HELPED I've been duped (planning permission)

Mr_Bear_2

pickles pink

its not that difficult to find a good prof negliegnce solicitor if you are really struggling however i may be able to recommend one

Debt_Free_Chick

The council will give the developer every opportunity to "regularise" the development in order to get PP. My belief is that PP will be granted .... eventually, but it could take some time.

The chances that the council will demand that the development is torn down are very, very slim IMHO. So you could just "sit it out".

Whether or not you should sue in the meantime is a matter on which you need advice.

martin1018

The property was built 3m too big to the front elevation and a flat was built in the roof space that should not exist.

If I haven't got this completly wrong, would it not be possible to (hopefully) persuade the developer to remove the 13th flat in the roof, by buying it from its current owner if they are prepared to sell, and lowering the roof to its correct height, thus fulfilling the planning condition?

Each flat was sold with 1 parking space but there are only 7

Any space near-by which could be purchased to provide the additional spaces?

I realise that this all depends upon the developer, who may not care one hoot about all this as he has moved on to his next big money-maker. I do hope for your sake that he has some morals and will do the right thing by you - but I'm not holding my breath.

Best wishes for whatever you do, and Good Luck.

Poppy9

Have you spoken to the planning officer? You can make a request under the Freedom of Information Act to see what correspondence they have relating to your property. This should show up any requests from solicitors re PP but also Council tax.

Any new property has to be assessed for council tax purposes and as the same council assess as issues PP the council should have issued a notice to the developer that he had built without PP.

pickles_pink

It's in South Gloucestershire,
I am in contact with the enforcement officer an she is very helpful (as much as she can be)
If the retrospective planning permission is granted I do fear that my home will become a building site as the new plans are retrospective as far as the additional flat and perameters are concerned but the common areas are to be changed in line with the original plans, an additional fear is that when/if we can sell all the residents/owners will want to and will saturate the immeadiate area.
Mr Bear if you have a contact in the area that would be good, unless it is felt wiser to go with the solicitor who has been working on the case for some time for another resident to avoid duplication of work. (any ideas on the cost of this? if we win can I claim it back?
Clutton the case in Scotland that you mention is there any more reference to this? I'd like to understand their process - although I know property law is different in Scotland.

x

Dylanwing

Have you tried contacting the Evening Post? In some cases, a bit of publicity that shows up solicitors, developers and councils as a bunch of incompetent buffoons speeds things up. Mind you, with Bristol Council, incompetence is very much the norm!

ruggedtoast

God what a nightmare pickle. Please keep updating us on here as how youre going, I didnt even know something like this could happen.

I imagine the likely outcome will be that the council will just eventually grant planning permission, who knows how long that could take though.

You should definitely try and sue - I dont think that the fact the other owners are buy to lets will make much difference. Most BTLs buy a place in the eventual hope they can sell it on later, with the rent just about covering the mortgage. A US style class action suit is in order here, starting with finding out how 12 different solicitors failed to spot the fact the building didnt have planning permission.

rizla01

Just a thought but when the original footings were dug out they MUSt have been inspected by Building Control as to their depth, Etc. They would then have passed them before works could be carried out.

Are they not also responsible for checking the position of these footings according to plans submitted at the time?

I think that this might be a course worth pursuing in relation to the planners.

silvercar

Remember the solicitor would never actually see the development, he could even be in a different part of the country. All he gets is the planning permission approval letter and the building regs certificate. The fact that the building regs certificate relates to a building that doesn't conform to the approved plans wouldn't be apparent to the solicitor.

Running_Horse

A similar thing happened with two very ugly blocks of flats in Longhill Avenue in Chatham, Kent. The developer squeezed in extra flats (which I think were allowed to stay) and damaged a chalk bank on the site, which they were ordered to reinstate (not sure how you replace a compacted chalk bank that took nature centuries to create). One can only wonder how Medway Council building control failed to notice what was happening during the build.