Reduction in area of site, affect FPP

J

johnnyg

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Interested in a 1.5 acre site with FPP, but the owner now wants to split the site into 2 X.75 acres and hold onto the other site. We plan to go in with a change of house plan design if we bought the site to reduce the size of the house, will this reduction in size of the original site affect this in anyway? or effect the planning decision?
 
it will effect it in a huge way!!!!!!

any reducting in site boundaries requires a planning application... and will probably not be successful.... but remember that the original permission will still stand (once its with the active time period)...

to be honest the landowner is being extremly greedy here.....

theres very few site for sale in the country with Full Planning Permission.... now hes trying to get more...

you are left with a puzzle here.... either buy what he has for sale right now, or wait until an application to reduce boundaries has been decided...

DO NOT include the 'changing of the boundaries' in your 'change of house design' application, as it could cause both to be refused....
 
what happens so if i buy the reduced site and the boundaries have not been changed, would the estate agent have informed her of this?
 
if you buy the reduced size, you are not buying what has full planning permission..... you would simply be purchasing a slice of a field...

the first condition of planning is that the permission is given in accordance with the plans and particulars submitted.....

i would strongy advise against purchasing this reduced site..... if the landowner wants to sell a reduced site with full permission, let him apply for it..... in today climate of anti-speculative development and rural housing guidelines its highly unlikely the he will get permission for (a) a reduced site and (b) permission to sell another site.......

the estate agent has nothing to do with this, they may not be well versed in planning law... their only job is to get the best price for the landowner...
 
without flooding this thread.....

if you contact the relevant local authority i would expect that they would give you the same advise... and that would be definitive...
 
thanks sydthebeat,

have emailed my solicitor on the matter, and will try and ring local athority aswell, very disappointed as you already said, very few sites for sale with full planning permission and my wife was all excited..

If she had to reapply for a boundary change, would it take long for a decision?
 
the minimum the decision would take is (probably) 8 weeks.....

now that i think about it.... becaus ethe site is currently 1.5 acres its hardly the case where everything on the site is within one of the 3/4 acre sections.... thus not only would the boundary have to change but if the entrance, dwelling or septic tank would then fall outside of this new reduced site, then permission would need to be applied for them again....

this throws up huge problems...

moving an entrance or septic tank could be problematic....
moving the dwelling MAY require applying for full permission again..... (check with the council....)
 
no, its a long site that goes back off the road, the cut off point is just after the perculation area.

Your right, it is just being greedy and they is no reason otherwise, she will not have access to it once the front section is sold, so unless she's hoping for the council to build a road through it down the line!!
 
what youve described is even more of a reason why anything else wll be refused...

any development behind a dwelling would be considered 'random backland development' and will be refused outright....

i wonder if this is just a ploy to try to get you to cough up extra to buy 'as is'.... if so id stand my ground... im sure your paying enough as it is....
 
But there is no access to this site afterwards, so don't know why. The seller is insisting on holding on to it, baffling really. I think the asking price is already the highest i've seen been asked in the area for a site with FPP and if they went higher, there is no way she would get it for the area, thats fairly certain.
 
the sellers only option is to apply to reduce the boundaries.....
and thus she will be putting at least a 12 week extension of time before she can sell again.....

id make her a 'take it or leave it' offer... stating that you have other options and cannot wait the extra time...
 
I have made an offer but technically she can't offer that site for sale with full planning until she gets a reduction in boundaries approved by the local council. Can i still proceed with the sale if i put in "subject to planning approval" or do i have the wait until she gets it?
 
well, she can offer the site for sale 'as is'.....it doesnt make any difference if you get that condition of purchase included.... you cannot make any application yourself on the site until her application is finished... so waiting is your only option... think about it, it will be at least 24 weeks from now before you can turn a sod..... is that what you want???if she retains the rear section of the site is she going to retain an access to it as well???? if so, this could mean a reduction of 5 meters of your road frontage...... seems ridiculous as farming 3/4 acre makes no sense.....whats the time period left on the FPP????
 
Just be careful that if you do only buy one half of the site and ignoring all the problems with planning etc that she has not retained a right of way through your site to gain access to the site at the rear. This is a common problem which not many people have checked into. She can create a right of way over the lands prior to it being transferred to you and because of time delays in land registry this may not show up when your solicitor is doing his searches.
 
any right of way would have to appear in the conditions of sale.....while you are correct that people may not realise it, its no excuse for not being thorough....
 
Just rang the local planning office and was told, that her reducing the size wouldn't effect the plannig if we bought the site. But we would have to apply with the change of house design/reduction of boundary at the same time, as this would be the fastest way without delaying the application by another 8-12 weeks if she was going to do it and then we apply afterwards.

Has anyone experienced this kind of situation before...hope planning have got it right
 
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The only fear here though is, if the council refuse the change of boundaries it MAY cause the refusal of the change of house design as well...... you would want to get this confirmed by the council..... its only the most discerning of planners who will spilt an application up themselves ie granting one part and refusing others... ive only ever seen this once in eight years of full time application preparation...
 
Thanks sydthebeat, I plan to, as it always depends who you talk to, will have to go in and talk to them in person...may get a different answer when i ask for it in writing.
Trust me to pick the site with this issue.
Another question is that they have the garage attached to the house, could we detach the garage or does this involve change of plans again, sorry for all the questions but our builder is on holidays and he is well versed in planning so have no one to ask
 
depends on what has been granted permission...
ie 'dwellinghouse with attached garage'.... or 'dwellinghouse and garage'...

if it has an attached one just dont include the garage in the new application... again, this is one for the planner... hopefully he/she would use common sense....
 
thats the worry, common sense

cheers Sydthebeat for all your help, will let you know how i get on, should be fun..but whats new
 
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