Compensation for lost sea view and subsequent house price reduction because of hotel build

So sorry OP, what a horrible thing to happen. That really must be sad for you, a sea view is absolutely priceless (well not in house sale terms I suppose!) but you have lost a significant amount of joy from your day I imagine.

No win no fee lawyers are generally gambling on the odds, unless you have very good odds you are unlikely to get anyone to take you on, as they need a really good chance of being able to recover their costs and make a profit.

Could you get a new loft window reinstating your sea view

This is so rubbish OP. It happens a lot where I live (beautiful countryside). People buy for views then they whack a load of new builds up to their garden fence a year later. How much of an impact will it have on your property value? Have you had a valuation? Are you planning on moving?

What a silly sausage you are.

There are often mechanisms in property law which mean adjacent landowners have the power to either block a development or get compensation.

Developers often develop in full knowledge that if someone comes forward and claims it could scupper the development or cost them a fortune, and they gamble on people being ignorant of their property rights

What a silly sausage you are! Who do you think would compensate you?

It will be more their insurer will have told them they haven't got a material case and it's not worth pursuing. The cost of reducing the height of the hotel will be prohibitive.

You might have a case with loss of light but definitely not view. It's not worth the cost or effort probably.

This.

They do have planning permission. You don't have right to a view.

If you want to waste money chasing a legal case carry on.

I’m not sure you have a good understanding of the process. The LPA would take enforcement action and the appeal would have been against that, by the owners of the hotel. You and others affected could have been involved in this process. Were you notified? Did you contact your local councillors, mp , other affected residents?

The appeal is not usually held at LPA level and is considered on balance between the different interests and scale of the breech. It is probably too much of a financial risk for LPA to take it further rather than corruption. If you feel the process was not followed correctly you can complain or take it to JR but agree it can be a very expensive and time-consuming exercise.

If they appealed and won, then the breach doesn't matter, it was been agreed. Did you make submissions at the appeal?

I think your only option planning wise would be judicial review and that has a 6 week time limit from the date of the decision (and wouldn't give you compensation) and it is very expensive

But the property law avenues are worth exploring, there's no guarantee there will be anything you can do but I would always recommend getting legal advice to make sure you aren't missing any avenues

Did you put your case at the appeal? If you did then it just went against you. Almost certainly nothing you can do now. You have to be very careful if you buy a property for the view, possibly your solicitor should have warned you about the possibility of development, but it's really always a possibility in an area where there are good views to be had. It must be infuriating though, particularly when the initial development was outside the planning, why did they win the appeal? And are there any grounds for challenging it?

I was just wondering if OP was involved in the appeal process. Did it happen because she raised her concerns with the Council, or was it picked up by the Council and OP only found out that it had been approved after she looked into suing g.

Mrs Bates said she was so disheartened that she had looked into selling her home of 10 years.

However, she was told by estate agents it would not be feasible as the development had affected the value of the property.

Im going to say she wanted to sell for the price that she thought it was worth without the wall, and they said no, you'll need to drop the price.

They don’t need to. Presumably the council enforced, the developer appealed and the revised development was approved on appeal so is now completely lawful in planning terms - the original breach is no longer relevant.

The op may have an argument for breach of a restrictive covenant or right to light case but she would need a good property solicitor for that and may find that there isn’t a case there either.

They breached the planning permission, that’s the issue. But yes, then they won at appeal…..
How did they defend their case of they breached planning permission? Did you take them to Court? What was your case built on?

The planning committee only looks at planning law. Property law isnt relevant to their decision.

So op may still have property law remedies.

A view, or loss of view, is not considered a material factor in planning law.
Loss of light might be but it’s a very grey area (no pun intended) and I think unlikely you will get anywhere given the builder won on appeal.

And yet the hotel has legally built, and won their appeal for the error. So no issue with the development or the height.

In planning law, no. But in property law covenants and /or rights of light can control whether there is development and to what height

I've sat listening to planning committees many times listening to people object and thinking they need a property lawyer not a planning consultant!

I can think of several developments in just the town I worked in, in just the last few years alone, where people could have got compensation if they had spoken to a lawyer

Not always, but enough of the time that it is always worth getting a decent lawyer to check whether there is a possible claim

And there are now "ambulance chaser" firms taking on rights to light cases, quite possibly on a no win no fee basis. I remember insurers explaining that was why right to light premiums were higher in the towns these firms are active

No, you don’t have a right to a view.

Restrictive covenants are another possibility too. These often prevent or limit building.

Has the light levels gone down at all? That is the only possibility you could look into, as lots of others have said there is no right to a view or compensation to a property being devalued by development near by.