Case Study Questions

Question 1

What difference does a full vs an outline planning permission make to a purchaser of a site?

Answer 1

gajkg

Question 2

What is the current lawful use class of the site?

Answer 2

rga

Question 3

Could a developer just build out the 4 x 3 bed units?

Answer 3

ghjsh

Question 4

Does a purchaser have to do anything before they can build out the 4x3 bed units in the erroneous description of development in the Decision Notice?

Answer 4

gaaet

Question 5

What is the minimum timescale a LPA could determine your minor mod application within?

Answer 5

ga

Question 6

Is there a risk that the planning consent could be JR’d? (i.e. is it outside the time limits now and was it outside the limits of this period when you were marketing the site?)

Answer 6

gag

Question 7

What period after an application is determined is a third party able to JR the scheme?

Answer 7

argr

Question 8

Can you identify the two key reasons available to apply to overturn a planning permission through judicial review?

Answer 8

(Ans: If you appeal to overturn the rejection of a planning application, you can only judicially challenge the decision on such grounds as error of law or misinterpretation of policy.)

Question 9

What is the difference between a minor vs a major modification planning application?

Answer 9

ga

Question 10

Was the scheme determined at a planning committee? What scheme was set out in the officer’s report to committee i.e. on what basis was the scheme determined i.e. 2x2 and 3x2 units or 4x3 units?

Answer 10

agaet

Question 11

What is the determination process where an application is not heard at committee?

Answer 11

aatgr

Question 12

Did the application have aS106 attached to it? How can you tell if it did it have a S106 attached to the consented scheme?

Answer 12

aega

Question 13

Could you accept a bid on the site from a family member?

Answer 13

aetha

Question 14

So Planning was granted in January 2021 – can you tell me how long this consent is valid for?

Answer 14

gag

Question 15

Your final sale price was significantly higher than your original residual appraisal – what do you put this down to or why do you think this was?

Answer 15

aeth

Question 16

Did you erect any marketing signage?

Answer 16

ager

Question 17

Which legislation governs the use of marketing signage?

Answer 17

grdh

Question 18

For which boards is planning consent required?

Answer 18

agtah

Question 19

How many boards are allowed per building?

Answer 19

aeg

Question 20

If you had suspected money laundering during your checks and due diligence before accepting the instruction, what must you have done?

Answer 20

datg

Question 21

How does the money laundering process work?

Answer 21

aegaeth

Question 22

Which legislation governs the money laundering procedure?

Answer 22

aetg

Question 23

What sort of strengths and weaknesses did you identify when sorting through the bids you received?

Answer 23

ragaeth

Question 24

Why may a vendor choose to accept one offer over another?

Answer 24

aah

Question 25

What would you have done if the purchaser was holding up completion?

Answer 25

atet

Question 26

What is a Notice to Complete?

Answer 26

tae

Question 27

Who pays the legal costs of serving a Notice to Complete?

Answer 27

taer

Question 28

What if this deadline is missed?

Answer 28

agarg

Question 29

What did you include within the Heads of Terms?

Answer 29

aethtae

Question 30

You mentioned before taking on the instruction you established the CIL liability. How did you make that calculation?

Answer 30

st

Question 31

On your inspection you had regards to your firm’s lone working policy. What does that entail?

Answer 31

tst

Question 32

Are there any particular cases in the news that feed into that lone working policy?

Answer 32

ageth

Question 33

You carried out AML checks, if it wasn’t an existing client what would you have done?

Answer 33

tah

Question 34

You were doing this in January 2021, how did you confirm their identification without being able to meet them?

Answer 34

ath

Question 35

You said you marketed the property by private treaty followed by informal tender. Did you conduct a site appraisal before marketing? What figure did you get to?

Answer 35

rag

Question 36

You sold the site for so much more than your opinion of value? Conservative to not raise client’s expectations.

Answer 36

\sheta

Question 37

Why did you recommend a second round of bids if the first round offers were already higher than your opinion of value?

Answer 37

tha

Question 38

You said you identified potential hazards on site, what were these?

Answer 38

gea

Question 39

Did you see any of these hazards onsite?

Answer 39

srg

Question 40

Was the asbestos identified on site or just through the management survey?

Answer 40

asrg

Question 41

What were the locations of the asbestos?

Answer 41

ga

Question 42

Did you notice any disturbance of the asbestos on site at all?

Answer 42

gwr

Question 43

Did you account for the removal of the remaining asbestos in your appraisal?

Answer 43

Increased contingency slightly. I am aware asbestos costs around £50 per sqm to remove so wouldn't have been a high cost.

Question 44

How much was the CIL?

Answer 44

CIL totalled around £60k

Question 45

Did you make any deduction or account for the building already on site in relation to CIL?

Answer 45

arg

Question 46

You say the site was 0.35 acres, what was that in hectares?

Answer 46

arh

Question 47

You mentioned a defective planning application title for 4 x 3 beds, whereas the actual plans refer to 2 x 2 beds and 2 x 3 beds. Do you think there would have been scope for further intensification of the development/unit increase?

Answer 47

aehe

Question 48

You mentioned you used the informal tender process, were there any downsides of that?

Answer 48

areh

Question 49

What are the typical structural characteristics that make it a Victorian property?

Answer 49

aeh

Question 50

You mentioned your company’s lone working policy?

Answer 50

atha

Question 51

What do your Know Your Client checks involve?

Answer 51

aeh

Question 52

You stated the gross internal area. Explain the difference between GIA and GEA

Answer 52

ahe

Question 53

What sort of guidance note would you refer to when measuring?

Answer 53

arh

Question 54

What is the difference between formal and informal tender?

Answer 54

wrhW

Question 55

You prepared a land registry compliant plan. What makes it Land Reg compliant?

Answer 55

AHE

Question 56

What scale would it need to be at?

Answer 56

ahe

Question 57

What is a S73 application?

Answer 57

aeth

Question 58

How did you prepare your risk assessment?

Answer 58

aerh

Question 59

What would you have done if you had prepared your risk assessment in the office and then you got to the site and something had changed?

Answer 59

aeh

Question 60

Did you seek any planning advice in relation to the planning issue?

Answer 60

aeha

Question 61

How would you advise your client if you went to the council and they said they wouldn’t be able to validate this under s73, what other options would be available?

Answer 61

aeh

Question 62

Do you know what a s73a application is?

Answer 62

awrh

Question 63

What is a 96a application?

Answer 63

arh

Question 64

Say your client submitted a s73 themselves and you’ve mentioned the statuory determination period is 8 weeks. What would you advise your client to do if the local authority hadn’t responded in that time?

Answer 64

The authority should be able to give you an idea about the likely timetable. If it cannot decide your application within eight weeks, it should obtain your written consent to extend the period. If it has not done so, you can appeal to the Secretary of State. But appeals can take several months to decide and it may be quicker to reach agreement with the LPA. An appeal is also permitted on the grounds of 'non-determination' when the local planning authority fails to determine the application within the statutory period. Very occasionally the Secretary of State will take the decision.

Question 65

You mentioned the Estate Agents Act. What are the main principles?

Answer 65

awrh

Question 66

You priced the property at a guide price that was significantly less than the price ultimately achieved. What method of valuation do you use to arrive at your guide price?

Answer 66

rg

Question 67

You mention comparable recent transactions. Why did you not use your recent comparable transactions as opposed to a residual which is fundamentally floored?

Answer 67

aeh

Question 68

Why do you think your pricing of the property was so much lower than the offers received?

Answer 68

aeh

Question 69

How was the cost of the development reflected in your appraisal? Did you get that right? (In terms of build costs)

Answer 69

aerh

Question 70

The fundamental difference between your residual and the prices received is just down to your assessment of GDV at the time you undertook the

Answer 70

aerh

Question 71

You say you were mindful of the locations of remaining asbestos. Where were you looking for remaining asbestos and what were you mindful of?

Answer 71

aerh

Question 72

You also took a conflict of interest check. What are the different types of conflict of interest?

Answer 72

aerh

Question 73

When carrying out the inspection and measurement of the property. Can you talk me through how you went about that and what the key factors were that you were looking out for when assessing the site?

Answer 73

aerh

Question 74

What is IPMS 3?

Answer 74

ahr

Question 75

What is a s73 application?

Answer 75

awrh

Question 76

Typically how long do these take to be determined?

Answer 76

arh

Question 77

You talk about when you first took on the instruction you proposed a fee to undertake the work. How did you determine what level of fee was applicable to this particular job and what legislation did you have regard to?

Answer 77

awh

Question 78

In relation to the administrative error in the planning application.. did you ever feel the site could accommodate 4x3 beds and when you agreed to proceed with your preferred purchaser, did you consider overage?

Answer 78

awr

Question 79

If you were advising your client on overage, how do you secure that contractually? Would the overage appear on title documentation?

Answer 79

awrh

Question 80

You talk about the various different ways of disposing of the site. Can you talk me through what scenario would an auction be best suited?

Answer 80

awrh

Question 81

What are the benefits of formal tender opposed to auction?

Answer 81

arh

Question 82

Can you give us an overview of the positives and negatives of private treaty method of sale?

Answer 82

awrh

Question 83

Have you ever sold a property for a charity?

Answer 83

awh

Question 84

You talk about cash funded offers and the advice you gave to your client included a list of all the offers and whether they were cash funded or not. Why was that an important consideration?

Answer 84

awh

Question 85

With money laundering being rife in the UK, talk me through the steps you have to take when considering cash funded offers]

Answer 85

awrh

Question 86

These offers were over £400k in cash…

Answer 86

awrh

Question 87

Do you have any obligations as an agent to uncover the sources of this cash?

Answer 87

Comply with anti-money laundering regs and proceeds of crime acts. Proof of funds = bank statement Source of funds = 1. Savings – banks statements showing proof of funds and demonstrating how the money has built up over time in the form of deposits from your salary or pension. 2. Sale of property – a copy of the completion statement from your solicitor. * In each of these cases you would also need to provide bank statements, which show the money was deposited in your account from the appropriate source. Anti-money laundering regulations also come into play if you are receiving money from abroad to help you buy a house. It is possible that your solicitor will decline funds if the money is coming from what is regarded as a high-risk country.

Question 88

What due diligence would you need to do?

Answer 88

awh

Question 89

Does it matter where the cash has come from. If it has come from a bank account is that not okay?

Answer 89

awrh