House exchange

We have been selling Seaman's Farm for the past few months.

It didn't take long for us to start getting offers (some were even sensible).



On the 20th of June we accepted an offer from a nice guy who said he didn't have a house to sell (at least he said that buying ours didn't depend on the sale of his).



All his mortgage lenders needed for exchange to go ahead was an assurance that an old enforcement order on our barn was no longer 'live'and that it was 'within the residential curtilage'. (The barn is in our coutyard next to the house so it has to be within the curtilage doesn't it?)



We already had a letter from Uttlesford District Council saying that they no longer wished to pursue the matter since we had taken steps to comply with their requirments but it seemed that this wasn't quite adequate for the bank to release the funds.



On the 19th of July we first contacted the Council's enforcement officer asking him to confirm that the enforcement order was now effectively dead and would be removed from the records.

we have subsequently contacted him again at regular intervals to attempt to receive a written confirmation.



On the 9th of August he responded by email as follows:



"I had an opportunity yesterday afternoon to discuss this matter with the Council's Head of Legal Services.



It is not common for local authorities to withdraw enforcement notices upon request, although they are withdrawn in circumstances where it would be either clearly inappropriate or perverse (if it's dead then keeping it has to be perverse doesn't it?) to keep it in place, such as where a Lawful Use Certificate has been subsequently granted for an alleged breach of planning control and as cited.



LA's would certainly not withdraw in unauthorised use cases where there is a possibility/probability that the use would resume. Clearly, it is different in cases where operational development has been carried out and landowners have complied with an enforcement notice by making physical changes, such as was the case with the barn at Seaman's Farm.



It would appear that there is no obvious legal guidance for LA's to follow in this matter and that it would be for LA's to use there discretion as to whether an EN should be withdrawn. The general view would appear to be that it should not be for an LA to withdraw an EN simply because a bank or other lender is not willing to lend monies for a mortgage etc if there is a charge on the land.



The normal procedure we think would be for either the buyer's solicitors to request written confirmation that the EN has been complied with and that the LA does not propose to take any further action or for a note to that effect to be placed on the public register of Council notices, which can be conveyed to the solicitors during the search enquiries. I am attempting to seek further guidance on this and will communicate with your solicitors soonest".



We wrote again on the 14th of August. No response.

We emailed again on the 15th of August. No response.

We called on the 21st, got through and were promised a response the same day. No response was received.

We intend to call again on the 22nd to see where the promised letter is.



This can no longer be put down to inefficiency. It has to be outright obstruction.