Offer accepted but no dropped kerb

[GranolaGranola]

We had an offer accepted on a house in April which has a driveway with space for 2 cars. However we’ve just been back to look at it again and realised the kerb isn’t actually dropped - not sure how we missed this first time although the kerb is fairly low along the street anyway so it’s not as noticeable as it could be. The owners are parking on it anyway but I understand it means they aren’t legally permitted to access their drive.

I’m not sure what we should do next. Should we lower our offer by the amount it costs to drop the kerb? And potentially pull out if the vendors refuse?

It does look like using the drive should be fine but I’m not happy that potentially the council could stop us using it in the future or people could park across it on the street. I’m also conscious that regardless of the cost of getting it dropped it’s not guaranteed we’d be granted planning permission.

Prepare to get a big bill form the council someday

I'm sure the £350 is for planning permission

we paid £2k to have our kerb dropped over two decades ago.
apparently we got it discounted as at the time the council was carrying out road works in the area.

also had to pay a fee to make the application.

I’d find out how much application and cost is. Also if you’ll qualify. Then if it’s a large amount ask the seekers to cover it.

In our area the £450 is to get the councils permission

the people dropping our kerb are charging about 2k

Apologies

just checked £150 for permission, £450 for the license and 2k to do the work

Getting a dropped curb is expensive- it is near 2k and I'm in London.

The value of a property is determined by what features it has. If it has a front garden and not a drive then there's a different value to it having a drive.

Sometimes a dropped kerb is not possible. Then you'd be breaking the law driving over the pavement. So unless it has a dropped kerb it isn't a drive.

If it's being advertised as having parking then It's the sellers who are cheeky fuckers not the OP. Id seriously think about dropping the offer.

It's about £1500 to have a kerb dropped here so I'd not let it go.

No, the value of a property is determined by what someone will pay for it, and if it went to best and finals, they will have a good idea of what it’s worth to people

If OP wants to drop her offer over this, the buyers will almost certainly assume she will further drop her offer over anything else that she doesn’t like and would be sensible to bin her off for one of the other offers they received

I agree that a property is worth what someone will pay - but that does not mean I would not revise my offer if new information came to light.

A property without legal off-street parking is worth less than a property with legal off-street parking. In my area it makes a very significant difference. As a buyer, I would look again at the value of this property.

One thing you could do is talk to the vendor about applying for the dropped kerb and revisit the issue if it is turned down. I personally would not pay for off-street parking unless it was legal off-street parking - and the value of off-street parking higher than the price of having the dropped kerb fitted.

And this would be more impressive if it was some kind of hidden feature that came up in searches/survey.
Op must have literally stepped over the kerb!
Best and finals means don't expect buyer to engage with this nonsense

I had the middle of ours dropped 3 years ago, each end of the drive was dropped so you drove on one side and off the other, we needed to park cars side by side 3 metres dropped in Yorkshire done by the council £570, turns out I could have got it done for £490 using one of their approved contarctors, also they did dtate before they came out if any of the kerbstones were damaged we would not have to pay for them just the £120 admin fee unfortunately ours were all fine so £2k sounds like a right rip off in the space of 3 years

If it was listed as having off-street parking, the OP can be faux naive and say they only just learnt it has to be applied for.

TBH, the house-buying process is so ridiculous in England that I think anything goes. Yes the vendor can pull out - but personally I wouldn't buy a house with illegal off-street parking so that would be a risk I would be willing to take.

Even in this mad market there is always another house.

or of course tell the vendor you want the advertised parking spaces which are factored into the price and let them go to the hassle of having it done while you’re doing searches etc

Its not a simple as 'didnt like', it was advertised as something its not.

'best and finals' is just a marketing strategy, it means nothing in terms of the legality of what someone is selling

Dropping a kerb is actually more expensive than it should be, in my old area a straightforward one costs about £2-3k.

You have to apply to the council for permission, then they have to come out and do a survey. Then provided the distance between the pavement and your front door meets their criteria, you have to use one of their approved contractors to carry out the work.

At my old house, which was on a main road, we would have also had to have mini traffic lights while the work was taking place, as it was a very busy road. We didn't bother in the end, and managed to sell the house without doing it. Living with the kerb up and reversing the car up the pavement was a pain while we lived there, and did unknown damage to our car.

Then provided the distance between the pavement and your front door meets their criteria and this sort of thing is why it shouldn't be assumed it is as simple as paying for the kerb to be altered.

It was advertised as having parking spaces - which it does not.

It has potential for parking, subject to permission.

When we were looking for houses this sort of thing really put me off, in the blurb it was brushed off as simple as 'just do it'. Its not that simple, and I wouldnt have thought that without putting in a formal request (which costs a lot of money) or being the actual owner of the home, that you would get a firm answer of whether it was suitable for dropping or not. So as a buyer I wouldnt be relying on a quick call to someone at the council (if you can get a response or even if they'll talk to you) who then says it will 'probably' be ok

This is why my builder did it. On a main Rd too. Only took him a couple of hours. It was 25 years ago. Five blocks I think.

25 years ago. I think it cost £350. It was actually a tarmac resurfacing specialist.

Maybe 25 years ago you could just get a builder to do it but now the person needs to possess a Street Works licence which the average builder probably won’t have as they don’t generally need to work in the public Highway so it’s not worth the expense of the course.

I used to have one, sadly it’s run out but it’s a full on and expensive course which meant I was allowed to work in the highway and passed my assessments for operating various machinery such as whackers, Jack hammers and rollers.

Yes, 25 years ago, anything went.

My parents actually got their kerb dropped for free (in a small cul-de-sac) by the council a similar length of time ago. The council were resurfacing the road, and when they did the pavements, they dropped everybody's kerb at the same time; I don't even think they asked!

I also had a look on my council website. This is what my Borough stipulates as a minimum, which will of course around the country:

The parking area must be a minimum of 4.8 metres deep and a minimum of 2.4 metres wide. There must also be a minimum 1.2 metre wide clear path to the front door of the property from the street.

The crossover must not be within 5 metres of an existing road junction measured from the nearest part of the crossover to the kerb line of the joining road. The crossover must not intersect with the radius of a junction.

Crossovers are not permitted within 10 metres of a bus stop or within bus stop road markings to ensure that accessibility and safety for bus passengers is not affected. Where a bus stop is used by more than one bus service this distance will be extended to 20m to make an allowance for 2 buses arriving at the stop at the same time.

My old house had a bus stop immediately outside it, so this definitely would not have been allowed there!

It is £2k as part of the planning permission and getting it dropped as only the council contractor is permitted to do it. In our council, you can't get anyone to do it.