Mains gas and HV cables running under our property

user1977

Really up to you to check for underground services before getting as far as applying for planning permission. I presume you never asked your solicitor for advice about your proposed extension? 

Finneganae

Yes, we are fast coming to this conclusion, unfortunately.  It was a deceased estate and our solicitors who acted on our behalf for the purchase have since been taken over.  Not a good set of circumstances!  I'm astonished how the law works here, overwhelmingly in favour of the utility companies who can seemingly do whatever they please on your land without any documented permissions! Adding to that, we felt that it actually poses a health and safety risk to you as property owners if you want to dig so much as a plant in your garden given how close they can put these pipes and cables in the ground. It feels like landowners have very little protection and not more of it is mentioned when you go through planning.  On the surface, we feel like we did everything in our power that we knew of to secure permission to build and yet here we are.  I guess we can spread the word to others to make sure they don't fall into same problems.  

Thanks for the advice, though.  Appreciate your time in responding.  

Finneganae

I would say the entire process of checking is badly communicated.  Why does planning not warn about this? Given we knew about water and nothing more was said about other services, why would we think there were more? Water even came out to inspect the area before we even went to planning. Regardless of the legal position, the whole system needs transparency.  That information should have been registered in our deeds in the first place, like water was. We know the law does not support this which is ludicrous and threatens to expose vendor and seller giving utilities carte blanche to behave in any way they choose.     

user1977

Finneganae said:

I would say the entire process of checking is badly communicated.  Why does planning not warn about this?     

Because all they deal with is the planning system, it isn't their job to hold your hand about all the other things you ought to consider. 

The utility companies do encourage developers to check (properly) what's underground before digging e.g. https://connections.nationalgrid.co.uk/how-to-dig-safely

Eldi_Dos

Finneganae said:

Yes, we are fast coming to this conclusion, unfortunately.  It was a deceased estate and our solicitors who acted on our behalf for the purchase have since been taken over.  Not a good set of circumstances!  I'm astonished how the law works here, overwhelmingly in favour of the utility companies who can seemingly do whatever they please on your land without any documented permissions!  

But it was not your land when the utilities were installed. Harsh as it may sound if you wanted land without utilities on it you should have checked before purchasing.

Finneganae

Yep, point taken on planning. 

Still think the information should be included in the deeds.  If it is on your property, you should know about it and we acted on the information that was given to us. We can't change this now, just more of a general point. 

Thanks for your time in responding to our case.    

Section62

Finneganae said:

Yep, point taken on planning. 

Still think the information should be included in the deeds.  If it is on your property, you should know about it and we acted on the information that was given to us. We can't change this now, just more of a general point. 

Thanks for your time in responding to our case.    

Too late for you now, but on modernish estates if a plot has an unusually large space (as in your case with a gap for an extra house) then the odds are the land has been left undeveloped for a specific reason... one of which is to provide a route for utilities or drainage.

Finneganae

Funnily enough, I was thinking of the size of the plot earlier today being a further indication.  It's a harsh lesson indeed, but at least we know now before putting any diggers in the ground!