Selling a House with Planning Enforcement: A UK Homeowner’s Complete Guide

Planning fees and professional help cost £500-£4,000+.

Council application fees are a few hundred pounds. Planning consultants charge for drawings and paperwork. Bigger projects need more detailed plans and cost more.

You might get refused anyway.

Councils can say no to retrospective applications. Then you’ve paid fees but still have illegal work.

Fixing breaches or changing structures costs £3,000-£40,000+.

Small changes cost less. Big alterations or partial demolition cost much more. You pay builders to do exactly what the notice requires.

You must fix everything the notice says.

Ignoring compliance work leads to court and bigger fines. The work costs what it costs.

Challenging enforcement decisions costs £2,000-£12,000+.

Planning consultants and lawyers handle appeals. They prepare reports and argue your case. Simple appeals cost less. Complicated hearings cost more.

Appeals take 6-12 months, usually.

Winning saves demolition costs. Losing means you’ve paid the appeal fees, plus still need to do the work.

Planning consultants and specialist assessments cost £1,000-£5,000+.

You need reports proving your case or showing impacts. Councils and appeal inspectors need professional evidence. Each expert report costs hundreds or thousands.

You often need multiple reports.

One for the application, another for appeals, more if problems are found. Costs stack up quickly.

Solicitor costs for formal notices are £3,000-£15,000+.

When councils threaten prosecution, you need legal help. Solicitors handle court appearances and negotiations. Court cases cost tens of thousands.

Legal fees mount up fast.

Every court hearing and letter costs money. Cases dragging on burn through savings quickly.

Removing unauthorised work costs £2,000-£25,000+.

Small structures cost less to demolish. Big extensions cost much more. You pay for demolition, waste removal, and making areas safe. Selling houses with illegal extensions often needs demolition first.

You lose all your original building costs, too.

The money spent on building is completely wasted. The cost to sell a house increases massively with enforcement problems. Check the Planning Portal guidance for requirements.

Lenders refuse loans on properties with enforcement notices.

Banks won’t release money until notices get cleared. About 95% of buyers need mortgages. Without bank approval, they can’t buy.

Your buyer pool drops to cash only.

The few cash buyers left make very low offers, knowing you’re stuck.

Sales collapse when planning enforcement gets discovered.

Solicitors find enforcement notices during legal checks. Buyers panic about inheriting council problems. They pull out immediately.

You’ve wasted weeks and paid legal fees for nothing.

Starting again leads to the same problems with new buyers.

Surveyors highlight planning breaches as serious concerns.

They flag enforcement notices and unauthorised work. These warnings give buyers reasons to demand lower prices or walk away completely.

Survey reports make problems scary.

Keen buyers suddenly get cold feet. They offer much less or disappear.

Conveyancers strongly advise clients against buying.

They warn about risks, costs, and legal complications. Even buyers who want to proceed listen to their solicitor. Legal professionals protect clients from bad purchases.

Solicitors see enforcement go wrong constantly.

They advise walking away rather than taking chances. Understanding why your house isn’t selling often links to enforcement that solicitors flag.

Resolving planning enforcement takes months or years.

Retrospective applications take 8-13 weeks. Appeals take 6-12 months. Compliance work takes more months. Everything moves slowly.

Every delay risks the sale collapsing.

Buyers get fed up waiting. Their mortgage offers expire. What should take weeks, stretches to years or never completes.

Very few buyers will even visit properties with enforcement.

Estate agents must disclose enforcement notices. Most buyers refuse viewings once they know. The few who come rarely make offers. Selling property with planning permission breaches faces similar viewing problems. Check the Royal Town Planning Institute guidance for professional standards.

Your property sits empty on the market for months.

Most house sales take months, but we can buy your property in as little as 7 days.

This quick process is perfect if you need to move soon or want to avoid being stuck in a long chain of buyers and sellers. We have the cash on hand so don’t need to wait for mortgages or a chain to collapse. 

Did you know 1 in 3 sales fall through on the open market?

We know how frustrating it is to get 6 months into a process and have a buyer pull out.

When we give you the final price for your house, that’s the amount you’ll get. Guaranteed!

You won’t face any costs with us.

We handle all the expenses involved in buying your property, including legal fees and surveys. You get cash in your bank when the sale is complete, and there are no surprise estate agent commissions to worry about.

Our team supports you through the whole selling process.

We keep you updated about what’s happening and answer any questions quickly. You’ll always understand what’s going on with your sale and what happens next.

Our property experts will value your house at no cost to you.

They look carefully at your property and check local market prices to give you an accurate figure. This professional service comes with no obligations.

Forget about cleaning and tidying for viewings.

We don’t need multiple visits or open houses to make our offer. This means no strangers walking through your home, and no disruption to your daily life.

Whether your house needs work or is in perfect condition, we’ll buy it.

We have experience with all types of properties and conditions. This means you can sell your house to us no matter what state it’s in.

Our expert team manages all the legal requirements for you.

We work with experienced property lawyers who make sure everything runs smoothly, and put your property at the top of their list. This gives you peace of mind that your sale is being handled properly from start to finish.