New owner wants our extension plans

[Ksb6]

Before we decided to move we engaged a surveyor to make proper drawings of our house including an extension. We went as far as having the council out for a preliminary survey to determine if the idea was viable. They came back saying that the plans would probably pass planning. But we did not go as far as applying for planning as we decided to move instead.

Now the new owner(buyer) of our old house wants access to these plans. The surveyor has told us we could pass them on or sell them even.

Has anyone got experience with this? The plans did cost a considerable amount of money, but are obviously not worth anything to us anymore as we don't live there.

I am grateful for any advice

Because they relate to the house the "complete stranger" has just bought from op.

Our sellers just left their plans for us. We had no idea they had any.

We did have an extension built but not one like their plans.

So what will you do with them after you've moved? Just leave them for the new owners!

How do the buyers know about the plans? Were they mentioned at point of sale or in details? I mean, of course you should leave them. They are part of the house, surely.

You have something that is worth money. Why would you give that away, it’s not how the world works. All the ‘it’s no value to you’ brigade are wrong, if someone is willing to pay you for it then sell it to them. No brainer.
Does anyone think that the buyers would have the attitude that they should get something for nothing ?

Just pass them on, when you have plans done, they architect bases them on conversations about what you want, and what can actually be done. The new owner might not even like your vision for it.

Yes but the buyer hasn’t paid for them . When you buy a house everything is itemised and documented, if these plans weren’t then they are not part of the house sale.

Some years ago we were in a contract race to buy a house. We won and offered the other prospective buyers £100 for the plans they'd had drawn up. They refused and said they would sell for the full price they'd paid. Upshot - they got nothing as we didn't even want to do all the work they'd planned, just wanted to save a bit of time on some minor works. I always thought they were completely daft - it would have paid for a nice meal and we'd never had any dealings with them so there was no personal animosity.

I’d just hand the over the shop gas sailed for recouping costs

as per hindsight a wonderful thing when you were selling you could of negotiated then

now just looks petty as zero use to you
personally Dumfries someone tried to sell me these I’d offer a small token amount but anymore than that I’d sooner pay full price and get excalty what I want

@W0tnow , sometimes I think it's about the bigger picture. I'm leaving a lot behind (some furniture, an expensive chandelier, all other light fittings) and not charging extra, as they are small amounts in the context of a house sale.

Also, if I were the buyer, I would rather pay for my own drawings and get it done exactly to my specs (and current building regs) than pay for someone else's older drawings, and I'd trust the sellers a bit less than I did previously. Really, leaving the plans behind is a goodwill gesture. The buyers may or may not use them, and they may not even know if they want to add an extension, so won't want to pay for something they might have no use for.

Who owns the copyright? You or the designer?

We were left plans by our houses previous owners. They’re useful, but we can’t act on them as we’d have no comeback as we didn’t commission them. So I wouldn’t have paid the previous owner for them. I would leave them for free, why not, they’re no use to you (a bit like fitted carpets).

Our sellers left them behind for us, they had also received planning permission for them. We wouldn't have paid for them- even though we plan on extending in the medium term and the planning permission was a selling point.

I'd offer to sell the plans to them for half of what they cost you.

In reality the plans are online and could be downloaded. It’s the technical drawings that are needed by the builder

@Holypricks , yes that's true. I assume most of us are referring to the technical drawings.

I would just give them to the new owners. Not to would be petty

They’re of absolutely no value to you, so I’d just hand them over in your position. What are you going to do with them otherwise?

I would give them to the new owners, but not for free. Depending on how much they cost originally you could charge a few hundred for them at least.

Why wouldn't you just give them the plans? They are useless to you. Asking them for money is just tight.

hmm, i would just pass them on, no charge. they wont buy them off you anyway, they probably don't know how much they cost too and not being malicious. they're just asking for something that you don't need anymore. plus they bought your house. they enabled you to move on and get on with your life.

My seller left the drawings for an extension. It wasn't even discussed, they were in a pile of house related documents that were in the kitchen when I moved in.

I never extended my house in the end, so I'll be passing them along to the next buyer for free too. They're specific to this house so not much use for anything else

I’d give them for free. In reality they will probably have a look and then use them as a basis for their own design. It’s highly unlikely they will want exactly what you had designed anyway.

We sold a relatives house that needed a lot of work doing on it. The buyer did phase 1 of the work (renovation) and had plans drawn up for phase 2 (extension). Without building the extension, they then decided to sell. I noticed in the sales particulars it said the extension plans were available by separate arrangement, so I assumed from that they were going to charge for them.