HELPED I've been duped (planning permission)

slipp_digby

If your conveyancing solicitor was a FULLY qualified solicitor you may be able to complain to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors

www.lawsociety.org.uk


Write to them:
OSS
Victoria court
8 Dormer Place
Leamington Spa
Warwickshire
CV32 5AE

Phone them: 01926 820 082

The office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) is the powerful regulatory arm of the Law Society that oversees the activities of all of its members. They have the power to inflict harsh penalties on any firms or individuals that are seen to be in breach of the solicitors act.

pickles_pink

slipp_digby wrote: »

If your conveyancing solicitor was a FULLY qualified solicitor you may be able to complain to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors

The office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) is the powerful regulatory arm of the Law Society that oversees the activities of all of its members. They have the power to inflict harsh penalties on any firms or individuals that are seen to be in breach of the solicitors act.

Thanks for this Slipp x
I will call them tomorrow - I have the day off tomorrow to have my cast removed. (hopefully, if my poor broken arm is healed - 8 weeks is a long time to be one handed)

Anyway back to the subject - I have a response from the council - it doesnt sound brilliant.

If I am minded to recommend approval, because there are objections I will have to submit a report to Council Members via the Circulated Schedule, so this will delay matters by about 2 weeks. Should Members refer the application to Committee for determination then this will entail a considerable delay. The proposal merely regularises the scheme as built so I do not envisage any further building works if the application is approved. I hope to write my report in the next day or so.

Regards
Senior Planning Officer

If the planning is granted eventually can I still sue the solicitor for neglegence???

HugoSP

I think your best hope is that approval is given.

I'm not surprised there are objections as I suspect the same people may have objected to the original proposal, although if I were a neighbour and had this thing built 3 metres bigger and an extra flat added, encroaching on even more of my light, view etc, I may want some sort of enforcement action.

Sorry this doesn't help you, but it may help you to see where the objecters may be coming from.

The reason I asked about building insurance is because on a freehold property this sometimes includes legal cover for property disputes. Of course I should have realised that it is a freeholder policy that you all pay into, and it seems tha builder is the freeholder - often the case.

So, if you can't get retrospective PP then it sounds like you have a very strong case against your solicitor, who should have been acting in your best interests. The statement you gave as to what he said IMO speaks volumes.

Solicitors will have professional indemnity insurance to cover neglegance such as this. Unlike limited companies they cannot wind up and disappear just like that. Even if they stop practicing in the meantme they do not have the same protection under law as a ltd company.

PasturesNew

pickles_pink wrote: »

believe it or not Hugs the objection is coming from one of the residents:eek: - He lets the property to his son.

On which points of the PP is he objecting?

I must have missed something as I thought PP was granted, builder built something else, flats were all bought ... so anybody who owned one of them had a really keen interest to see the PP going through now quickest. Why would somebody with a vested financial interest object?

What would he lose?
I presume he too couldn't currently sell because of this issue (if he wanted to)

HugoSP

I wonder if he has an agenda to sue the developer, or whether he is playing some stupid game here.

In any case, his objection could probably be seen as odd by the council as he has indeed invested in the very building he's objecting to . Hence how can anyone take him seriously?

This needs to be pointed out to the planning department in writing, within a letter of support for the application. Include a print out of the Land Registry Entry to show that he owns the flat. Hopefully this idiot will be seen as a nutter.

The only gain he may consider he may have is to get the 13th flat removed, so it will be a block of 12, and ease parking etc.

pickles_pink

HugoSP wrote: »

I wonder if he has an agenda to sue the developer, or whether he is playing some stupid game here. In any case, his objection could probably be seen as odd by the council as he has indeed invested in the very building he's objecting to . Hence how can anyone take him seriously?

His letters to the council state that he ownes one of the properties and it seems from my previous note detailing the response that they do not want to sign the property off as they are taking his objection seriously. I really don't see what good can come of witholding the permissions. What are these people doing????????????????????????????????

PasturesNew

Maybe he's completely dense and has no idea what he's doing.
Any chance of getting hold of him, making sure he's at that meeting to ask him why he's said something so daft.

Does he really think objecting will simply make the 13th go away without delay and pain?

I think you just have an eejit who has been allowed to obtain a mortgage.

pickles_pink

Possibly but he does seem to have an ageda of some sorts - he has a bee in his bonnet about the builder owning the bank account we all pay into, he sent us a letter yesterday through the management company (that he appointed) requesting that we pay into a new account in his name. I'm wary of this.
It's never ending.

What job do you do pastures? - if you don't mind me asking.

clutton_2

if you are to sue your ex solicitor then you will have to sue him for an amount of money which will be for you financial loss and any consequential losses of that initial loss - can you imagine doing this ? What sums will you come up with ? Will it be worth your while ?

PasturesNew

pickles_pink wrote: »

What job do you do pastures? - if you don't mind me asking.

That seems a random question.
At the moment nothing, I am bumbling along self-employed doing "stuff" as I am resting/studying.

If I had to put a profession down on a form, I'd say: IT Contractor/Prince2 Practitioner (Project Management)