Conveyancing - 106 Agreements

[wisewomen]

In the process of selling our house and the buyer has requested a copy of the 106 Agreement.

What is this and have we anythink to worry about?

To be fair when we bought the hous we never came across this in any of the paperwork!

[buildersmate]

All is explained here.
http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId =71631
Unless you obtained Planning Permission yourself on the land as a bare plot, or you have sold part of the plot after getting PP on it for further development, I can't understand why this question has cropped up. It is primarily a tool used by Planners on large Developers (of estates) to make sure they develop enough of an infrastructure - open spaces etc. More recently as individuals have been after PP on single plots by splitting their garden in half, Planners are using it to claw back part of the Planning Gain in money. Why isn't your solicitor answering such questions for you?

[wisewomen]

To be fair I work at the Solicitors who are sorting it all out for us. She has already explained it to my partner and he tried to explain it to me (not every clearly). I have googled it and have a vague idea of what it is and just wondered whether anyone had had any experiences of it themselves.

[the millster]

Well, from what I understand of 106 Agreements, they were devised so that people on lower incomes could also afford to be part of the property market. A client of mine is in a similar situation to yourself and unfortunately it is having a negative impact on the sale. I hope that it is different for you! In my clients case, the Section 106 Agreement instructs that when she decided to move, the local authority must offer the house to the people it was intended for ie people on a waiting list for such properties, if no-one can be found for the property she was free to put the house on the open market however it does restrict the purchaser when they wish to sell in th off chance that a suitable candidate is found for the house. Which needless to say, then means that they will not receive anywhere near the amount paid for it.

On the plus side, one of our conveyancers is trying to bring this up with the local authority, so quite possibly they may have to rethink their actions, or perhaps revise the conditions of the 106 Agreement.

Apologies if I haven't been very clear!

[wisewomen]

Thanks for that. It makes abit more sense now. I get the impression our buying will be enquiring whether our house is part of the 'affordable housing' on the estate then to ensure she doesnt lose out when she sells. Fortuntely for us it is not and therefore everything should go ahead as planned.

Thanks so much thats a real weight off :-)