Why Did My Property Search Not Reveal the School Extension Next Door?

A buyer moved into a home beside a small primary school believing that its presence would not cause a significant problem. Several months later, she received details of a substantial school extension planned behind the property.

The development would restrict the view from her garden and, she feared, affect the property’s value and make it more difficult to sell. She complained that her conveyancer should have warned her before she bought.

However, the Legal Ombudsman found no poor service. The case exposes a common misunderstanding about what an ordinary property search investigates and what buyers must tell their conveyancer before committing to a purchase.

The school extension discovered after purchase

The case appeared in the Legal Ombudsman’s report Losing the Plot: Residential Conveyancing Complaints and Their Causes.

The buyer knew that the property was next to a primary school. At the time, the school was relatively small and she believed she could live with it.

After she had owned the property for several months, she received a letter explaining that a large extension was due to be constructed. The proposed building would restrict the view from the rear of her property. She was also concerned about its possible effect on value and resale.

The buyer complained that her conveyancer should have disclosed the planned development before she purchased the property.

The Ombudsman did not uphold the complaint. The conveyancer had explained that the searches undertaken related to the property being purchased and did not amount to a comprehensive investigation of the surrounding area. The buyer had not told the conveyancer that living beside the school or the possibility of its expansion was a particular concern.

What does a standard local authority search cover?

A standard local authority search ordinarily consists of information from the Local Land Charges Register together with replies to the standard CON29 enquiries.

It can disclose important matters affecting the property being purchased, including relevant planning history, building control records, enforcement matters, highway information and certain road or rail proposals.

Land Data’s guide to property searches explains the information generally provided through the LLC1, CON29 and optional CON29O enquiries.

However, a search against one property is not automatically a comprehensive search of every planning application concerning nearby land. It should not be assumed that it will identify every proposed school extension, housing development, commercial building or other change that might affect the outlook or character of the area.

A search of the property is not a search of the neighbourhood

The distinction is easy to miss. A buyer may reasonably think that a “local search” investigates everything happening locally. In practice, much of the information returned is tied to the property being searched or to the particular questions included within the search.

A proposed development may be physically close to the property but relate to a different title and address. Unless it falls within the scope of the enquiries made or an additional search product, it may not appear in the standard result.

This does not mean that information about nearby development is secret. Planning applications are generally publicly accessible through the relevant local planning authority. The difficulty is that a standard conveyancing search may not have been commissioned to identify and analyse all applications within a chosen distance of the property.

When should a buyer raise a particular concern?

A conveyancer cannot know every feature that matters personally to an individual buyer.

One purchaser may be concerned about a neighbouring school, another about an undeveloped field, and another about a railway line, industrial site or vacant commercial building. If a particular feature influenced the decision to buy, the buyer should identify it expressly and ask what can be investigated.

Useful questions might include:

• Are there current planning applications affecting the adjoining land?
• Has permission been granted for the school, business or development site to expand?
• Is the open land allocated for future development?
• Are there proposals for new roads, railways or other infrastructure?
• Does the search cover planning applications surrounding the property or only the property itself?
• Would an additional planning or neighbourhood report provide wider information?

The buyer should also mention anything noticed during a viewing. Construction notices, survey activity, undeveloped plots, boarded buildings or signs displayed on neighbouring land may justify a specific enquiry.

Would a different search have revealed the development?

Possibly, but that depends on the product, its search radius, the available data and the date on which the search was carried out.

Planning and neighbourhood reports may provide information about nearby planning applications, land use, development proposals and local facilities. Some search products use specified distances from the property, while others apply different methods and exclusions.

The name of the search is not enough. The scope, data sources, search radius, update date and limitations should be checked. A report describing itself as a planning search does not necessarily guarantee that every proposal capable of affecting the property will be identified.

There is also a separate distinction between an official local authority search and information compiled through a personal search provider. Our earlier article Personal Searches: When “Yes” Means “No” considers how lender acceptance of personal searches may be subject to conditions. That issue should not be confused with the geographical scope of the search itself: either type of search must still be examined to establish what information it was designed to cover.

When might the conveyancer be expected to investigate further?

The Ombudsman case does not establish that conveyancers can never be responsible for failing to report nearby development. Each transaction depends on its own facts.

Further investigation may be relevant where:

• the buyer expressly raised a concern about the neighbouring land;
• the conveyancer agreed to commission a wider planning or neighbourhood search;
• a search result or title document contained information calling for further enquiry;
• the seller’s replies referred to a planning proposal or notification;
• the conveyancer received correspondence about the development before exchange;
• the development directly affected rights, access, boundaries or the use of the purchased property; or
• the buyer was given an inaccurate explanation of what the commissioned search covered.

The relevant questions are therefore not simply whether the development existed and whether the conveyancer mentioned it. It is necessary to establish what the conveyancer was instructed to investigate, what information was available, what the search actually covered and what the buyer had said was important.

Nearby planning permission and missing planning permission are different problems

The school case involved planning permission or proposals relating to neighbouring land. A different problem arises where an extension, loft conversion, conservatory or other development at the purchased property lacks the necessary planning authority.

In that situation, the issue may later emerge when the owner sells or remortgages. The buyer’s conveyancer may ask for the planning decision, approved plans, evidence of permitted development or confirmation that planning conditions were discharged.

The absence of a planning document does not automatically mean that the works were unauthorised. The development may have been permitted development, the relevant document may have been lost, or different rules may have applied when the work was carried out. Planning permission and building regulations approval are also separate regimes.

What should an owner check after discovering a nearby development?

Start by obtaining the planning application and decision from the local authority’s planning portal. Review the approved plans, conditions and any subsequent amendments rather than relying only on a consultation letter or description of the development.

Then retrieve the conveyancing file and establish:

• which searches were ordered;
• the precise scope and limitations of each search;
• whether any wider planning or neighbourhood report was obtained;
• what the search results disclosed;
• whether the buyer raised concerns about the neighbouring land;
• whether any specific enquiries were made; and
• what the Report on Title said about the searches and surrounding area.

The fact that a planning application existed before completion does not by itself establish that it should have appeared in the search or been reported by the conveyancer. The application address, timing, search coverage and instructions given by the buyer all matter.

The lesson from the school extension case

A buyer should not assume that an ordinary local authority search provides a complete picture of everything proposed in the surrounding neighbourhood.

If a nearby school, field, commercial property or vacant site matters to the decision to buy, that concern should be raised expressly before exchange. The conveyancer can then explain what the standard search covers and whether a wider planning search or specific enquiry should be considered.

The school extension case is also an important reminder that an unwelcome development discovered after purchase does not automatically amount to poor conveyancing. The answer depends on what was known, what was requested, what the searches were designed to reveal and what advice the buyer received.