Outbuildings and getting it agreed

[Redwez]

I am buying a house round the corner from me in Havering, but we are having so many issues with it, because the solicitors want everything to be 100% spot on.
Basically the outbuilding is 17"7 x 13"8 which I worked out to be 22.69 Sq M.
Now the vendors solicitor raised an indemnity (prob spelt wrong) on the outbuildings instead of just getting it checked out, but my solictors wont accpet it because they know I called the council at one stage to get them to send me over the rules and regs on outbuildings.

The fax i got from the council says the building must not have a floor area of more than 30 Sq M which would mean this outbuilding passes.
But on the planning part on the councils website it states the following:

Q: ...a shed, greenhouse or other outbuilding?
A: Generally speaking, if the structure is less than 5m away from the original house, it will be treated in the same way as any other extension. Therefore, please refer to our standard volume guide for householders for more info.
Permission is required if the proposal;

Covers more than 50% of the land (known as "curtilage") surrounding the property
Is more than 4m high with a pitched roof, or 3m with a flat roof
Is within 20m of a pavement or road and the proposal will reduce this figure
If the building is used for business purposes (eg; storage, office or sales space)
Involves a Listed Building and/or is in a Conservation Area and the outbuilding is bigger than 10 cubic metres

Now this has really confused me, so which one do we look at? As 3m with a flat roof (and building in question has a flat roof) would mean that the 13" 8 is over the height permitted??!!

Anyones views on this would be great.

 

[Static]

Yes it requires planning permission based on its height. You can apply for retrospective pp. Be warned if refused they may ask for it to be demolished. Personally i would ask for cash off the purchase to cover costs and time involved in doing this.

 

[Redwez]

Great!!
Well our solicitor wont allow it to go through without the permission so we are stitched!!!

 

[Redwez]

Does anyone know of a way around all this?

 

[Agile]

This is a typical example of a small minded solicitor overexerting undue influence !

Is this outbuilding material to the purchase?

Has it been there for more than six years?

Whats it used for?

Are you willing to buy and accept that if things went badly wrong you will have to take it down?

If so then tell the Solicitor that you have noted his concerns but still want to purchase the property and be prepared to sign an indemnity absolving your solicitor of any responsibility if things went wrong.

In Southall virtually ALL the houses have a "garden flat" with kitchen and bathroom ALL constructed without planning permission. Nobody is concerned!

Tony

 

[plugwash]

Great!!
Well our solicitor wont allow it to go through without the permission so we are stitched!!!

replace him?

 

[Agile]

Great!!
Well our solicitor wont allow it to go through without the permission so we are stitched!!!

Who is buying it? You or your Solicitor?

If you are buying it then he has to follow your instructions! If you want to buy it and accept the risks as I outlined above then just tell him to complete the purchase.

He is employed by you to do what you want!

Complain to the law Society if he refuses to follow your instructions ( and dont pay him anything either! )

Tony

 

[Redwez]

Great!!
Well our solicitor wont allow it to go through without the permission so we are stitched!!!

replace him?

My thoughts were exactly the same as yours, and it seems as though our solicitor is now happy with all of the paperwork submitted so we are going ahead with the purchase now.
But it is laughable at how seriously they take some things. In actual fact, I dont think the people actually dealing with the day to day stuff really know what they are looking at.
The building had been there for 6 years, so they should never have been interested anyway.

Cheers for your reply!

 

[Thermo]

your solicitor is there to work in your best intrest and also has to abide by the rules of the law society. therefore he cant simply ignore a problem if it is there just because you tell him so. Thats why you pay him.

 

[Redwez]

This was all sorted in the end.
My solicitor had messed up and not read the documents recieved from the vendor solictor properly.
We eventually completed and are now in the house, Yippeee!

 

[Agile]

Congratulations!

I dont agree with Thermo.

A Solicitor has a duty to identify pitfalls and bring them to your attention and give you advice on how to deal with them.

You do not have to take his advice. In that case he will either refuse to act for you or will require you to indemnify him for any consequences from not following his advice.

Many solicitors are very pompous and have an over inflated idea of their importance and treat all their clients as totally unable to think for themselves.

You solicitor is employed by you and he has to either follow your instructions or refuse to act for you.

Tony

 

[Redwez]

Good point Agile.
I can honestly say I have learnt alot from the experiences I have had.

 

[Agile]

Once I was the tenant of a business property and the landlord who wanted to retire wrote to my Solicitor offering to sell the freehold for a pretty high figure.

The Solicitor sent me a copy of the landlord's letter and then assumed I was going to buy the freehold and started working on the purchase.

He got very annoyed when I pointed out that I had not instructed him to do anything and that the price was inflated.

I did eventually buy the freehold at 20% less and using a better solicitor! It was a good buy as it has gone up in value seven times over 19 years.

Tony

 

[Redwez]

Blimey - I really do feel like I missed the boat big time sometimes, but dont spose I can help my age

 

[Slogger]

SORRY for hijacking


this 6 year thing agile can you elaborate for me please