

Hi,

This is my first post here so thanks in advance to anyone who answers.

I am an executor and we have to sell a family home. The house is in a sought after area. The probate surveyor suggested I should put in an initial planning application to enhance the property and then sell it with planning at auction.

The estate agents have a contradictory view and are saying it would be best to sell as it is without planning. They say the potential buyer may not want to enhance the property or they would know they can put the planning in place themselves.

This is the only chance we will get to sell the house and we need to achieve the best price for the estate.

All opinions and advice are welcome:D

Exodi

Without knowing the property, the value or the area it's impossible to say whether enhancing the property would be a likely or fruitful endeavour. I would always side with a surveyor however as they have no real conflicts of interest, the estate agent will want to sell your house asap to get their commission and minimise you changing your mind or the market changing substantially.

Cheeky_Monkey

I imagine that the estate agent is not keen on the application for planning permission because it will delay the sale so they will have to wait longer for their money.

If it is in a sought after area and you want the best price you can get, why are you selling it at auction rather than on the open market?

davidmcn

A planning application for what?

Owain_Moneysaver

Unless it's a possible development project, eg outline planning permission for building an additional house at the side, I'd sell it as it is.

There is a risk that if you apply for detailed planning (which costs money) for an extension and it gets declined, that will show up in searches and put people off. Also what you apply for may not be what a future buyer would want to build.

Alan2020

It depends, in some areas apart from PD it’s next to impossible to get planning consent. If you apply you will get a lovely rejection and same with an appeal. Then you essentially devalue your property.

However people who don’t know the area or do research, and fuelled by ignorance will buy it hoping to extend it but won’t be able to. I think the estate agent knows this.

Someone I know has bought a house at £750k to do a sizeable 2 storey extension and flip it at £1.2m. This is a greedy amateur as I know that the LA has very strict rules and no one has been successful in that area. The house was marketed as potential building plot stpp

Browntoa

And if you pee the neighbours off you may not be able to put "no" against have you any disputes with the neighbours

babyblade41

It all depends what permission you are looking for.

If it's just an extra room or double storey then get an architect to draw up a set of plans to give an impression how it could be extended without submitting it to a council . Leave it in the property and show viewers what can be done

`Once submitted it could get refused and that would definitely put people off plus the time it takes waiting for the decision to be made

Mrs_Wren

The surveyor suggested an auction as not many properties come into the market and he thought we could get a higher value. The house is decent condition etc. It needs modernising

googler

Mrs_Wren wrote: »

The probate surveyor suggested I should put in an initial planning application to enhance the property and then sell it with planning

If the surveyor suggested this without any prompting on your part, then I would suggest that, since the surveyor has no vested interest in the outcome, it would seem most likely that the local council would look kindly on such an application. Suggests the surveyor has seen similar successes in the past.

Talk to the planning department at the council, and establish if there are any general planning conditions in place which would lead to an application for extension or new construction being denied. If the council is generally in favour of development in brownfield or infill sites, that counts in your favour. That's the first thing to do. Sound the council out on the matter. Then you can consider whether or not neighbours are likely to object.

Bossypants

Mrs_Wren wrote: »

The surveyor suggested an auction as not many properties come into the market and he thought we could get a higher value. The house is decent condition etc. It needs modernising

Maybe, but the conventional wisdom is that only properties with some major defect (structurally, legally or otherwise) go to auction, and people will be expecting a bargain in return. Also, auctions aren't really set up for inexperienced buyers or those requiring mortgages (i.e. most people looking for residential homes). Between these two factors, your pool of potential buyers at auction is significantly smaller than on the open market, and those who might be interested at auction can still make an offer when on the open market.

Of course there will always be exceptions. What sort of property is it, and whereabouts? Did the surveyor mention any specific reasons he thought developers might be especially tempted?