Specific solicitor type for mis-sold property?

[Underit]

I am hoping to get some advice in regards to who I should be consulting regarding a problem we are now having with a house we purchased 6yrs ago.
In brief, have owned the property 6yrs and we specifically bought this property for its large driveway which happened to be at the front of the property. All searches were done and it states on deeds 2 car parking private driveway. Roll on all these years and we have been instructed by the council to stop parking on the drive as there is no dropped curb and it isn't possible to drop the curb as it is too close to the junction.
I do understand this however the house was built in 2006 and never been an issue before but the law is the law, how have we bought a house stating private driveway and it only come to light now?
The man at the council has been really good and looked into it for us, he located the original planning permissions from when the house was built and has basically said unfortunately planning permission was granted for a driveway at the back of the property which is further away from the junction and the front should have been a garden. We must stop using the drive immediately and our only option is to flip the garden and driveway over which is going to cost thousands.
Are we going to have to stump up the cost for this or could we pursue the estate agents who sold it to us or the previous owner? What kind of solicitor do I need to help with this? I feel like we were mis-sold this property, it was valued with a private driveway and nobody ever told us it was illegal and we would end up with a lump of land at the front no good to us and still have to use on street parking.
TIA

I would have thought that your case is with the conveyancing solicitor that you used for the sale. You buy a house as is at the point of completion- Caveat Emptor.

Did you not notice you were driving over the kerb every time you parked in the driveway? If it doesn't have a dropped kerb, it's not a driveway it's just a patio with aspirations.

How didn't you notice you didn't have a dropped kerb and were driving over the pavement?

I would have thought your surveyor should have pointed this out?

You need to prove you were deliberately lied to either by the vendor or the solicitor was negligent. Property purchases are buyer beware. You would have had surveys done. Do you have written evidence the buyer lied or the solicitor was negligent. Does it state on the deeds a driveway?

You need a property litigation specialist. Crack on as the time limit for a breach of contract claim is 6 years (although when this starts running depends on the facts) - don’t hang about. They can advise whether you’re best pursuing a claim against the seller or your old conveyancing solicitor.

I would have thought that your solicitor you used for buying was negligent, as they should have found this out.

Go back to the solicitor you bought it off first they might be able to get you permission for a dropped curb. We had a house on a main road with a dropped curb with issue.

If it’s too close to the junction then clearly they won’t get a dropped curb

I have to agree, if there's no dropped kerb, it isn't a drive.

Also who is everyone saying curb, it's kerb

Op you’re getting some very bad advice on here. I’m sitting next to a solicitor right now. He is shaking his head and saying you’ve no chance, unless you can show the evidence that you were sold this as a drive. It is buyer beware. And it is not I thought it was a drive or his word v my word . Your survey and deeds will show if it’s a drive or any relevant documentation.

Our deeds fo specifically do say private driveway though. That's why we never questioned it.
I didn't question the curb not being dropped as I thought if this would have been an issue the solicitor would have picked this up and it would have been noted? But no mention of us not being able to use the driveway at all.

I am really grateful for the advise too, it's been an awful year has 2022 and this isn't the start to 2023 we were hoping for. So stressed!

I accept that Im not really going to help matters, but I thought it was common knowledge that if you dont have a dropped kerb then you dont actually have a drive??
As to who should have picked that up....would a conveyancing solictor who would never visit the property actually know that at some point someone decided not to have the drive at the back, but switch it to the front of the house?.

I am surprised at those saying the solicitor was negligent. The solicitor will have checked that the building had planning permission. They will also have asked the council if there were any planning issues with the property and checked that the Property Information Form said that the seller was not aware of any planning issues. It is not their job to check that the building conforms to the planning permission in every detail.

Similarly, even if you go for the most expensive type of home survey, the surveyor won't check that the building matches the planning permission.

It sounds to me like the council did not notice this breach of the planning consent until recently. If that is the case, there is no way the solicitor or the seller would have known.

The lack of a dropped kerb should have rung alarm bells, although from your latest post it is apparent you were not aware that it is an offence to drive across the footpath unless there is a dropped kerb.

By all means consult a solicitor who will be able to give proper advice when they've seen all the paperwork, but I doubt you will get anywhere with this. Sorry.

Just to add, we don't know if the building has always been in breach of the planning consent or if a previous owner decided to swap the garden and the drive, not realising this was a breach.

planning permission was granted for a driveway at the back of the property which is further away from the junction

Has it got vehicle access at the rear of the property?

I wasn't aware about driving over the kerb no, which I do feel ridiculously stupid about now and wish I were educated more on the matter when I bought the house.
The driveway was always at the front, it hasn't been switched over - I know from living in the area before buying the property.
There is no vehicle access at the rear where the garden currently is but the council officer said he has already checked and if we flip it over and put in an application for a dropped kerb he would grant it straight away. But we are going to have to stump up the cost of having the driveway built at the back, the garden at the front which is going to be thousands and that's before we get permission of a dropped kerb which will also cost us personally in the region of £2-3000.
I don't know if it's been my own stupidity or if we have been mislead.

IANAL (I'd listen to prh) just wondering. If the Estate Agents advertised the house as having parking to the front then can they be liable for mis-selling? Estate Agents should know the rules, surely?

Yes, didn’t you find it strange that the large driveway didn’t have a dropped kerb to access it? Have you spent the past six years bumping up onto the pavement to get to the drive?

I wouldn't say it is your own stupidity, but it isn't clear that anyone has deliberately misled you. The council either failed to pick up the non-compliance in their monitoring, or they decided not to require any action to remedy the breach. In either case it is likely that no-one knew there was a problem apart, possibly, from whoever got the planning permission and built this property.

If the deeds say you have a private pathway, whoever amended the deeds is at fault. I'd say. Arguably, the seller would have known they didn't have permission so there could be an argument that the property has been mis-sold. I think a property litigator is probably your best bet.

I think it is easy for first time buyers to not know what they don't know. If you don't know you don't know something you don't look into it further.

I think it would be easy to not know you are meant to have a dropped kerb, and just go with 'oh they obviously didn't pay the extra to drop it' way of thinking.

Although we had a dropped kerb our buyers solicitor insisted on an insurance payment as we didn’t appear to have the correct paperwork. This should have been investigated by your solicitor although as others have said the lack of a dropped kerb would have been obvious to you. At the most you can talk to your conveyancer but I suspect you have no remedy for this.

Even if you had a case, how much money would this cost you? (In both fees and your time?)

It might cost the same as it would to just do the garden/parking swap and you'd get a nice new garden too.