Local Occupancy Clauses

[ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged]

Has anyone got any experience of buying (or selling?) a house with a Local Occupancy Clause? Any idea if you can negotiate the terms of them? And if so, who with?

We like the look of a house in the Lakes, but the LAC says you need to have lived here for three years before buying. We haven't. I do, however, have a contract for a permanant job starting in January (so obviously planning to use the house as our own home for the foreseeable future) and my parents have owned up here for over ten years (initially as a second home, now full time)

Thoughts?

(And yes, I know

Whoops - weird copy and paste error there. Sorry!

It is a planning obligation. Depending on the area and who you are buying off they can be difficult to resell. Also don't expect to get the uplift in house prices that you get for market sale. Having said that if you are staying in an area for a long time it is cheaper than renting.