The council has issued an enforcement notice on your property.
This isn’t a warning. It’s a legal order that must be dealt with before you can sell.
I’ve bought properties under enforcement action. From illegal conversions to unauthorised changes of use, these notices stop sales dead.
I’m Saif Derzi, founder of Property Buyers Today. Since 2015, I’ve specialised in properties with planning and building control issues.
In this guide, I’ll break down enforcement notices clearly. You’ll understand your appeal rights, compliance options, and realistic timelines.
Most importantly, I’ll explain how to sell whilst enforcement action is active.
- What an Enforcement Notice Means for Selling Your Property
- Ways You Can Sell with an Active Enforcement Notice
- Your Legal Duties Regarding Enforcement Notices When Selling
- Costs Involved with Planning Enforcement Notices
- How Enforcement Notices Affect Property Values and Sales
- Why Normal Estate Agents Cannot Sell Properties with Enforcement Notices
- How Property Buyers Today Handles Enforcement Notice Sales
What an Enforcement Notice Means for Selling Your Property
Enforcement notices are council orders telling you to fix planning problems. Councils send them when you break building rules. You must fix the problem or face big fines.
Illegal extensions trigger notices. Building without permission causes them. Using your home as a business when it’s not allowed gets you one, too.
These notices show up on property searches. Every buyer sees them. Banks refuse mortgages immediately when notices appear. I’ve watched sales stop dead the moment searches come back.
Types of notices:
- Enforcement notices (fix the problem)
- Stop notices (stop work now)
- Breach notices (smaller problems)
You get time limits to fix issues. Usually, 28 days to appeal. Then, a few months to complete the work. Ignore them, and councils prosecute you. Fines reach £20,000 easily.
Selling with active notices is nearly impossible. Only cash buyers consider these homes. They want massive discounts because they inherit your legal problem.
I’ve helped sellers understand their options. Appeal the notice. Fix the breach. Or sell fast to specialist buyers before prosecution starts.
Read government guidance about your rights and deadlines.
Ways You Can Sell with an Active Enforcement Notice
Here are the 3 primary methods to sell your property when an enforcement notice exists…
Estate Agents
The conventional route creates severe challenges for houses with enforcement notices:
- Average sale duration: 6-12 months (extended timeframe – mortgage lenders refuse properties with active enforcement)
- Many sales fall through when buyers discover planning enforcement notices
- You need agents experienced with enforcement properties and planning appeals
- You’ll encounter these costs:
- Agent commissions (up to 3%)
- Solicitor fees (up to £4,000)
- Planning consultant advice (£1,000-£3,000)
- Enforcement appeal costs (£2,000-£10,000)
- Compliance work to satisfy notice (£5,000-£50,000+)
- Extremely limited buyers (cash buyers only, typically)
Property Buyers Today
When an enforcement notice makes your property difficult to market:
- We can complete within just 7 days
- No financing complications or compliance requirements needed
- What you receive:
- No agent fees
- We handle legal costs
- No property viewings – we buy enforcement notice properties as they stand
- No compliance expenses – we manage enforcement issues ourselves
- We understand enforcement law and appeal processes
- Completion date you can depend on
- Trade-off: Obtain up to 85% of property value (frequently better after compliance costs and enforcement risks)
Specialist cash house buyers like Property Buyers Today understand enforcement notice complications and handle all arrangements.
Property Auction
Auctioning attracts purchasers who deal with enforcement notice properties:
- Duration: 3-4 months
- Sale finalises instantly when gavel drops
- Important factors:
- Property sold as-is – bidders review enforcement documentation
- Attracts specialist developers and experienced investors
- Perfect for compliance projects – draws appropriate buyers
- Enforcement notice disclosed in auction legal pack
- Wait 4-8 weeks until auction date
- Wait 28 days to finalise transaction
- Entry costs (up to £1,000)
- Auction house charges (up to 6%)
- Full enforcement notice details must be disclosed to all bidders
Check our guide on selling a house at auction to understand how this process works for properties with enforcement notices.
Your Legal Duties Regarding Enforcement Notices When Selling
You must tell buyers about enforcement notices. Property forms ask directly about council action. Hiding notices is illegal and causes huge problems.
Notices show up on council searches anyway. Every buyer’s solicitor checks these. They find out within weeks. I’ve seen sales crash when hidden notices appear on searches.
Your solicitor needs all council letters. They want copies of the enforcement notice. They need proof you’re fixing the problem or appealing it.
Required documents:
- Enforcement notices
- Council letters
- Appeal papers
Trying to hide notices breaks consumer protection laws. Trading Standards prosecute sellers who lie. Buyers can sue you after buying. Courts make you pay damages.
Ignoring enforcement notices is criminal. Councils prosecute you. Fines reach £20,000 easily. Some people get criminal records.
Being honest helps sales progress. Specialist buyers understand enforcement issues. They buy properties other people won’t touch. I’ve helped sellers find these buyers quickly.
Get all paperwork ready before listing. Show buyers exactly what they’re buying.
Costs Involved with Planning Enforcement Notices
Planning enforcement notices cost thousands to deal with. Understanding these costs helps you plan your next steps.
Compliance Work
Fixing planning breaches costs £5,000-£50,000+.
The council tells you what needs fixing. Small changes cost less. Big alterations or demolishing parts cost much more. You pay builders to do work exactly as 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 – you can’t negotiate with the council.
Planning Appeals
Appealing enforcement notices costs £3,000-£15,000+.
Planning consultants and lawyers handle appeals. They prepare reports, gather evidence, and argue your case. Simple appeals cost less. Complicated cases with hearings cost more.
Appeals take 6-12 months, usually.
You pay fees throughout this time. Winning your appeal saves demolition costs. Losing means you’ve paid appeal fees, plus you still need to do the work.
Demolition Costs
Removing illegal structures costs £2,000-£30,000+.
Small sheds or walls cost less to demolish. Big extensions or outbuildings cost much more. You pay for demolition, waste removal, and making areas safe afterwards.
Selling houses with planning enforcement often needs demolition before sales can be completed.
You lose all your original building costs, too. The money you spent building the illegal structure is completely wasted.
Planning Applications
Getting retrospective permission costs £1,000-£5,000+.
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.
Councils can say no to retrospective applications. Then you’ve paid fees but still have illegal work that needs removing.
Legal Representation
Solicitor costs for enforcement cases are £5,000-£20,000+.
When the council threatens prosecution, you need legal help. Solicitors handle court appearances, negotiations, and legal defence. Court cases cost tens of thousands.
Legal fees stack up quickly.
Every court hearing and letter costs money. Cases dragging on for months burn through savings fast.
Court Fines
Penalties for ignoring enforcement notices reach £20,000 plus daily fines.
Courts fine you for not complying with notices. Fines start at thousands of pounds. Daily fines of £100-£500 continue until you fix the problems. Check the planning appeals process to understand your options.
Criminal records affect future jobs.
Planning breaches can give you criminal convictions. This impacts employment, travel, and insurance. The cost to sell a house increases massively when enforcement notices are involved.
How Enforcement Notices Affect Property Values and Sales
Enforcement notices destroy property values. Expect drops between 30-60% below normal prices. Active notices mean desperate selling only.
Banks won’t lend money on homes with enforcement notices. This cuts out nearly all buyers. Only cash buyers remain interested.
That tiny group of cash buyers know you’re trapped. They offer rock-bottom prices. I’ve seen £200,000 homes sell for £80,000 because of enforcement notices.
Value destroyers:
- Active notices
- Prosecution threats
- Short compliance deadlines
Values recover fast once notices are cleared. Fix the breach properly. Get council sign-off. Your home becomes mortgageable again within weeks.
Council prosecution risks scare buyers away completely. Nobody wants to inherit your legal fight. Court cases cost thousands and create criminal records.
Properties become completely un-mortgageable with active notices. Understanding your property’s worth means accepting these massive price drops.
Why Normal Estate Agents Cannot Sell Properties with Enforcement Notices
Properties with enforcement notices are nearly impossible to sell through normal estate agents. Legal problems and mortgage bans block almost every potential buyer.
Complete Mortgage Ban
No banks will lend on properties with active enforcement notices.
About 95% of buyers need mortgages. Lenders see enforcement notices as huge risks. They refuse all applications until the notices are cleared completely.
Your buyer pool drops to cash purchasers only.
The few cash buyers left know you’re desperate. They make very low offers, expecting you to accept.
Buyer Fear
Buyers are terrified of taking on council enforcement action.
They worry about fines, court cases, and demolition orders. Even explaining the situation scares people off. Nobody wants to inherit legal problems with the council.
Most buyers walk away immediately.
The idea of dealing with enforcement feels overwhelming. They find easier properties to buy instead.
Legal Complexity
Most solicitors tell their clients to avoid properties with notices.
Conveyancers warn about risks, costs, and complications. Even buyers who want to proceed listen to their solicitor’s advice. Legal professionals protect clients from bad purchases.
Solicitors see enforcement problems go wrong constantly.
They advise walking away rather than taking chances. This kills sales before they even start properly.
Time Pressures
Enforcement deadlines create urgency that scares buyers.
The council gives you weeks or months to comply. Buyers don’t want to rush into purchases with legal deadlines looming. They worry about not having enough time to sort everything.
Tight deadlines make buyers nervous.
They imagine being forced to do expensive work immediately after buying. This pressure pushes buyers towards simpler properties.
Prosecution Risk
The threat of criminal proceedings terrifies potential buyers.
Ignoring enforcement notices can lead to court and criminal records. Buyers don’t want to risk prosecution for someone else’s planning breaches. Understanding why your house isn’t selling often links to enforcement notices that buyers can’t overlook.
Criminal convictions affect jobs and travel.
Nobody wants that risk hanging over them. Buyers simply refuse to consider properties with prosecution threats.
Impossible Marketing
Properties with enforcement notices stay unsold for years.
Even huge price cuts don’t help. The legal problems remain regardless of price. Selling property with planning permission breaches faces similar impossible marketing situations. Check local authority planning enforcement guidance to understand council powers.
Estate agents give up after months of trying.
How Property Buyers Today Handles Enforcement Notice Sales
Here’s the truth…
An enforcement notice from the council makes your property extremely difficult to sell traditionally. Buyers won’t touch it, solicitors advise against it, and the whole situation feels overwhelming. If you need to move on rather than fight a lengthy planning battle, I totally get where you’re coming from.
Let’s be transparent—our offer won’t match full market value because we have our own expenses and need to turn properties around quickly.
Yet here’s why property owners facing enforcement action still choose to sell their house fast through us…
Speed
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.
Guaranteed Sale
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!
No Costs
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.
No Stress Or Hassle
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.
Free Property Valuation
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.
No Viewings Required
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.
All Properties Welcome
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.
Professional Legal Service
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.
