Next doors planning permission not disclosed during viewings

[Eole]

DH and I have made an offer for a house that we really liked in North London.

The property has a large garden with next doors having an even larger one and we enquired at the time of the viewing what was next-door's garden story.
EA did not think it was worth mentioning that actually there were plans to have major building works (3 houses being built!) on the adjacent plot, with disruption lasting potentially more than a year and loss of privacy as a consequence.

The offer was accepted, but we are now thinking of pulling out early unless we can secure some discount on the property. Would that be a good reason enough to pull out from the sale or renegotiate the price (maybe a 10% discount?)
We are just wondering if people usually check local planning permissions before making offers and as such sellers could just brush us off as this is on the "public domain", or if we have a foot to stand on.

Would a conveyancer highlight planning permissions that could affect the property as part of the searches, or if we just did not think about checking planning permissions we could have reached completion without ever finding out?

surely they knew about the building work so will have priced accordingly

They don’t have to disclose anything at that stage. You can negotiate for any reason you like, but they can also negotiate back.

You don't have to disclose other people's planning permission do you? The house next door tonus has had PP for the last 12 years and 4 different owners. Lots of people get PP to make their own sale look more attractive and have no intention of doing the work. Don't the conveyancing solicitors flag this in the searches? I wouldn't expect the vendor to tell you.

I'd walk away.

The noise and mess for possibly 18 months plus, then 3 more houses worth of noise and looking into your garden? No thanks.

unless the development next door is going to lead to a reduction in the capital value of the property I don’t see why the vendors should reduce the price (I don’t think temporary disruption is a good enough reason). That said you can always try and renegotiate and prior to exchange you can pull out without any reason.

And yes planning permission on an adjacent plot is - as I understand it - is something that would usually be disclosed when your solicitor does the local authority searches.

The searches should show up any planning permission which will affect your property. You can also go into the planning office and check the surrounding properties PP in person, we always do this since we bought a house which had permis for next door to build onto our house! That was mysteriously missing from both the responses to contract enquiries from the vendors, and from the local authority files. We had to get legal advice to stop this, we were going to sue the vendor and the LA ( they climbed down when he appeared). Obviously that was fraud, but it is still worth checking the status of properties and permissions in detail yourself.

The development next door is quite possibly why they’re moving… they don’t have to disclose but to me it’s always best to be upfront than have your buyer find out something like that at a later date. To me fact they haven’t been upfront suggests they were trying to hide it for a reason so unless it’s your dream house I’d ask for a reduction and if not be prepared to pull out.

Wouldnt that come up in your searches?

Thanks for the replies!
So you would say that only if in fine there is a capital reduction it would be valid to renegotiate price? This one is harder to evaluate, rather than having a garden backing on another garden, it would now back onto a 3 storeys house, which also mean that a larger part of the garden would be under shade.

What about disruptions during the building works, should that not be a pricing factor?

DH and I are expecting a baby soon, and having trucks coming in and out for many months is not something we are looking forward to, but thats our personal circumstances I suppose. Sellers seem very keen for a quick sale and we thing that they want the deal to be done before building works start and/or do not want us to find out about it before completion. Good to know that local searches should highlight it.

I find your post rather confusing. Yes this would have come up in the searches regardless but it's irrelevant given that you have already taken it upon yourself to find out. I don't know what point you're trying to make?

If you're trying to convince yourself the sellers have done something untoward so you don't feel bad making a lower offer then good luck. The housing market had exploded and if you try and mess them about they're well within their rights to tell you where to go and sell to another buyer.

What exactly is the point you're making / trying to achieve with this thread?

I don't think the temporary disruption of a development that lasts a year or so, annoying as it is, versus the 20 odd years of whatever you might be in the house is a valid reason for a price reduction so id say no to that. However you're quite within your rights to withdraw because you don't want to live next to 3 new houses. I guess changes to light in the garden might warrant a small reduction?

"There were plans", means what? That they have outline permission, full planning permission, are considering an infill development which may or may not get passed? If pp is in place it should be evident from Searches, vendor enquiries or by looking at council website. It may have been highlighted as a possible site on a Local Plan. It may be a speculative approach by a developer (we get these a few times a year but is totally reliant on half a dozen similar approaches being successful and it being approved by Planning). Unless it has specific pp, with conditions on access, hours, use of land etc, it is hearsay and may not happen. Even if it were to eventually go ahead the work may not be as intrusive as you fear.

I think it's sneaky of them. My not very well off niece lost money on two first time properties because estate agents chose not to disclose very relevant information.

Given that you know this now do you really want to spend money on searches and surveys until you've got the full story?
You can reduce your offer for any reason. They can accept that, refuse it or counter offer. If it's all there on the council website you can see what stage planning is at, you can contact whoever has put in for planning and make your decision. If it's been passed at planning then you've missed your chance to get amendments.

I'd absolutely walk away I'm afraid. That level of disruption and loss of amenity isn't something I could cope with.

Thanks all for clarifying that it would have come up in the searches, I was not sure about it.

We will raise the question before spending any money on searches or survey. The planning permission has not been granted yet as the application was done some weeks ago; we can see that the sellers have objected to it but not what their objections are and if it is based on actual rules being broken more than just nimby.
I think we will end up walking away as it is still a sellers market (not convinced for very long though). At least we are lucky as we would not be too much out of pocket.

The EA doesn't have to tell you about any planning, unless you ask them directly and then they'd be lying if they said no. The vendors fill in a property information form for their solicitors which has a question about planning and do they know of anything that might affect you. Your solicitor won't do any work until they receive this and the vendors should be honest about it....but might not be. Your solicitor will then do the local searches which should flag up any planning.

However you can check all planning applications, mostly online now. If you can it's worth doing your own planning check before putting in an offer. (And police crime check, flooding check, council tax check, etc)

I thought this was exactly the kind of thing which has to be disclosed on vendor home report questionnaire.

Objections to pp are public documents, redacted if needs be. Are you sure you cannot view their response?

You can't risk moving to that house and the planning application next door being granted! Time to re-start your search! .

I could only see the addresses of people objecting, not the nature of the objection :( Maybe something I could get by emailing the local authority, but best to ask directly the sellers about it now.

Unless it’s your dream home and you cannot live without it don’t proceed any further.