Buying a house without planning permission discharged/signed off or something - HELP

tatinstro

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can help or atleast help me understand..

I am in the process of buying a house which apparently does not have its planning permission discharged or signed off. The seller told his solicitor that is because the properties were built in 2021 during the COVID restrictions meaning it was not possible for a representative to come out at the relevant stages to assess matters and sign off.

We have now gone down the route of gaining an indemnity policy. I am ok with that if that means I'm actually able to purchase the property but my solicitor is telling me that its going nowhere and its one of many hurdles to jump through.

My questions are:

- Is an indemnity policy quite common?

- Will my property be able to get a indemnity policy considering its circumstances?

- How long will it take to get a policy?

- If we're actually successful and get a policy (considering everything else is fine) what are the next steps until we get the keys to the house? (so I know whats going on/what to expect)

- Should I wait or am I just wasting my time? 

I LOVE the house and am willing to wait but not a years worth of waiting

Dustyevsky

It is more likely your house had planning permission before the build started, but that the building regulations department's  inspections were not all carried out.

How bad a problem this would be is not possible to assess from the info here, because we don't know what stages were missed. I’m not aware how common a concern it is, but no doubt someone with relevant knowledge will comment.

You should be able to access your property's planning permission from your local authority's website where all such decisions are listed nowadays, probably searcheable under the post code.

Section62

Dustyevsky said:

It is more likely your house had planning permission before the build started, but that the building regulations department's  inspections were not all carried out.

If the word "discharged" is being used then I'd expect it to relate to a planning condition of some kind.  More so if (as it sounds) this property is one of several properties in a development.

Doozergirl

There's confusion here because, as Section62 says, 'discharging' would relate to planning permission and inspections during the build relate to building control. 

You need to clarify for us, please.  

Fwiw, we had zero issues having building control inspections during the pandemic, so I'm not sure I believe that! 

Is this a brand new house?  Does it have a structural warranty issued on it? 

Is an indemnity policy even acceptable on a new build with missing documentation?  It could certainly be a larger issue if it is a new build.  

ThisIsWeird

Doozergirl said:

Fwiw, we had zero issues having building control inspections during the pandemic, so I'm not sure I believe that! 

Ditto.
Tatinstro, have you looked on your LA's Planning Portal to see what documents are on there? Can you list what has been done ok so far?!
Surely worth contacting Planning and BC, too, and ask directly what is still required, and how to achieve it? 
Don't let your desire for this place blind you
I'm struggling to understand what the actual issue is, and why it cannot be easily resolved. First thing - find out what exactly is 'missing'.

user1977

ThisIsWeird said:

Doozergirl said:

Fwiw, we had zero issues having building control inspections during the pandemic, so I'm not sure I believe that! 

Surely worth contacting Planning and BC, too, and ask directly what is still required, and how to achieve it? 

Not unless you want to scupper an indemnity policy as a potential solution...

OP needs to clarify to us what the exact problem is - don't you have something in writing from your solicitor explaining?

YoungBlueEyes

If your solicitor is telling you it's going nowhere, have you asked them to explain why? 

Is this a good solicitor you found yourself, or one recommended by the estate agent? 

tatinstro

So the seller has built 5 dwellings - all attached to each other. He is currently renting them out as homes and as one of the tenancies came to an end, he decided to sell the property - which I'm wanting to buy.

I dont know much as I dont know what to ask.

We have the following documentations:

1. Office copy entries and title plan pertaining to title number XXXX
2. Building Regulations Completion Certificate.
3. Professional Consultants Certificate.
4. Drawings and plans.
5. HM Land Registry compliant plot plan.
6. Property Information Form.
7. Fittings and Contents Form.
8. Planning Permission (GRANTED)

My solicitor has said this: Without confirmation that the planning conditions have been satisfied, no mortgage lender is unlikely to lend on a property of this nature which is less than 10 years old.

Is there anything I can do?

Can anyone make sense of this?

What exactly is missing?

In the planning permission documentation, it says: This Notice does not constitute an approval under the Building Regulations 2000 and you should contact the Local Authority Building Control Section for further information - So I think this is missing but as said above, we have building regulations complete certificate-- Is it a different document?

Titus_Wadd

Curiously similar to our small estate of 4 houses with some being built.  

Our house, the oldest, was ok in terms of planning conditions discharged BUT the rest of the estate was on a later planning application and is taking a decade+ to finish.

The builder (our neighbour from hell) has planning conditions on the later houses requiring the whole site to be completed - including relaying the road, supplementary planting etc before occupation.  The build is nowhere near finished.

The builder has let to tenants a couple of the houses and the council has been aware of this for a couple of years.  The occupation has now triggered all the unmet conditions to be in breach - and they are legion!  The builder never builds the houses he has permission for and relies on the council's planning department either not noticing or inviting him to submit retrospective planning permission.

Two and a half years later the council is now enforcing all the breaches, including garages built where there were none permitted.  Other undischarged conditions include incorrect windows, road lay-out, failure to demolish an old house that they still live in to create the turning circles.  Three storey town houses have been built where only 2 floor houses permitted and many others.  TPO trees have been removed or damaged so they die.

The enforcement time frames to rectify the unmet conditions varies but is an onerous maximum of 4 months.  The problem isn't just the builder's, the tenants seem largely unaware that their homes require remedial building work and the councillors are determined to make an example of this small but troublesome site.

So if the house OP is hoping to buy has undischarged conditions the problem becomes theirs when they purchase and the planning enforcement might still be served on them.  Their solicitor is, imho, right to be cautious.  I'm not sure how an indemnity policy would fully protect the OP or any buyer from planning enforcement action some time in the future.  Any communication with the planning department may render any policy useless.  The upheaval to rectify any building breaches will be hassle beyond just the cost of the work, depending on the work involved.  

It has taken our local planning authority 2.5 years to enforce.  There's nothing to stop the builder applying to discharge all the outstanding conditions and/or apply for building control sign-off.  He could apply for retrospective permission if the house deviated from the permitted build.  He could do all this before putting it up for sale.

I have no building or legal training so I'm just citing my own experience but my starting point would be to compare the plans permitted (via the council's website, just search for the address or postcode) with the house that's been built.  I'd then compare the other four houses in the group because major work to rectify a neighbouring house might impact on the house you are buying, even if it's just the inconvenience of more building work nearby.

Curiously the builder in my estate has actually reported our house to planning in an attempt to extend the enforcement action to rectify a major feature that they built in our house but thankfully our house being older and had full sign off the planning dept. and was dismissed it as a vexatious report!

I appreciate that you developer isn't necessarily an @reshole like ours but, OP, your scenario rang alarm bells for me.  If there's something you don't understand ask your solicitor to explain it or to run through the possible outcomes - that is their job.  You aren't expected to know all the planning or land law stuff related to your house purchase, but I appreciate it's difficult to keep asking if they don't explain each scenario in terms you understand.  Asking an open question such as "can you run through the possible scenarios/outcomes?" has worked for us when we haven't know what specific question to ask.

I hope it all turns out ok and once you're settled in a new home you don't want the worry or hassle of any unresolved legal aspects even if you can get an insurance policy for it.

user1977

tatinstro said:

My solicitor has said this: Without confirmation that the planning conditions have been satisfied, no mortgage lender is unlikely to lend on a property of this nature which is less than 10 years old.

Is there anything I can do?

Can anyone make sense of this?

What exactly is missing?

Look at the planning permission. It will have conditions, often things which the developer is meant to do before building (or before the houses are occupied) (e.g. get some details signed off by the planners). Your solicitor is saying that they haven't seen confirmation that some of those conditions have been satisfied. In which case the planning department could in theory take enforcement action (against you, if you become the owner). Depends what the conditions actually say though.

loubel

You will definitely want to get confirmation that the planning conditions have been signed off. Title insurance only insures against enforcement, it doesn't stop it taking place. As the seller built the house and only recently, this should be something they can easily resolve. I am assuming they did not breach the conditions of course, in which case you wouldn't want to buy the property.