Who's responsible?

Picture the scene:

You move into your new home - it's next to open fields, no traffic and nice and quiet.

A month after moving in - you discover a JCB digging up the open fields in readiness for building works. You check, and there's going to be 28 houses on those fields, one of the houses backing right up to your boundary.

You bought the house because it was in a secluded cul-de-sac - but not for much longer it now appears.

Should someone have told you about the development before you purchased the property? If so, who? Is there any recourse for compensation? Or is this a case of caveat emptor?

This is happening now to someone I know - this is not a hypothetical scenario - but interested to hear views..

 

That should have come up when you/solicitor done the searches surely

 

Yikes.Thats the problem nowadays housing is needed to house a rapidly increasing population.
Not a nice surprise. Surely their solicitor should have checked this out before giving the all clear to purchse this property?

 

Yep, should have showed up in the searches.

Mind you, when I bought the house in North Wales, my solicitor did a search on the National Coal Board, nearest coal mine was over a hundred miles away. She didn't do a search on slate mines, even though the house was between 2 slate heaps

 

I forget exactly what the Local Planning Authorities disclose for land searches, but if you're investing 100's of thousands of pounds in a property then it's probably worth also carrying out your own local map search for planning applications, etc. (as that will also reveal pending applications and refused applications that could be re-submitted or subject of appeals) plus enforcement actions (potential re-occurrence of unneighbourly uses) and also investigate whether any local sites have been either put forward for inclusion in the Local Plan or have already been included.

 

I'm pretty sure the estate agent should have said, IF they knew. It's hard to imagine they didn't know.

Solicitor should have checked but I don't know if it's their duty to do so.

I hate to say it, but if I was buying a house next door to an open expanse of land, I'd want to be checking for myself if any planning applications had been put in, and even what classification of use the land is.

 

That's a shocker!

 

where i rent some land they started to build next to it , over the road it was a lovely view of fields, anyway they built all of the foundations right up to the road and they covered the ones next to the road with soil and grass ( six foundations ) i thought this was strange at the time. So the rest of the houses were all built and the row of fancy big houses had a nice big grassed field in front of them then the road and a great view of the fields over the road. Once these were bought and the people were in , the builders came back ripped up the grass and built the last six houses changing the view to the nice big ones ... very sneaky

 

Certainly up here in Scotland any house purchase I have made has had searches carried out on it and the surrounding area to pick up things just like this!
I would 1st speak with the lawyer or whoever carried out the conveyancing and see what they have to say about it. I'd also be forearmed and speak with the local planning officer to find out when full planning permission was granted and where was it advertised/displayed.
I am not so certain about whether the vendors had a duty to inform about the development or not. I do know however, that when we were selling a property very close to a big river we had to inform any prospective purchaser that the house had flooded ONLY if they ASKED!! If they didn't ask the question we did not have to give the information and that is definitely the legal position in Scotland as we made sure we kept within the law when selling.
I would be amazed if there isn't compensation due. Not only for the fact of loss of seclusion but all the hassle/mess noise while the houses are being built.
Some years back a couple bought a house somewhere in the countryside in the north of England and within weeks of moving in a huge wind turbine was erected in front of their property.
They knew nothing about the turbine being built. Duly sued whoever was responsible for not advising them and went to court. The judge awarded the couple 75% of the value of the property they had bought as in his judgement the property was devalued by that amount. Not everybody, me being 1, thinks wind turbines are "wonderful" and quite obviously the majority of people may think they are a good idea but very nimbyish when it comes to purchasing a property!

 

I believe they are currently in discussions with their solicitors.

The plans have previously been discussed openly in public as they are part of the LDP for the Council - so people have known for some time that the houses were going to be built there.

Nowadays no one is guaranteed a 'view' - at some time in the future that land will inevitably been built on.

 

Some developers in no hurry to start construction have been known to lay the foundations for a couple of houses and then cease work for many years, the reason for doing so is to commence operations so their permission doesn't expire, then they can go back to it years later when it better suits them to do so. In the meantime many newcomers may assume it's still open countryside, rather than a dormant construction site with those initial works lost amongst the long grass and it comes as a complete surprise when construction re-commences.

 

Think there's a five year limit

 

Winner of GC's word of the week goes to Shiney with...