New house value £0

[Bananacloud]

Aibu to think HOW ON EARTH THIS HAPPENED!!!
So it turns out the developers of the new build I’m currently living in, totally disregarded council opposing them to build on the land they actually built on.
So now, it turns out our houses (13 in total) have £0 value due to being on a former dumping ground (I think) also there’s been some mention of gases (really don’t know what that’s about)! Whatever it is, it’s bad!!
So now I’m wondering, where we stand with

1. The mortgage lenders
2. The original conveyancer (who ticked the building off as acceptable)
3. The developers and our lawyers who dealt with the house purchase?

Any idea what will happen???

Did this not come up in your initial surveyor checks?

Fuck.
So the developer built without planning permission? And your solicitor didn't pick this up?
Is it a big developer?
I would go to a solicitor - a different one!!
And maybe the media

Nope. They failed to check or just assumed it was acceptable 😐

Crap, that's a terrible situation!
I'd go for all three, tbh. I've no idea which one would be better than the other. Completely agree about consulting an independent third party solicitor, though! If it's a fault on your solicitors part, they may not admit it.

I'm shocked this didn't come up on land searches.

Go and seek legal advice from a solicitor not connected to your house purchasing solicitors - sounds like a bloody mess!

Awful I’m so sorry to hear that. Try Rics too

Well yeah, exactly.
But who would’ve thought they would just go ahead and build on potentially (using the word loosely) dangerous land?!
I’m just gobsmacked! Wow!

In my town...
Developers: We want to build here
Council: Bad idea, it floods
Council refuses permission
Developer appeals and wins
New houses flood
Buyers are up shit creek because developer took their money and is long gone

Unfortunately it happens A LOT. Developers are out to make money with no concern for anyone. Imo you will have to sue the developer.

I'm so so sorry...

The mortgage provider should have done a Land Registry search before making you an offer - have you actually taken out the mortgage yet?

Talk to litigation lawyers, not conveyancing solicitors. If you look on the Law Society website, search by topic and region, you should find useful people in your area. You can contact a few and chat through whether you have a case and against whom (developer, solicitor, surveyor etc).

Don'e make any assumptions, listen carefully to advice.

I’m just thinking whoever’s responsible will want to drag it out as much as possible. Meaning lawyer fees putting us out of pocket and also, what could possibly be the outcome for this mess?!

Yes, we actually even remortgaged since!!

Erm, it's pretty bad. You need to take advice on what was there before & what gases you might be exposed to. For instance, methane...

Think you need a specialist survey, then legal advice & then you need to sue the bleep out of everyone concerned, including the Council, as they should have taken enforcement action.

I'd be onto the papers too.

Have you got a legal advice line with your house insurance?

I can't stand them however the Daily Mail would love this. I'd be getting legal advice and also getting onto the papers.

It could be exPensive, is it a small builder or a national ? Have you legal cover with insurance?

Wadds is right. You need legal advice about all s/he's mentioned urgently.

In addition I was a mortgage underwriter for 10 years and am stunned you have been able to borrow on this property - I think you have been mis-sold your mortgage product.

Have you still got a copy of the original valuation and the valuation for the re-mortgage?

She. I did a project on contaminated land, whilst at surveyor school...

Thank you so much for your replies and advice, but I’ve decided to ask admin to delete this post.

Would you be stronger if the owners of all the 13 houses worked together to bring legal action about this? Also reduce the individual costs? (I’m don’t know much about legal stuff but I heard this has been done before).

OK, something’s not right here.

First, check the Planning Permission, all of the details should be available on your local council website. Developers cannot build without Planning Permission, if the Council refuses, they have to get it overruled by the Planning Inspectorate.

If there is a problem with the land being contaminated, the developers would have to agreed to a plan to make the land safe, they would have to be checked by Building Control (either by the Council or, more likely, by an independent Building Control inspector).

Your solicitor/conveyancer should have checked that all of these checks were carried out, your mortgage company wouldn’t have allowed you to complete without being confident that the property was properly constructed with all permissions.

You need to track through the entire process and work out where it fell down, then you and your fellow residents need to get together and take legal advice.

Note: I’m not a legal bod, but I have worked in Local Council Land Charges, the bit that verifies that a property fulfills the regulations.

Surely legal advice is what they took to buy the bloody thing?! Why do we pay solicitors thousands? I thought it was so these things dont happen and that if they do there is recourse ?This is why the house buying process takes months, no? We complain that solicitors are shit and slow and they come on here bleating about how important their jobs are and that if they get things wrong we'd be sueing them. Strange then that people are advocating going to independent solicitors now and forking out even more money.

Check with your household insurance to see whether you've got Family Legal Protection which could cover you for any legal action. Potentially you've got a claim against the builders, your solicitors, and possibly the surveyors if you had your own survey done.