Buying a bed & breakfast that has had some change of use seems vendor didn’t submit plans HELP :(

lawcher

Hi my husband and I are in the proceeds of buying a bed & breakfast.

We’ve paid £4000 so far for survey accountant &!searches.
Signed our mortgage offer 
brokers fees and lenders fees = £6000 we have to pay even if we don’t get the bnb.

So the vendors have had it 6 -7 years.

Estate agent rang today said the vendor asked why did we ask our solicitor to for planning permission evidence ? 

My husband  said we didn’t it’s common practice for a solicitor and surveyor would see it’s had change of use inside, 15 bed hotel  changed to 2 apartments  7 lettings rooms and a house that’s being sold separately.
The vendor  said to the estate agent to tell us “ we have to take his word for it “
?

My husband  told the estate agent - (who should  know  solicitors always ask for any planing  permission  evidence )
- for the vendor to go back to his solicitors and communicate with ours.

We knew their solicitors are awful we used them before years  ago.

Seems  no planning permission and with the BNB vendor it’s seems  now we have to pay £6000 to broker and lender &! not our fault plus £4000 we already paid out.

Can we sue the vendor for this money as if he needed planning permission and didn’t get it he won’t be able  to sell to anyone and will have to put the work back to as it was and be fined ? He knew he didn’t have planning permission and is a property developer.

We are feeling really down now as we were buying it as I have an illness I need to work from home and then stress is awful now .

Thanks x 

user1977

What's your solicitor's advice about the planning? Or indeed whether you can sue?

lawcher

user1977 said:

What's your solicitor's advice about the planning? Or indeed whether you can sue?

We are waiting to hear from them 

CSI_Yorkshire

lawcher said:

Can we sue the vendor for this money 

You can sue anyone you want.  That doesn't mean you will win. 

user1977

lawcher said:

user1977 said:

What's your solicitor's advice about the planning? Or indeed whether you can sue?

We are waiting to hear from them 

So you don't yet even know whether the lack of planning is a fundamental problem?

lawcher

CSI_Yorkshire said:

lawcher said:

Can we sue the vendor for this money 

You can sue anyone you want.  That doesn't mean you will win. 

That’s a silly reply to an in-depth question 

CSI_Yorkshire

lawcher said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

lawcher said:

Can we sue the vendor for this money 

You can sue anyone you want.  That doesn't mean you will win. 

That’s a silly reply to an in-depth question 

It wasn't an in-depth question.

It was a list of effectively irrelevant information with a simple question hidden inside.

The vendor is not liable for any of the money you have spent before you exchange contracts.  Whether he has planning permission or not doesn't change that.

Some of your fees may be refunded if you don't go ahead (like a mortgage fee for a mortgage that you don't actually use).

jlfrs01

It could be possible the 7 year rule may apply in this instance - might be worth getting the exact date the works were carried out because if more than 7 years have passed, planning permission isn't required, (this is extended to 10 if there is a challenge on record though).  If that is the case then that may be the OP's get out of jail card.

It is very unfortunate they've gone this far before the Solicitor asked the question but ask it he did. This is down to timing I think, had this been addressed at the beginning of the process then a far smaller figure would be at stake.

MultiFuelBurner

Have you searched the local authority planning portal for that property and historic planning applications.

TBG01

If you had decided to pull out for some other reason, would you entertain the vendor sueing you for losses or would you laugh it off?

People on here love to throw around the word "sue" as if it's going to be a quick, easy and cheap process. 

eddddy

lawcher said:

He knew he didn’t have planning permission and is a property developer.

There's an angle you can investigate for getting compensation, but it's not certain by any means. It can only apply if this was a "Business to Consumer" transaction.

• You say the seller was a developer. So perhaps you could argue that the seller was a business . He was selling the property as a business activity. 

• The estate agent was clearly a business. Selling property was clearly their business activity.

• The key question is "Are you a consumer?". You were buying a B&B, so you might be classed as a "Business Buyer" rather than a "Consumer".

If you are a "consumer", a business that is selling to you is bound by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008

Those regulations state that businesses must not omit material information:

Misleading omissions

6.—(1) A commercial practice is a misleading omission if, in its factual context, taking account of the matters in paragraph (2)—

(a) the commercial practice omits material information,

(b) the commercial practice hides material information,

(c) the commercial practice provides material information in a manner which is unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely, or

(d) the commercial practice fails to identify its commercial intent, unless this is already apparent from the context,

and as a result it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise.

LInk: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/regulation/6/made

• The lack of planning permission is almost certainly material information - so the developer was potentially committing an offence.

• If the estate agent knew there was no planning permission - the estate agent was potentially committing an offence as well.

• The Property Ombudsman goes further and says that if the estate agent knew or should have known that there was no planning permission, it's a breach of their code of practice. 

If the estate agent is a member of The Property Ombudsman scheme, it's relatively easy to persue a complaint with the Ombudsman. (And the Ombudsman can order the Estate Agent to pay compensation.)

But it would be a case of taking the developer to court to claim compensation - which is more difficult.


And all the above relies on this being a "business to consumer" transaction - and that's not certain.