Buckles Solicitors LLP has hit the ground running in the early months of 2021 with several significant appointments and promotions across a range of legal departments. Among the new recruits,...
Planning due diligence
Planning due diligence is essential to identify and eliminate potential obstacles to a sale or purchase transaction.
This is a necessary process to ensure that previous usage of the site or its susceptibility to potential issues such as flood do not cause issues further down the line and seeking expert advice is recommended.
The first point to establish is whether the land or property in question has any restrictions placed upon it, such as being located in a conservation area or being a listed building. Existing public rights of way may also create restrictions.
The previous use of the land, such as for landfill, may have left it in a contaminated state. The due diligence process can help identify this through checking historical mapping data.
In terms of potential issues that may arise in future, it is worth checking whether the site or property intended for purchase or sale is at risk of flood or subsidence and whether anything can be done to mitigate these risks.