Issues before completion

jonnydeppiwish!

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

Re point one. No one has picked on the obvious so I will say it. Phone the council and speak with Higways and dropped kerbs person that will be aware of all of the stuff relating to that. Tell them your story and you may not go ahead if no dropped kerb. They should be able to tell you there and then if applications had been refused or possibly at the same time if allowed or in a few days, you may have to pay a small fee if they send someone out to assess. Then run it via solicitor.

Personally, I would never park on the front garden even if had a paved area if there was no dropped kerb as it is illeagal to do that, well at least in every area of the UK we have lived in.

Re the extention/lease/freehold, that may take a while via a solicitor to get to the bottom of.

So, tomorrow, call the council.

Good luck


Ps: ( a family member of mine bought a massive house,  1920 property, this was on a major main road coming in from their town centre. They knocked it down and built a bigger and better house. The drive, exisitng drive as it was a corner house was on the side road of the house. They wanted one to the front as it made the house look better etc but they were refused and they got a solitor on to ti and they lost nd had to keep the side. NB: there were many larger and small detached propertys on the road that had their drives to the main road. So check as the coucil changes rules.  We were going to buy a detached house in london area xxx - it was was second from the corner, we liked the house and the garage was to the back a trippel garage with a back entrance - we asked the owner why not front and they seller told us the coucil would not llow it becuse it was a main road, (hardly any cars going up and down) What I am saying coucils can make sill decisions so  check and get it in writing

Pretty sure I mentioned it in the first post….

EssexHebridean

diystarter7 said:

EssexHebridean said:

One thing to investigate - although ask your solicitor how you should proceed with this - is whether permission for the dropped kerb would be likely to be granted if you applied. 

Hi

For the sake of others reading your post, please be aware that , a solicitor is not responsible for deciding if a dropped kerb will be approved or not. It's always the council/Highways/planning department that makes decisions. People can appeal to them but it’sthe council that makes the decisions.

Thanks

And for the sake of others reading yours - there is a very good reason for OP or those in a similar situation to seek advice from their solicitor about the way to proceed on issues of this type, particularly as in this case there is a potential future planning issue involved. In some cases it may be that an indemnity policy would be available to guard against expenses that could be incurred along the line - indeed, there could even be an indemnity policy already in place that would cover future owners of the property, but which the OP doesn’t yet know about. Such a policy would usually be invalidated - and the purchase of any further policy made impossible - by an approach to the Local Authority. The advice to “just phone the council” is incredibly poor. It would be of service to others perhaps reading the thread subsequently if you would remove that suggestion from your post - or at least post a note in an edit to suggest that in fact it may not be correct, and that they should read on through the thread for further information. 

OP - for clarity - DO NOT call the local authority without checking first with your solicitor that this will not prejudice your position. 

diystarter7

EssexHebridean said:

diystarter7 said:

EssexHebridean said:

One thing to investigate - although ask your solicitor how you should proceed with this - is whether permission for the dropped kerb would be likely to be granted if you applied. 

Hi

For the sake of others reading your post, please be aware that , a solicitor is not responsible for deciding if a dropped kerb will be approved or not. It's always the council/Highways/planning department that makes decisions. People can appeal to them but it’sthe council that makes the decisions.

Thanks

And for the sake of others reading yours - there is a very good reason for OP or those in a similar situation to seek advice from their solicitor about the way to proceed on issues of this type, particularly as in this case there is a potential future planning issue involved. 

OP - for clarity - DO NOT call the local authority without checking first with your solicitor that this will not prejudice your position. 

Hi

Does the solicitor control/approve dropped kerb applications?

what "implications" are you referring to?

There are many threads on this site that talk about seeing info from the council, so I am really confused what "implication" would be caused if a potential buyer asked about a dropped kerb

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6060947/buying-a-house-with-no-dropped-kerb

Thanks

EssexHebridean

diystarter7 said:

EssexHebridean said:

diystarter7 said:

EssexHebridean said:

One thing to investigate - although ask your solicitor how you should proceed with this - is whether permission for the dropped kerb would be likely to be granted if you applied. 

Hi

For the sake of others reading your post, please be aware that , a solicitor is not responsible for deciding if a dropped kerb will be approved or not. It's always the council/Highways/planning department that makes decisions. People can appeal to them but it’sthe council that makes the decisions.

Thanks

And for the sake of others reading yours - there is a very good reason for OP or those in a similar situation to seek advice from their solicitor about the way to proceed on issues of this type, particularly as in this case there is a potential future planning issue involved. 

*edit by original poster of this quote - refer to the sections removed here for further explanation*

OP - for clarity - DO NOT call the local authority without checking first with your solicitor that this will not prejudice your position. 

Hi

Does the solicitor control/approve dropped kerb applications?

what "implications" are you referring to?

There are many threads on this site that talk about seeing info from the council, so I am really confused what "implication" would be caused if a potential buyer asked about a dropped kerb

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6060947/buying-a-house-with-no-dropped-kerb

Thanks

Of course the solicitor doesn’t control dropped kerb applications - at no stage have I suggested that they do - that is your construct, not mine.

The implications are in the bit of my post that you chose to edit out when you quoted. Perhaps go back and read that as it’s all explained, along with the fact that it is particularly important when there are planning questions potentially being raised also that the OP checks that they aren’t prejudicing their position by making a direct approach to the local authority.

(By the way, it’s usually considered polite on here when amending a quoted post to make clear that you have amended it. That applies even more so when you have made the amendment to alter the information being supplied as in this case.)

diystarter7

EssexHebridean said:

diystarter7 said:

EssexHebridean said:

diystarter7 said:

EssexHebridean said:

One thing to investigate - although ask your solicitor how you should proceed with this - is whether permission for the dropped kerb would be likely to be granted if you applied. 

Hi

For the sake of others reading your post, please be aware that , a solicitor is not responsible for deciding if a dropped kerb will be approved or not. It's always the council/Highways/planning department that makes decisions. People can appeal to them but it’sthe council that makes the decisions.

Thanks

And for the sake of others reading yours - there is a very good reason for OP or those in a similar situation to seek advice from their solicitor about the way to proceed on issues of this type, particularly as in this case there is a potential future planning issue involved. 

*edit by original poster of this quote - refer to the sections removed here for further explanation*

OP - for clarity - DO NOT call the local authority without checking first with your solicitor that this will not prejudice your position. 

Hi

Does the solicitor control/approve dropped kerb applications?

what "implications" are you referring to?

There are many threads on this site that talk about seeing info from the council, so I am really confused what "implication" would be caused if a potential buyer asked about a dropped kerb

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6060947/buying-a-house-with-no-dropped-kerb

Thanks

Of course the solicitor doesn’t control dropped kerb applications - at no stage have I suggested that they do - that is your construct, not mine.

The implications are in the bit of my post that you chose to edit out when you quoted. Perhaps go back and read that as it’s all explained, along with the fact that it is particularly important when there are planning questions potentially being raised also that the OP checks that they aren’t prejudicing their position by making a direct approach to the local authority.

Hi

Thank you but what "implications" are you referring to if a potential buyer wanted to see if a dropped kerb was allowed or not by contacting the council before a solicitor as you are implying? The post your refer to does not cover any "implications" - so I am genuinely confused why your are saying its wrong to ask the council before a solicitor re-dropped kerb?

As I said many threads on this forum that are saying exactly what I am saying. So what are the implications and evidence of these implications that stopped someone from enquiring re-dropped kerb?

What good is an "indemnity insurance" if you cant get a dropped kerb after buying a property. Therefore, as I said, the council approves or not a dropped kerb and not a solictor.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6060947/buying-a-house-with-no-dropped-kerb

Thanks

EssexHebridean

EssexHebridean said:

diystarter7 said:

EssexHebridean said:

One thing to investigate - although ask your solicitor how you should proceed with this - is whether permission for the dropped kerb would be likely to be granted if you applied. 

Hi

For the sake of others reading your post, please be aware that , a solicitor is not responsible for deciding if a dropped kerb will be approved or not. It's always the council/Highways/planning department that makes decisions. People can appeal to them but it’sthe council that makes the decisions.

Thanks

And for the sake of others reading yours - there is a very good reason for OP or those in a similar situation to seek advice from their solicitor about the way to proceed on issues of this type, particularly as in this case there is a potential future planning issue involved. In some cases it may be that an indemnity policy would be available to guard against expenses that could be incurred along the line - indeed, there could even be an indemnity policy already in place that would cover future owners of the property, but which the OP doesn’t yet know about. Such a policy would usually be invalidated - and the purchase of any further policy made impossible - by an approach to the Local Authority. The advice to “just phone the council” is incredibly poor. It would be of service to others perhaps reading the thread subsequently if you would remove that suggestion from your post - or at least post a note in an edit to suggest that in fact it may not be correct, and that they should read on through the thread for further information. 

OP - for clarity - DO NOT call the local authority without checking first with your solicitor that this will not prejudice your position. 

Relevant information reposted in bold above. This explains the position clearly.


Whilst I appreciate you feel that as you wrote elsewhere…

diystarter7 said:

<snip>

I have vast knowledge of most things.

<snip>

… this is an area where the wrong advice can prove extremely expensive for a purchaser of a property, and problematic for the solicitor subsequently trying to deal with things. 

You still also aren’t comprehending that I have never suggested that a solicitor would approve the dropped kerb application - that is not what I wrote and has never been my suggestion. The more significant issue is also not the dropped kerb on its own, but the risk that when speaking with the Local Authority the planning matter also gets discussed. 

diystarter7

EssexHebridean said:

EssexHebridean said:

diystarter7 said:

EssexHebridean said:

One thing to investigate - although ask your solicitor how you should proceed with this - is whether permission for the dropped kerb would be likely to be granted if you applied. 

Hi

For the sake of others reading your post, please be aware that , a solicitor is not responsible for deciding if a dropped kerb will be approved or not. It's always the council/Highways/planning department that makes decisions. People can appeal to them but it’sthe council that makes the decisions.

Thanks

And for the sake of others reading yours - there is a very good reason for OP or those in a similar situation to seek advice from their solicitor about the way to proceed on issues of this type, particularly as in this case there is a potential future planning issue involved. In some cases it may be that an indemnity policy would be available to guard against expenses that could be incurred along the line - indeed, there could even be an indemnity policy already in place that would cover future owners of the property, but which the OP doesn’t yet know about. Such a policy would usually be invalidated - and the purchase of any further policy made impossible - by an approach to the Local Authority. The advice to “just phone the council” is incredibly poor. It would be of service to others perhaps reading the thread subsequently if you would remove that suggestion from your post - or at least post a note in an edit to suggest that in fact it may not be correct, and that they should read on through the thread for further information. 

OP - for clarity - DO NOT call the local authority without checking first with your solicitor that this will not prejudice your position. 

Relevant information reposted in bold above. This explains the position clearly.


Whilst I appreciate you feel that as you wrote elsewhere…

diystarter7 said:

<snip>

I have vast knowledge of most things.

<snip>

… this is an area where the wrong advice can prove extremely expensive for a purchaser of a property, and problematic for the solicitor subsequently trying to deal with things. 

You still also aren’t comprehending that I have never suggested that a solicitor would approve the dropped kerb application - that is not what I wrote and has never been my suggestion. The more significant issue is also not the dropped kerb on its own, but the risk that when speaking with the Local Authority the planning matter also gets discussed. 

Hi

Thank you. However, you have still not stated why a prospective buyer cannot talk to the coucil about re-dropped kerbs and how would they know if one is going to be allowed before buying. Are you saying that they should go ahead and but and then be covered by an "indemirty insurance, " if so how would this get the m the dropped kerb is the cunicl was going to refuse it?

The other flaw in your argument about contacting a solictor first, is where is this solicitor going to get the information from regarding the same property with alerting the council? What difference is there between a prospective buyer contacting the council and decisin if to proced or not or wasting money via a solicitor?  I can see the solictor giving consent nor can I see a solictor contacting anyone other than the council about the dropped kerb and stating the address. 

Are you implying that a solcitor cn get info without giving the property address and if you are not, how is that different from a potential buyer contacting the coucil?  Personally, all day long, if we were going to buy a house and it had space for parking but no dropped kerb, I'd get straight on the phone and possibly get an anwer within minutes or a few days, I know for a fact council staff where I worked were familiar with roads and looked on the net to get a good idea before visiting or just approving,


I am seriously confused why a potential buyer as you are saying must not contact the coucil to find out if a dropped kerb would be allowed.

How what your post about "indemnity insurance" help a prospective buyer if the council said no after the prospective buyer had bought the property?  


Thanks

PS: Your post that I initially picked up on had not mention of the extension, you brought that in later posts.
Copy of your post that I initially responded to and it is implying cleary that the solicitor would know. As I said the solicitor does not decide and would not have the knowledge or the authority to approve or not. So how would the solicitor "likely"  know without contacting the council and giving the address? I am honestly baffled. 

One thing to investigate - although ask your solicitor how you should proceed with this - is whether permission for the dropped kerb would be likely to be granted if you applied. If a lot of the houses along the road already have them, the local authority may have a policy of keeping the remainder as available street parking. That is of course another consideration - as things are currently, you could walk out of the door one morning to find your car parked in front of your house on your hard standing blocked in by vehicles parked at the kerbside. 

diystarter7

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Qwop77 said:

Hi all, just looking for some opinions/advice from others please;

We're near completion on a house but two issues have recently come to our attention. We really want this house and we don't want to mess the seller about in any way, but I feel we need to try to sort the issues before we complete as they could be a problem for us further down the line. 

It's an older house and has a garage and driveway like all the other houses on the street. I should've noticed it sooner, but I've only recently realised it's the only house on the street without a dropped kerb. The seller has said that a dropped kerb was an optional extra when the house was built 70 years ago and that while it's been in their family (for most of that 70 years) they've never applied to drop it. I'm concerned about buying the house without the kerb being dropped as it's technically not a legal crossing of the footpath. 

The second issue is an extension that was done many years ago. It's a leasehold house and permission should've been sought from the freeholder but it wasn't. We're concerned now that this might make it less likely for the freeholder to give us permission to make additional alterations to the house. 

What would you do? 

Thanks. 

Extension I wouldn’t worry about personally. The dropped curb would - you need to measure the driveway depth and check County Council or equivalent policy for driveways and new dropped curbs. Shouldn’t take too much time - google it to start with, and if you need clarification, then call the relevant department on Monday. Chances are it’ll cost you £170 to apply, plus £1500 to drop the curb.

jonnydeppiwish! said:

diystarter7 said:

Hi O

Pretty sure I mentioned it in the first post….

Hi

My apols, you did and I will quote you on it. Great post exactly what I am saying but in less detail.

quote from your intial post here and sorry for missing that.

Extension I wouldn’t worry about personally. The dropped curb would - you need to measure the driveway depth and check County Council or equivalent policy for driveways and new dropped curbs. Shouldn’t take too much time - google it to start with, and if you need clarification, then call the relevant department on Monday. Chances are it’ll cost you £170 to apply, plus £1500 to drop the curb.


Thanks

EssexHebridean

diystarter7 said:

EssexHebridean said:

EssexHebridean said:

diystarter7 said:

EssexHebridean said:

One thing to investigate - although ask your solicitor how you should proceed with this - is whether permission for the dropped kerb would be likely to be granted if you applied. 

Hi

For the sake of others reading your post, please be aware that , a solicitor is not responsible for deciding if a dropped kerb will be approved or not. It's always the council/Highways/planning department that makes decisions. People can appeal to them but it’sthe council that makes the decisions.

Thanks

And for the sake of others reading yours - there is a very good reason for OP or those in a similar situation to seek advice from their solicitor about the way to proceed on issues of this type, particularly as in this case there is a potential future planning issue involved. In some cases it may be that an indemnity policy would be available to guard against expenses that could be incurred along the line - indeed, there could even be an indemnity policy already in place that would cover future owners of the property, but which the OP doesn’t yet know about. Such a policy would usually be invalidated - and the purchase of any further policy made impossible - by an approach to the Local Authority. The advice to “just phone the council” is incredibly poor. It would be of service to others perhaps reading the thread subsequently if you would remove that suggestion from your post - or at least post a note in an edit to suggest that in fact it may not be correct, and that they should read on through the thread for further information. 

OP - for clarity - DO NOT call the local authority without checking first with your solicitor that this will not prejudice your position. 

Relevant information reposted in bold above. This explains the position clearly.


Whilst I appreciate you feel that as you wrote elsewhere…

diystarter7 said:

<snip>

I have vast knowledge of most things.

<snip>

… this is an area where the wrong advice can prove extremely expensive for a purchaser of a property, and problematic for the solicitor subsequently trying to deal with things. 

You still also aren’t comprehending that I have never suggested that a solicitor would approve the dropped kerb application - that is not what I wrote and has never been my suggestion. The more significant issue is also not the dropped kerb on its own, but the risk that when speaking with the Local Authority the planning matter also gets discussed. 

Hi

Thank you. However, you have still not stated why a prospective buyer cannot talk to the coucil about re-dropped kerbs and how would they know if one is going to be allowed before buying. Are you saying that they should go ahead and but and then be covered by an "indemirty insurance, " if so how would this get the m the dropped kerb is the cunicl was going to refuse it? 

The other flaw in your argument about contacting a solictor first, EH: There is no argument, and no flaw. It was a straightforward suggestion to the OP that they contacted their solicitor before contacting the council due to the fact that the solicitor may advise a different route, or indeed clarify things that should NOT be discussed in any conversation that subsequently takes place with the council. is where is this solicitor going to get the information from regarding the same property with alerting the council? What difference is there between a prospective buyer contacting the council and decisin if to proced or not or wasting money via a solicitor? EH: There would be no “wasting money” - this sort of question is a perfectly normal part of a transaction. I can see the solictor giving consent nor can I see a solictor contacting anyone other than the council about the dropped kerb and stating the address. 

Are you implying that a solcitor cn get info without giving the property address EH: No. and if you are not, how is that different from a potential buyer contacting the coucil?  EH: A Solicitor will know what it is sensible to mention, and what subjects should be avoided. As this thread shows all too well, those with no legal knowledge at all would not. Personally, all day long, if we were going to buy a house and it had space for parking but no dropped kerb, I'd get straight on the phone and possibly get an anwer within minutes or a few days, I know for a fact council staff where I worked were familiar with roads and looked on the net to get a good idea before visiting or just approving, 


I am seriously confused why a potential buyer as you are saying must not contact the coucil to find out if a dropped kerb would be allowed. 

How what your post about "indemnity insurance" help a prospective buyer if the council said no after the prospective buyer had bought the property?  


Thanks

PS: Your post that I initially picked up on had not mention of the extension, you brought that in later posts.
Copy of your post that I initially responded to and it is implying cleary that the solicitor would know. As I said the solicitor does not decide and would not have the knowledge or the authority to approve or not. So how would the solicitor "likely"  know without contacting the council and giving the address? I am honestly baffled. 

*quote amended by diystarter7 to include bold text that was not in the original without making this clear removed* 

I’ll be honest - I don’t think you’re going to grasp this. I’ve already clearly explained the risks around contacting the council without first checking that it won’t have any negative effects very clearly. 

I’ve answered your other points in bold within your post above, marking them clearly with my initials to make clear that they are my comments. 

As for my original post implying that “the solicitor would know” - it doesn’t. You are misreading it. The dashes mark an “aside”, where the suggestion to contact the solicitor was made. Subsequently - and due to your confident assertion that the OP should just make the phone call - I explained in more detail when asked why that aside was made. 

I see no point in continuing this - as I said, I’ve been as clear in explaining as it is possible to be. I won’t stand by and see someone dish out entirely incorrect advice to another forum member without ensuring that facts are provided if I have those facts though, and that is what I have done here - countered opinion (yours) with facts. 

Ksw3

our solicitor gave us three options:

One was buy as it is and worry about it later (we checked and all the conditions would be met I.e not near a junction, bus stop, allocated parking, no street lamp etc etc). 

The other two were varying types of insurances one of which was supposed to pay should the value of the house drop (although I doubt it would actually work like that) and another one that I think was to do with easements. 

Oh there was a fourth which was apply then wait to see if it would be granted but our mortgage offer was about to expire so didn't have the time. 

We chose option 1 and at the moment everyone on the street treats it as a drive so doesn't park across it. We will apply soon. I was worried sick about it before we moved in but once you're in it becomes less of a waking up in the middle of the night thing.