Qualification of Title not agreed

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dubdub123

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Two very minor issues were flagged during survey regarding minor updates that did not obtain planning 1) vehicular access widened and 2) porch door added.

Current owners did not make these modifications and are in the house approx 3 years, therefore cannot provide declaration that these are in place 7+ years.
They did however provide declaration that they have not received any notices in relation to this

The lender is now coming back with a generic letter saying that the development is unauthorized and that declaration of 7years OR retention of planning is required.

I'm trying to consider options here

Qualification Issue 1 - I will contact my engineer in relation to this to see if he can provide a cert of exemption and the costs around this
Qualification Issue 2 - I can propose to give an undertaking to correct this. I know from Google maps that this is in place over 7 years anyhow .. It's literally a few blocks needed to correct this .

Is there any other options? Could someone else provide a declaration eg a neighbour that can state that the work was done some time ago? Local garda? Previous owner? Or does it HAVE to be the current owner?

Obviously I'm following up with solicitor and broker but any thoughts appreciated to speed up resolution of this issue!
 
I don't believe an engineer could give you a cert of exemption on the entrance widening, that always requires planning and in certain areas the LAs are very particular about these.

You also need to note that just because a development has been in place for 7 years does not imply it is permitted. It only means the LA can't issue enforcement action. Should you or any subsequent owner seek to submit planning, they can insist that the unauthorised development is removed. So keep that in mind if you think you might want to develop on that site in the years to come.
 
Yes I understand it doesn't mean it's authorized. The works could very easily become compliant again if 1) porch door removed and 2) wall rebuilt, which I could do myself once in the house, but in this market we don't want to put this to the sellers as of now.
I know that the porch is there over 7 years (from looking at googlemaps timeline) - but who could sign a declaration? Would bank possibly accept declaration from a neighbour or garda from the area? Or does it HAVE to be from current owner (which they can't provide as not there long enough)

I can give undertaking to sort wall as it needs work anyhow but not sure if this will be enough. Trying to see if we can get a person to speak to, in order to avoid letters going back and forth.
 
Anyone know if declaration could be provided by previous owner perhaps? Anxiety currently on overload here :( want to close this down asap.
 
Yes I actually checked that and I know that the porch door had definitely been added by 2009 as I checked the googlemaps timeline ( could have been added years before that but I've no way to confirm) .

The wall was ok in 2009 and sometime between then and 2018 it was widened. So the current owners did not do either of these modifications, so can't sign the 7 year declaration. I believe the previous owners would have been the ones to make this change (from looking at dates on folio).

Lender sent a generic letter saying need 1) declaration for 7 year rule OR 2) retention

We can get an exemption in relation to the porch (which should be ok but need to confirm with lender) , but still leaves an issue about the wall - I can't see the seller re-instating this , even though it's only a few hundred euro to sort.
 
OK so I'm gonna look to get a cert of exemption (opinion of compliance) relating to the porch issue (should really be sellers pushing this but I don't want this dragging out as I have literally everything else in place and want to move ASAP)

Any thoughts about the wall? I can give an undertaking to reinstate the wall if needed. Are there any temp solutions here that I'm missing ie could seller block off a small section to decrease size of access?

I feel like there must be a more straightforward approach. My anxiety is gone through the roof on this as just want to get in to the house now :(

Any help appreciated.
 
When seller isn't prepared to resolve these issues, it's mostly only cash purchasers who proceed. Only your bank can tell you whether they will accept an undertaking on this, but I'd be surprised if they would as they don't want to be in the business of following up and chasing you on that.
 
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