Seeking Advice on wasteland sold as a "development plot" in property Auction.

UltraBuilder

I purchased a land from auction sold by a City Council. Land was marketed as "Potential Development opportunity". 
Following submission of the planning, city council informed that any development on this land will be contrary to established policies at all levels. Essentially this is a waste land with no chance of development. 
I was wondering if I had to swallow this or is there a case of misrepresentation in the sales. 

As a seller, city council had the advanced knowledge of where development is allowed. They need to follow statutory process of consultation prior to disposing of the land.
If they are disposing of land as a "development opportunity" in the knowledge that this is not the case, is it worth following a legal route to recover some losses. 

Contract does state that if any statement in the contract was misleading or inaccurate due to an omission by the seller, remedies are available. 
Thanks for the advice. 

ProDave

You also had the opportunity to look at the local development plan and see if the land was zoned for housing or any other use.

There was the word "potential" in the description.

You could always try appealing the councils decision, but you have to appeal on proper planning grounds (not "they sold it as a development plot") so best to employ a planning consultant to handle the appeal.

Or of it is only just outside the present development zone, just sit and wait, as more and more housing is needed one day the development zone might expand.

ReadingTim

Anything has "potential" but it is the extent to which this potential can be reached in a cost effective manner which is the question.  It's also not clear what the site could be developed into, other than it's not what you would like, so difficult to say whether this statement is misleading or inaccurate.  Also, policies can change or be challenged, so it might not be the case that no development will ever be permitted, however, I think you need to be a bit clearer in your description of the land as "wasteland" - what was it used for beforehand?  Is it actually a park green space or common land, for which most reasonable people might think planning could be a challenge...?  

Ultimately though, there was nothing stopping you from asking the planning department about your plans prior to purchase or submission of the plans, and indeed many councils encourage this approach.  If the answer is a clear cut as you seem to think is it, I'm sure they would have told you so sooner than when you asked.  

Therefore I think the issue is that you failed to do your due diligence before purchase, and the only person you have to blame is yourself.  Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear.  

silvercar

You have nothing to lose by putting in a complaint.

If the seller was the council who themselves decide that nothing can be built on it, then it is arguably deception to describe it as having potential to develop. A court may decide that it is unreasonable to expect you to ask the council if you can develop land that they have marked as having development potential.

Section62

UltraBuilder said:

I purchased a land from auction sold by a City Council. Land was marketed as "Potential Development opportunity". 
Following submission of the planning, city council informed that any development on this land will be contrary to established policies at all levels. Essentially this is a waste land with no chance of development. 
I was wondering if I had to swallow this or is there a case of misrepresentation in the sales. 

As a seller, city council had the advanced knowledge of where development is allowed. They need to follow statutory process of consultation prior to disposing of the land.
If they are disposing of land as a "development opportunity" in the knowledge that this is not the case, is it worth following a legal route to recover some losses. 

Contract does state that if any statement in the contract was misleading or inaccurate due to an omission by the seller, remedies are available. 
Thanks for the advice. 

Does your username "UltraBuilder" indicate you are an experienced builder or other professional in the industry?  If so, that could have a bearing on your prosepects is you went down a legal route.

Whether there is any value in considering legal options also partly depends on how much you paid for the land - if it was obvious that no imminent development opportunity was possible then the land value may well be less than it would cost to mount a legal challenge.

Everyone can have "advanced knowledge of where development is allowed" if they do their DD, the council doesn't have any special information known only to them.

ProDave

Isn't there a process (there certainly used to be) that if planning permission is refused you can ask the council to buy the land from you.  Your grounds would be it was sold as having development potential but it now appears it has not.  Tell them you want back what you paid plus all costs.

ReadingTim

silvercar said:

You have nothing to lose by putting in a complaint.

If the seller was the council who themselves decide that nothing can be built on it, then it is arguably deception to describe it as having potential to develop. A court may decide that it is unreasonable to expect you to ask the council if you can develop land that they have marked as having development potential.

Absolute rubbish - councils welcome pre-application planning discussions, as shown here from my local council.  Suggesting a court would decide otherwise is giving false hope to someone who has basically not done their homework before buying.    

Section62

ProDave said:

Isn't there a process (there certainly used to be) that if planning permission is refused you can ask the council to buy the land from you.  Your grounds would be it was sold as having development potential but it now appears it has not.  Tell them you want back what you paid plus all costs.

No.

It sounds like you are talking about planning blight - wehre a proposal such as a new road which could affect the value of the property allows the owner (subject to conditions) to require the authority to compensate them, which might include the council buying the property as is.

The land does still have development potential (subject to PP), but it may take some years for that potential to be realised.

MobileSaver

UltraBuilder said:

If they are disposing of land as a "development opportunity"

That's not how they described it though, you said they were selling a "Potential Development opportunity" which is very different.

Potential means having the capacity to develop into something in the future so I can't see how you can rebut that unless there's more to this than you've told us.

user1977

Just because the development you currently want to do is against current policies, doesn't mean that it isn't a "potential development opportunity". Planning contrary to policy can be obtained. Or you can wait until the policy changes. I doubt they're intent on ensuring it remains "wasteland" forever.

Did you really carry out no due diligence about the planning position? 

Mgman1965

Any land can have development "potential".

In the 1970's, the village my parents lived in had a "development line" drawn around it by the council preventing any significant expansion of the village meaning any land outside that circle could not be built on or developed..

Fast forward 30yrs, that line has gone and the village has now expanded significantly. 

I could have bought acres of land with "potential" just outside that line in the seventies, meaning I'd have had to wait 30yrs for that potential to be realised. 

In your case that potential could be a year, 30yrs, 50yrs or never, we simply can't look into the future.