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Whether contained in the Home Information Pack or whether undertaken independently, the Local Land Charge Search will reveal any planning permissions and building regulation approvals granted in relation to the property. Your solicitor needs to check that there have been no breaches of any permissions or approvals that might leave you open to enforcement action in the future
If the permissions are dated within the last four years, then the terms of them are still enforceable by the Council if a breach has taken place; however, if a period of four years has elapsed, then breach of planning permission is no longer enforceable. This is because after this period of time, any action by the Council is statute barred.
So, if you’re buying a property and you’re asked to pay for copy planning permissions to be obtained, they only need to be provided if they’re dated less than four years ago and usually, they would be provided by the seller. That’s assuming of course that the seller hasn’t refused to pay for them, which does happen.
The time period may not apply in relation to building regulation approvals and completion certificates however. Due to the findings of a case called Cottingham v Attey Bower & Jones (2000), solicitors should always ask for and obtain copies of the building regulation approvals and completion certificates (if cc’s were granted by that Council at that time). Breaches of building regulations can be enforced via an injunction under Section 36(6) of the Building Act 1984 and therefore, the Council can take action at any time, (although usually a period in excess of ten years expired is seen as satisfactory by mortgage lenders if no action has been taken), for works undertaken since 1985. Prior to that, building regulation breaches cannot be enforced.
If the building regulation approvals cannot be provided by the seller, then they should be obtained through the local Council. Depending on the age of the documents, you might be able to get copies via the Planning Portal, which now enables people to access planning permissions and building regulation approvals relating to any property, online. You can’t always get them if they’re older documents though.
Please note that a building regulation approval is issued at the start of the building works when plans etc have been checked. A completion certificate is a more recent document that is issued by the building control officer once the work has been completed satisfactorily following his inspection.
If the documents cannot be provided, then indemnity insurance should be obtained by the solicitor to protect both you and if relevant, your mortgage lender.
3 Responses to “Buying a house – Does my solicitor need to get copy planning permissions or building regulation approvals?”
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September 12th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
The process of buying a property will probably bring you into contact with a number of professional people who are specialists in the property business, including solicitors, estate agents, surveyors and mortgage lenders.
Under UK law, the ownership of real property (ie land and buildings) can only be transferred from one person to another by means of a ‘conveyance’ and this legal process is referred to as ‘conveyancing’. At one time Solicitors had an exclusive monopoly on conveyancing, but this is no longer the case and you now have the option of hiring a Licensed Conveyancer, or even doing the conveyancing yourself.
Estate Agents are not required by law to be licensed or qualified or even to be members of a professional organisation, however many estate agents are professionally qualified by examination and do belong to one or other of the main organisations such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) or the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). It is important to remember that an estate agent represents the seller of the property, not the buyer. Although they are bound by the provisions of the Estate Agents Act, you need to remember that an estate agent’s primary duty of care is to the seller and their job is to try and obtain the best possible deal for their client. One other point to bear in mind though is that the estate agency has a legal obligation to report any offer to their client.
Surveyors are usually professionally qualified members of the RICS, that has its own code of conduct and also requires its members to have adequate insurance in case of error. The main job of the surveyor is to check that the property is worth what you are paying; depending on the type of survey you are paying for, this may also include a report on the condition of the property and any essential repairs that need carrying out. Your mortgage lender will always require a valuation, but this is mainly to ensure that the amount of the mortgage loan is sufficiently covered by the value of the property itself. Under current legislation, the seller is not legally obliged to point out any problems with the property, although they must answer truthfully any questions they are asked and must not try to conceal any defects that they know about.
March 6th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
I’ve found this interesting, thanks.
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I work at a lovely firm of Liverpool Solicitors!
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:28 am
Thanks for the article it is informative. Hope so i will get the further updates in future.
Thanks,
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