Forum Topic

Get the house in order.....

Hi Community,I bought a property in South Ealing 4 years ago. Local searches proved there were no charges outstanding on the property which had been developed by a property developer in 2014.2 years later, I re-mortgaged and still no charges against the property.I am now in the process of selling the property and the council have only recently served the CIL (community infrastructure) liability notice on the property developers who are now nowhere to be found and gone quiet.    Ultimately, my buyer won't exchange until all charges are clear.  I understand the CIL levy, but by imposing it on the property 4 years later, it has penalised me and the developer has walked away free from this.Thoughts and advice would be hugely appreciated as don't know where to turn to get this resolved.  ThxAlex

Alex Bicknell ● 2551d3 Comments

This is interesting as it was mentioned in searches by my buyer. I am in an area where the CIL levy is applicable but as my property has not been extended then am not liable for it. The detail when i looked at it was that it applies if the property has had more than a certain space added to it.I would expect that your solicitor will have to find some resolution. But if the CIL was only brought in after the property was developed then it should not be payable. Or that the Council confirms the liability is not against the property itself???

Peter Chadburn ● 2548d

check this out, but I don't think Ealing collect Community Infrastructure Levies, they do however lodge Section 106 agreements for monies.  I assume you have looked on the Planning Website for your property and in the Legal Agreement to see how much they should have paid?Your solicitor should have found this as it should have been part of the searches and he/she is at fault.The real worry is how many other 106 monies Ealing has failed to collect.  You would of thought they would have put a charge on the property so that the developer could not sell it until the monies had been cleared.

Libby Kemp ● 2549d

Now i'm no lawyer but......If the seller withheld that little titbit about CIT couldn't you hold them accountable for it in court? You bought the property, not the charges surrounding itWhy didn't you find it during a search? A judge might ask you that one.

Dennis Bailey ● 2551d