Services under kand

[Dave Fawthrop]

I am negotiating to buy an old access Road adjacent to my house., which will double the size of my garden.

I understand that I will have to gain change of use planning permission to add it to my garden, when I will have permitted development to build a garage on it.

Under the land are unused gas, water, and electricity services, no sewage, which I do not need. Will I get charged for disconnecting these services?

There is planning permission for a single wall on the land, will the planning permission revert to me if I buy the land?

[Andrew Mawson]

permission to

I understood planning permission was attached to the land and not the owner.

AWEM

[Lobster]

Where are they going to? Don't they represent a hazard in their present form (ie shouldn't the utility co's have already capped them off at source? With water I'm sure it's not allowed to have blind-ended legs of pipes as the stagnant water within can contaminate the water supply.

Yes pretty sure that's right. Otherwise why else would land be able to be sold at premium prices "with planning permission" if the new owner was compelled to reapply for it (with no guarantee of success)?

David

[Broadback]

Before committing yourself to to the land why not make an appointment with your local planning office and discuss it with them. They may be quite happy with your plans, you may not even need any planning permission, however it is better to ask than end up in a dispute, which would be difficult and costly to win. Also, if they agree verbally send them a letter setting out your agreements, asking for written confirmation.

[The Wanderer]

You need to ask each of the utilities what equipment they have there, ask for copies of their records, and also what rights they have for those services being there.

It then rather depends on what rights they hold. If the 'services' were actually distributors that have been capped off, they will probably be covered by permanent easements, wayleaves or similar, in which case anything you ask them to do is probably going to cost you. If they are just services to a now-demolished building, you may be in much better position to get them off what will be your land.

[Ian White]

Better still, send them an e-mail saying "We agreed that..." etc.

Provided your summary is fair and accurate, it is very likely that they'll paste your wording straight back into their formal reply. This is a very effective way to get a letter that says exactly what you want.

[nightjar]

The only people who can answer properly that are the utility companies involved.

While there are, very rare, cases of planning permission being granted to a specific person, it is usually attached to the property. As you don't need to own a property to do so, you could apply for whatever planning permission you want before buying. That is quite common practice for land that is up for redevelopment, which may have several concurrent applications (and possibly approvals) from different potential buyers.

Colin Bignell