Over the years I have been asked to add value to developments, that my clients have purchased already with planning consent. It is something I have always enjoyed doing in my practice, as we can tailor the development design and specification to our client’s needs; however, on more occasions, than we’d like, we are handed consented schemes that are simply not buildable. This puts us into a position of catch-up with our developer clients, when they, perfectly reasonably, want to avoid delays and get on site asap. The result of buying a site with an unbuildable planning consent is not only delays and the potential for compromise, but also the risk that the Local Planning Authority may not allow the alterations needed in order to build.
Here are five aspects that you should look to consider when purchasing land with consent.
1. Party Walls – We have come across projects where the party wall situation has not been considered in the consented scheme, causing subsequent delays and problems with the adjoining owners.
