[Closed] Have I been miss sold a house / Should I take legal action?

Were you told these things in writing, and did it form part of the contract?
If not, personally, I wouldn't bother.

Find out who does own the land and make them an offer?

If the original plans of the area show this to be turfed, and these were agreed with the planning office, they may have mislead the planning consent. However, I doubt you will have recourse for your views not being what you think they should be. (unless of course it formed part of your contract.)

Similar thing happened to my sister.

Lovely green field, is now long gone, under phase 2 of the development

Any reasonable person would think this is mis-selling and if you were buying anything else bar a house then you'd probably have a strong case.

However in the world of building and selling houses there's likely to be a get-out-of-jail-free card for the developer and little if any action for recourse. I'd recommend talking to your solicitor who oversaw the sale

Enjoy the tarmac while it's there. You could be looking at another housing estate in a couple of years 🙁
Unfortunately, you only bought the house; you didn't buy the view.

If it was only verbal, no chance of anything.

If it was only verbal, no chance of anything

Not worth the paper it isn't written on?

Have I been miss sold a house

Yes.

Should I take legal action?

Hiding to nothing, I imagine.

My only input is that this sort of thing happens A LOT, Mum used to sell new builds. They'd give out artists impressions of estates and they'd always show open spaces, trees, even little ponds and stuff - but with a disclaimer "may not represent final design" etc , as above you buy a house, not a view.

In most cases the final design was always the same, lots and lots of houses crammed in as efficiently as possible to maximise return on investment.

It happens so frequently I'd assume the builders have rock solid paperwork to cover themselves.

Freind bought a new house last year overlooking green fields and cows, a few months ago diggers moved in and scarped land, now theyre building phase 3 of the estate right behind her.Sghe was told it was going to be green fields forever

Obviously a bit dense.

When a bunch of flats were built on a brownfield site near me the drawings showed sailing boats moored in a marina outside it. Yes there is a river / old docks but there are fixed bridges downstream - no way for the boats to get in and out. always made me laugh

When a bunch of flats were built on a brownfield site near me the drawings showed sailing boats moored in a marina outside it. Yes there is a river / old docks but there are fixed bridges downstream - no way for the boats to get in and out. always made me laugh

Similarly, council here have plans to renovate the older part of ayr, ripping down old 70s monstrosities. Their image is of a couple of yachts and families walking along a prom, they too obviously haven't thought about the bridges....

#1 rule when buying a house in the UK - somewhere along the line you'll be getting screwed over... not least by the price you've paid.

Just take a look at what Taylor Wimpey have been caught doing selling leasehold houses and how they've responded to being caught ie; doing their best to wriggle out of what is a clear scam, leading to what is effectively extortion of their customers...

IMO without anything in writing you're probably screwed, and the developers probably knew full well they were lying to you, which is why they gave you nothing in writing. If you do have something in writing, expect them to wriggle and obfuscate until you give up

I'd recommend talking to your solicitor who oversaw the sale

It would have been easy enough to find out who owns the road and green fields beyond.

They will claim that anything outside the bounds of the parcel you are buying is only represent I've on the drawings.
Of course if you have emails from them about specific questions about the view etc then you can use that evidence to negotiate some compensation.
Never ever buy anything significant based on verbal information, always get them to confirm in writing.

It's always worth looking on the local authorities web site for the approved drawings if you are buying a new build. If what you get differs from what was approved then you might have a case. It'll also show things like public spaces etc and will give you an idea of future plans as well.

samunkim - Member 
Similar thing happened to my sister.
Lovely green field, is now long gone, under phase 2 of the development

That kind of thing is a fault of the basic searches that are bundled with house buying. A local authority search won't tell you much about neighbouring development plans. You need to know about existing or applied for planning permissions on neighbouring land or even rejected applications as those could be re-applied and succeed. Likewise if there are scraps of land or fields about you should be informed of the permitted use for the land. Similarly, what's brown field or green. Stuff like is it land unsuitable for development also (though being told that's because it floods and so does your road would have been nice to have been told when I bought my house, but likewise I only had a basic search).

An in depth search will cost you more, or you can do some of it yourself. An estate agent package with searches and solicitor will likely do the basics, (and still charge you a packet for it though).

Of course if you had an insight into the fingers that local councillors have in various development plans you'd have a better idea if they're about to approve a massive development outside your window 😉

Worth a read of this article - buyer beware no longer applies when buying property... Worth getting some legal advice and a letter from a lawyer to the developer?

When selling my house, am I legally obliged to disclose any information that may affect a potential buyer’s decision?

[url] http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/property/when-selling-my-house-am-i-legally-obliged-to-disclose-any-information-that-may-affect-a-potential-buyer-s-decision-1-4170528 [/url]

Yes they are. They should also be sure their estate agent is adhering to this and other regulations that could leave the seller open to prosecution if they don’t.

It was generally believed that the sale or purchase of a property is a transaction covered by “Caveat Emptor – let the buyer beware.” When it’s up to the buyer to ask the questions and the seller or their agent to give honest answers.

However, this is no longer the case. Since 2013 with the repeal of the Property Misdescriptions Act the sale and advertising of property has come under the 2008 Consumer Protection Against Unfair Trading Regulations (CPR’s).

In simple terms, the CPR’s require a seller to inform their estate agent – and any potential buyer - of material information that may affect an average consumer’s transactional decision, not only to buy a property but even “an omission that may affect a potential buyer’s decision to view a property”. No longer can you choose what to tell your agent or buyer.

If it was only verbal, no chance of anything.

That's still legally binding.

Proving it, that's the tricky bit.

I'd start by asking your solicitor what they think. You might want to ask them why they didn't advise you about this. See if you can find the tarmac on plans your solicitor had access to

If the green space was already designated to be built on as the next phase, shouldn't the searches by your solicitors have picked it up?

I remember buying a house on the magpie estate in Morley, beautiful it was with a big open space beyond my garden. Then two years after I moved in they ran earth movers past most of it and built a road and a kids play area in the remaining bit.

I was very vexed about the whole thing for a while, you just have to come to terms with them being ****s and then it all makes sense.

Don't lose any sleep over it sell up and move somewhere more to your taste.

There's been a number of large developments in and around Chippenham where the developer has promised facilities in return for the land, like some shops, surgery, school, etc; the spaces were left, nothing happened, then the developer would come up with a bunch of excuses why they couldn't afford to build the facilities so they built a bunch more houses instead., which meant even more houses and people for the already stretched facilities that exist.
🙄

Enjoy the road while it's there. Get some timing gear and charge the local Ned's to use it as a drag strip?

Or start an R/C car/plane club?

🙂

Have a look at the Consumer Code for Home builders

Thanks for all the advice, its good to hear other peoples thoughts on the matter. I have contacted my solicitor and they where under the understanding that the land opposite was owned by the developer, no searches flagged the road had separate ownership. My solicitor has contacted the developer and we are now waiting to hear back. Depending on what they say then I may go along the route of a letter from a solicitor to the developer.

If you follow the rule that any new housebuilder is only in business to screw every single last penny out of any potential buyer then you would a) expect anything b) trust no-one who is trying to sell you the house and c) go and buy a proper older house which isn't a complete rip-off shanty [inset housebuilders name] shed.

If the land belongs to the developer then expect houses there soon.

If the land doesn't belong to the developer expect houses there soon.

So we now have a house with a view of 500 meters of tarmacked road that isn't accessible but wont be going anywhere.

Have you considered buying a light aircraft for commuting duties?

That's one of the reasons they only build in plots of up 150 as they don't have to supply any outside infrastructure.
Big builders are splitting up huge plots to get round this I've seen one side of a road be a different developer to another.
Sorry to say but if you have a new build and field views out of your bedroom windows they won't be for long.
OP maybe look at buying the strip or part of it

So we now have a house with a view of 500 meters of tarmacked road that isn't accessible but wont be going anywhere.

Sounds like a highway to nowhere 🙂

This site could be worth a look - http://www.consumercode.co.uk/the-code/what-does-the-code-cover/

Consumer code which covers all aspects of buying a newly built house.

Aren't we all missing the irony here?

Bloke buys new build on what was previously open green space and now complains that his view isn't open green space?

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As mentioned earlier you need to look at the approved plans on your local councils planning website.

We were just about to buy a phase 1 house with a lovely landscaped green in front, seller assured us that this was green space that can't be touched. Sure enough when we checked the approved plans phase 3 included a block of apartments and a house on this green space.

Father in law does groundworks for major builders and its a common ploy. Build all the biggest most expensive houses in phase 1 with lots of green space. Once phase 1 is sold return to dig up the green space and build more houses. He says he often landscapes an area knowing he will be back in 12 months to dig it up again.

We were just about to buy a phase 1 house with a lovely landscaped green in front, seller assured us that this was green space that can't be touched. Sure enough when we checked the approved plans phase 3 included a block of apartments and a house on this green space.

Father in law does groundworks for major builders and its a common ploy. Build all the biggest most expensive houses in phase 1 with lots of green space. Once phase 1 is sold return to dig up the green space and build more houses. He says he often landscapes an area knowing he will be back in 12 months to dig it up again.

So how is this legal? How has "Watchdog" not blown this open?

Surely this vastly impacts the value of properties that once had greenspace?

Bloke buys new build on what was previously open green space and now complains that his view isn't open green space?

Because your house wasn't built on a green space....

So how is this legal? How has "Watchdog" not blown this open?

'Well sir. It couldn't be touched when I sold you the property. Look, here's the letter from the planning office saying so.

But they had a change of heart and I came by some further funds and well... well it'd be rude not to if you get my drift '

Nothing is set in stone. It's one of the many reasons I don't like new builds. At least with a house that's been around 120 years you get a feel for how the neighbour is going to look...