L33_WRX

This post is an attempt to gain any advice / help that I can for a friend who is in a very awkward situation with regards to a flat she purchased..

She purchased a new build flat not so long ago and had all the relevant searches carried out, nothing was shown on local authority search at the time her solicitor brought nothing to her attention that should cause any concern.

She now is selling the property and has discovered that potential buyers have been pulling out because they are having local authority searches carried out that show the property breaches planning permission (it was built 1 storey to high and wider than it should have been). She is now stuck with the flat as potential buyers are being put off.

She has written letter after letter to places like the law society but has come to point where she doesn't really know what to do next and needs some advice.

I am sure someone can be held responsible here wether it be the solicitor that dealt with her purchase or the planning officer who would have been over seeing the flats being built.

Any help / advice would be very much appreciated

Thanks

al4x1

she needs to speak to the planning officer first and find out facts. Is it actually in breach of the permission? or is there a data entry problem flagging her property. Simply put I assume she could apply for retrospective permission or take it up with the developer who built it in the first place. She needs to know facts first though

Mus

iTrader: (2)

the solicitor that she used to purchise the property will be liable i think because thats quite serious and it should of been flaged up.has she tried to speak to the concil or advice beurou.theres a good solicitor you can speak to pearl and co ask to speak to david pearl and tell him he was reccomended by mustafa from Ellis and co you can get him on 020 8808 4898. if he cant help you then no one can. ive been dealing with him for the last 5 years ive used him on all my purchises and we also recomend him to all of our buyers
good luck

L33_WRX

Cheers - I'm passing on the info now - any advise if good advice as it may be a prompt for her to think about doing something she hasn't already done

richardg

agreed. find the facts first and make sure they're written down by the authority - chinese whispers can be very dangerous. the buyer needs to confirm exactly what their problem is, together with evidence that a problem exists.

richardg

if what you've been told is true (and i suspect the buyer doesn't quite know what it what and has misled your friend), your friend will also need to speak to her lenders - i assume she has a mortgage. the mortgage "survey" will at least have been written confirmation by the lender's surveyor (for which she may have paid a fee) that the property actually exists. they would be very interested to hear from her i'm sure!

richardg

another thought...it's more likely that the property is in breach of one of the conditions. again, more detail required

HTH

DCI Gene Hunt

The new build should have a completion certificate for it...... does it, is it signed off? does it meet the original plan?

The builders could always apply for retorspective PP on the build, can see the local authority saying "no, take the top apartment off"

DCI