Planning permission issue - buying a house

PuddleDuck351

Hello. We’re looking for any possible advice. 

We’re trying to buy a house, which has been redeveloped by the current owner, where two planning permission issues have been flagged as part of our solicitor’s checks:

⁃ One was a condition of the planning permission and relates to the garden

⁃ The second is that a new internal room was added on a different orientation to the architect drawing approved with the plans, meaning the windows are also different outside (though no change re what is or isn’t overlooked)

The problem is the works were completed by a developer less than twelve months ago. 

The seller and their solicitor say they’re not major breaches and won’t do anything at all to offer assurance or indemnity confirming this is okay. 

Our solicitor says we or the seller need to get indemnity insurance (or ask the council to approve the changes), or we can’t go ahead with the purchase. Indemnity insurance is proving hard to get because the work was so recent. 

Our questions are:

⁃ Has anyone found insurance for something similar? Especially similar timescales. 

⁃ Is our solicitor right to be so stringent? The seller’s solicitor seems to think it’s not a major breach and so shouldn’t matter enough to hold up the sale. If so, what can we do about it?

⁃ And any other tips or suggestions?

user1977

PuddleDuck351 said:

⁃ One was a condition of the planning permission and relates to the garden

What's the problem with it?

PuddleDuck351

user1977 said:

PuddleDuck351 said:

⁃ One was a condition of the planning permission and relates to the garden

What's the problem with it?

Oh yes, sorry, the problem is that the condition hasn’t been met! 

user1977

PuddleDuck351 said:

user1977 said:

PuddleDuck351 said:

⁃ One was a condition of the planning permission and relates to the garden

What's the problem with it?

Oh yes, sorry, the problem is that the condition hasn’t been met! 

What is the condition?

eddddy

The way to correct the situation would be for the seller to apply to the council for a variation of planning consent or new planning consent - to remove the planning condition relating to the garden, and to allow the room orientation. 

However, that might take up to 8 weeks.

But if the council refuse consent, they would have been alerted to the breaches - so they might decide to take enforcement action. So the seller might not be keen to do that, because of the risk of enforcement.

PuddleDuck351

user1977 said:

PuddleDuck351 said:

user1977 said:

PuddleDuck351 said:

⁃ One was a condition of the planning permission and relates to the garden

What's the problem with it?

Oh yes, sorry, the problem is that the condition hasn’t been met! 

What is the condition?

The condition is to add some greenery back at the front of the house. Instead the front is entirely paved, with a very small grass section at the side of the house that the solicitor doesn’t consider to be sufficient. 

PuddleDuck351

eddddy said:

The way to correct the situation would be for the seller to apply to the council for a variation of planning consent or new planning consent - to remove the planning condition relating to the garden, and to allow the room orientation. 

However, that might take up to 8 weeks.

But if the council refuse consent, they would have been alerted to the breaches - so they might decide to take enforcement action. So the seller might not be keen to do that, because of the risk of enforcement.

Thank you, yes. Unfortunately the seller sees the situation as a non-issue and so has been clear they won’t be doing anything to help resolve the situation. 

user1977

I would be asking the seller to seek a variation to cover both points. You're not likely to get indemnity insurance to cover something this recent.

PuddleDuck351

user1977 said:

I would be asking the seller to seek a variation to cover both points. You're not likely to get indemnity insurance to cover something this recent.

Thank you. Unfortunately the seller won’t do this. 

Does this mean we just can’t buy the house? This has been a difficult purchase/sale so far already and we’re pretty heartbroken if that’s the case. But there really is no flexibility at all on the seller’s end. They see it as a non-issue, and so only our issue. 

user1977

PuddleDuck351 said:

user1977 said:

I would be asking the seller to seek a variation to cover both points. You're not likely to get indemnity insurance to cover something this recent.

Thank you. Unfortunately the seller won’t do this. 

Does this mean we just can’t buy the house? 

Well, I suppose the obvious plan B would be that you offer to proceed but conditional on you getting the non-material variation (if that's what the changes require) approved by the planners. Which would be much the same from the sellers' point of view other than the application fee.

What you're asking for isn't unreasonable, so given the likelihood of any buyer making a similar request I doubt the sellers will just flounce off and remarket.

Or do you want to cross your fingers and hope the council don't come round and ask you to move the windows etc? If it's a cash purchase then it's up to you. It's not up to you if you're buying with a mortgage.

PuddleDuck351

user1977 said:

PuddleDuck351 said:

user1977 said:

I would be asking the seller to seek a variation to cover both points. You're not likely to get indemnity insurance to cover something this recent.

Thank you. Unfortunately the seller won’t do this. 

Does this mean we just can’t buy the house? 

Well, I suppose the obvious plan B would be that you offer to proceed but conditional on you getting the non-material variation (if that's what the changes require) approved by the planners. Which would be much the same from the sellers' point of view other than the application fee.

What you're asking for isn't unreasonable, so given the likelihood of any buyer making a similar request I doubt the sellers will just flounce off and remarket.

Or do you want to cross your fingers and hope the council don't come round and ask you to move the windows etc? If it's a cash purchase then it's up to you. It's not up to you if you're buying with a mortgage.

Thank you, again. 

I imagine we’d need the seller’s permission for your suggested plan B? In which case it’s not likely to be an option. They’re also pushing for a quick timescale now and so are very unlikely to accept anything that causes a delay. 

We do have a mortgage and wouldn’t want to risk it anyway. We’re just stuck with the seller refusing to assist with any resolution. Their view is the breaches aren’t major and so don’t need any action. So I suppose they likely will hope a future buyer won’t notice… we’re not sure, but they’re committed to doing nothing and not helping us do anything either.