I can’t believe my solicitor did this

[TipsyPeachSnake]

So I accepted an offer on a terraced house which I bought over 10 years ago. Double glazing was put in back then, similar to others on the street. However, it has now come to light that the house is a listed building and there is no listed building consent.

I could purchase indemnity insurance to cover this for buyer but have found out that my solicitor contacted the council asking for retrospective LBC!!

Because of the actions of my solicitor the council have been made aware of unauthorised work on the property which could potentially lead to significant penalties and loss of sale.

I’m shocked a solicitor acting on my behalf would do this. What can I do? Anyone had similar experience? Please, any advice would be appreciated.

Property information form specifically asks if a property is listed or in a conservation area.

As a solicitor I’m struggling to understand why a trainee contacted the council unless instructed to do so by their supervisor. But, the fact is the OP put in windows without consent (planning apps can take 3 months plus).

The solicitor has tried to get the consents that you failed to do.

No one would have touched it without that consent, because the indemnity insurance doesn’t cover works done during the CURRENT owner’s ownership. Nor does it cover deliberate acts, like changing windows, especially when they were relatively recent, which in the scheme of things, yours are.

What I’d also question now is whether you’ve done any other works without consent? Any change to the fabric of the building is considered as requiring consent. Knocking down walls? Changing the external colour?

Agree. I asked this earlier re other works and no response from op.

The solicitor’s action here is more likely to be the reason the sale won’t go through.

Ive read most of the thread.

How much would it cost to put right? Can you put that much aside legally held so that if they have to change, then they'll have the funds, and if not and the council decide not to make you change it you get it back. This seems to be the simplest way. Unless its going to be very expensive and you need all your sale price to buy new property

The solicitor has tried to get the consents that you failed to do.

If you want to be truly patronising it helps to also be right…

What's incorrect about the statement about consent? The OP commissioned unauthorised work and the solicitor has now contacted the council to seek retrospective consent.

The solicitor should not have acted in this way in the absence of instructions from OP to do so, however.

You need to get legal advice for negligence of your solicitor. They know not to do that. This person has been negligent.

I wouldn’t play around with LBC.

Solicitor shouldn’t have acted without instruction but it’s a criminal offence for you.

Speak to the Managing partner - if needs be a complaint to the SRA - if what they have done is negligent, this is what professional indemnity insurance is for on their part.

I’d be fuming, I’d expect my solicitor to be on my side 😡

Two different issues here: (1) lack of LBC. You need to regularise the situation. If it was your predecessor who put the windows in there will be a degree of sympathy from the Council but they may want different windows, ie expense. (2) your solicitor making an application without your consent. That is entirely wrong.

Only if OP was responsible for putting in the new windows. If not, she may have to replace them as part of the LBC process or face an enforcement notice.

The windows were put in after OP purchased the property, therefore they are her responsibility

You definitely can get indemnity insurance. Or she could have anyway. Not so easy now.
And it’s a nonsense she will need to replace the windows with single glazing. Of course you can upgrade listed buildings to double glazing - it just has to be done in keeping with the original style.
As they are wooden and in keeping with the rest of the street it’s highly likely OP will get retrospective consent. It will just take months.

Indemnity insurance policies are generally void if a third party is made aware of the defect in respect of which indemnity is sought. So generally speaking, indemnity insurance is not an option now, as the council is aware of the unauthorised works that the OP did. Further, it's against public policy to provide insurance for the consequence of criminal actions and so I doubt it would have been a realistic option in the first place in this scenario.

@TipsyPeachSnake Id read the relevant paragraph in the engagement letter you signed when you appointed the solicitors and discuss invoking a complaint.
they clearly know they’ve messed up as now have a more senior partner on the case. The have liability insurance for this reason, but their excess probably exceeds what you’ll be out of pocket! … so talk to them seriously.

It’s over 6 years since she bought so likely to be time barred now anyway

Why don’t you have the paperwork? We are selling at the moment and had to send off most of our original paperwork to our solicitor… as others have stated, it’s very clear in the paperwork you both receive when buying (and have to scrutinise / review at length before agreeing to proceed with the sale) and send off when selling if it’s listed. I’d say there’s no way you could have missed this, but then again we are currently buying a house from a man who knows nothing about his own house and you sound similar. It’s been very challenging for us, but we still feel it’s worth it thankfully. I hope your buyers do too. Our bank did down value the house price by £80k because of our seller not knowing things, which helped make it worth it for us but we are now a year into the selling/buying process and lost one buyer because of him.

I personally would be grateful to my solicitor for doing this / making me aware, but do agree they should have raised it with you first before actioning.

I think the ten year rule does not apply to unauthorised work to listed buildings.

edit: Apologies, I misread your post - and I agree with respect to the 6-year limitation

Same thoughts here was thinking the sol of was at fault and how could it not be flagged. Definitely a case / compensation there as this could have all been avoided as part of the original conveyancing or windows were in place and not flagged when buying.

This is very confusing. A terraced house wouldn’t be individually listed but collectively listed as a row. Terraced houses are rarely listed unless built by a major architect or of historical significance - eg Georgian.

There’s no way you could buy a Grade II listed building and not know, as the agents, solicitor and the conveyancing forms would all tell you this. There are so many restrictions and it’s so much more expensive to deal with.

But it would difficult to get consent for Upvc windows in a Grade II listed building in the first place, so one would think that would be a planning breach itself.

OP are you sure this is LBC and not ordinary planning permission for a conservation area?

I would go batshit if my solicitor did this. If there is a problem, you are the client, they tell you, no one else, until you decide how to proceed. If you have financial implications from this op, I’d be passing them back to the solicitor.

This is such bull. The OP did a Wrong Thing which cannot be indemnified by insirance because she commissioned it. So the poor solicitor, trying to get it over the line, applied for LBC which is what the OP should have done in the bloody first place.

And somehow this is the solicitor’s fault!!!!

Yes, it’s malpractice. HTH.