Advice and recommendations needed for new build property please!

[MrsTWH]

We bought our house from a well known developer back in Dec 2014. Completed Aug 15.

Today a digger arrived to put a bus stop directly in front of my living room window!

This was not on any plans we were shown and we were thorough. Not flagged by solicitor either. I went to the Local authority today - and the bus stop is clearly marked on plans approved by the council dated 2013!!

So we feel we have fraudulently been sold a house, that the developer doctored the plans to sell the house.

Plus how do we stop the bus stop?!

Any legal advice or recommendations for places to go for legal advice gratefully accepted please! I don't know where to start. Which Legal services couldn't help.

What makes you think it was a deliberate fraud by the builder? It wouldn't be common to show bus stops on the plans showing plot layouts etc. Don't think I've ever seen bus stops marked and I've worked on dozens of new build developments as a lawyer. Were any other bus stops shown on the plans you saw?

Your solicitor would have done specific due diligence as agreed with you - their local search results may have shown up the bus stop, in which case failing to draw it to your attention may have been negligent. Take a look back at your local search results to see if it's there.

Highly doubt you'll be able to stop the bus stop being built there: they have to go somewhere, and I'm not aware of any rule that they can't be in front of a living room window! They certainly don't need your permission to put a bus stop there if it's a road owned by the council.

It's a bus stop, doubt there is anything you can do. FWIW I would be annoyed too

I went to the Local authority today - and the bus stop is clearly marked on plans approved by the council dated 2013!!
The plans would have been freely available online in 2013, did you not think to look at them before you bought the property?

Your solicitor should have alerted you. Get in touch with them.

It's not as simple as saying the solicitor should have alerted them: it should have shown up in the local search results. Most solicitors would forward on the full results, drawing attention to anything likely to be a deal breaker / significant problem.

It's up to the buyer to read the full results and check they're happy or raise any issues.

OP - read the results, then go from there.

Thanks, there is absolutely nothing flagged in any of the searches and solicitor says it is not marked on any plans or paperwork received from the developer's solicitor.

OP - I am confused, you said in your OP that the bus stop was clearly marked on the plans in 2013.

Also I don't see why the developers would have sent doctored plans to your solicitor when the plans were freely available online and they could have been checked at any time.

It's not normal for bus stops to show up on the site plans provided to buyers. I've never seen them on there, and it's not something they're obliged to specifically disclose to you.

Again, I can't see any fraud here. Also can't see negligence by the solicitor. Normal due diligence does not include checking the local transport plans.

You could ask your lawyer whether the questions in the local search should have prompted the council to mention the bus stop: there is some question about local roadworks, but I can't offhand remember the exact wording. If the bus stop should have been disclosed there, you could try to claim damages from the council for failure to disclose it.

However you'd have a tricky time in court proving your damages as it's not clear the bus stop will reduce your house price.