Selling House With A TPO

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If your freehold or leasehold house has a garden or any other type of green space, it’s possible that it features one or more trees that are covered by a tree protection order (TPO), where local authorities restrict cutting or destroying trees without their consent. This guide explains how TPOs can create barriers to selling a home, and offers tips on how to still get a fast sale.

1. What is a tree protection order?
2. Potential punishments for violating a tree protection order
3. Exceptions to complying with a tree protection order at your property
4. Appealing a tree protection order at your home when trying to sell it
5. How a tree protection order can make it harder to sell a home
6. Four methods for selling a property with a tree protection order
7. Questions and answers about selling a house with a tree protection order

What is a tree protection order?

If you are the owner of a leasehold or freehold house, flat or other type of residential property with a garden or other green space, it’s possible that one or more trees at the home could be subject to what’s known as a tree protection order (TPO). And having one of these orders at your property could create some additional hurdles when you’re trying to sell it.
TPOs were established under a provision of a UK Government legislation known as the Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation)(England) Regulations 2012. It says that someone look to cut or destroy a tree covered by a local authority TPO must first receive consent to do so.
The primary purpose of a TPO is to preserve trees based on their size, age or several other reasons why keeping them has some value to the local community. These orders can apply to just one tree, a group of trees or even entire woodlands. There are no restrictions on the species or other attributes of a tree for consideration for it to be subject to an order.
As the next section of this guide explains further, if a TPO is in place for a tree then it is illegal to cut or destroy the tree, including lopping, topping wilful damage and uprooting.
Whether you’re selling your home because of financial difficulty, a move somewhere else in the UK or another country, to no longer own a second property or any other reason, this guide explains why you could face some possible hurdles in trying to find a buyer for your leasehold or freehold home.
But it also outlines some options for how to overcome those barriers and still secure not only a very speedy sale but also one with a competitive offer that helps to keep your costs low.

Potential punishments for violating a tree protection order

Once a TPO has been issued for a tree at your leasehold or freehold property, you must ensure that you abide by it and do not make any attempt to cut or tear down the cut without first getting consent from the local authority that issued the order, as that’s what the law requires.
Homeowners put themselves at considerable financial and legal risk if they either ignore a TPO and destroy or cut a tree covered by an order, or if they do without knowledge of the TPO. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse when it applies to these orders and covered trees.
It’s very likely that the local authority will find out about what you’ve done to TPO-covered tree, and they are within their rights under the law to pursue litigation against you for damages. The standard cap on these damages is £20,000 but it can be unlimited in certain situations.
In one recent case, the borough council of Eastleigh pursued a case against a property owner who cut down several trees in violation of an existing TPO. The legal action led to the landowner being charged a fine of £50,000, as an article in The Guardian details. which is far above the initial £20,000 cap on fines for violating a TPO.
Having to pay tens of thousands of pounds in fines is something most homeowners would like to avoid during the selling process, and that’s why you need to abide by these orders.

Exceptions to complying with a tree protection order at your property

Although there are strict fines that can be imposed if you violate a TPO by cutting or destroying a covered tree without first getting a local authority’s permission, some exceptions exist.
Whilst limited, these situations include specific times when you might not need to get approval from the local authority before cutting or destroying a TPO subject to an order, as noted on the website for Gotelee Solicitors. If any of these scenarios apply, you typically won’t face legal liability for any actions with the tree:

• A project with approved planning permission is being held up by the tree
• The TPO-protected tree is already dead
• There is an urgent risk of serious potential harm if the tree is left untouched
• If work on the tree is necessary for compliance with a particular law
• And other specific situations in limited cases

And you will usually have to at least provide some notification to your local authority about the work that you plan to do on a tree that’s covered by an existing order. If you fail to tell them of your plans to cut or remove a TPO-regulated tree, this could create legal complications.

Appealing a tree protection order at your home when trying to sell it

If there’s a TPO that affects your leasehold or freehold property that you’re attempting to sell, be aware that it can be possible in some cases to appeal an order and have it revoked.
It is feasible appeal a local authority’s decision on issuing a tree protection order, as the UK government’s website notes. You could consider whether you might want to pursue a possible appeal before selling with the hope of it being revoked, which could address any worries from buyers.
You can file an appeal if you have requested consent from a local authority but have not heard a decision after eight weeks from the date of filing. Appeals are made to the UK Secretary of State, and then handled by the Planning Inspectorate on their behalf. If an appeal rules in your favour, the planning authority cannot then try to issue a decision denying consent.
But this could be a rather lengthy process and there is no guarantee that you will win any appeal, in which case the TPO would simply remain in place and you’ll only have achieved waiting many more months before trying to sell your home. For those property owners looking to sell in a hurry, appealing an existing tree order may simply not be an option.
You will be able to sell your house with a TPO even without appealing the order, and one of the swiftest ways to do so is by contacting a quick buyer such as LDN Properties. These companies can speedily buy almost any type of home, and they’ll give you a competitive order regardless of any potential negative factors, such as a TPO order. Other benefits of selling to a quick include that they can finalise the purchase within a handful of weeks, and they should not charge you any fees.

How a tree protection order can make it harder to sell a home

TPOs can be find across the UK, regardless of whether a house is located in a city, suburb, or rural or country area.
Unfortunately, no matter the scope of a TPO, if there’s an order applying to one or more trees at your leasehold or freehold property, you could find it more difficult to attract buyers. They could have one or more explanations for why they are less likely to make an offer for purchasing such a house, or at least make an offer that’s significantly below your current asking price.
Below you’ll see three of the most common reasons that someone might give for not wanting to buy a home that has a TPO. Understanding these rationales can make it easier for you to see why you might be struggling to act certain buyers to have an interest in your property.
Facing restrictions: You might meet some prospective buyers who are interested in gardening and who would like to make certain changes – that would not require planning permission – to the green space, but they are worried about how a TPO might affect this. The process of contesting or trying to otherwise overcome a TPO could be more than they’re interested in.
Planning problems: Related to the potential gardening restrictions that a TPO can place on a homeowner, it can also create major problems with trying to obtain planning permission for certain projects at a property. This could discourage buyers who are looking to purchase your house and then make modifications that would include cutting or destroying the tree.
Legal liability: Violations of a TPO, whether intentional or not, can result in thousands of pounds in fines for homeowners if the local authority decides to prosecute them. That potential threat of legal action alone could be enough to make some buyers hesitant to make an offer to purchase your property, because the fear of prosecution could be more than they’ll accept.

Four methods for selling a property with a tree protection order

If you’re attempting to sell your freehold or leasehold house with a TPO, you’ll need to decide which approach you would like to use in order to find a buyer. They include selling with an estate agent, selling to a quick home buyer, selling at an auction or selling on your own.
You’ll learn that some of these methods have notable cons, such as the fact that selling without any assistance might take more than a year to complete. Other approaches have strong benefits, like quick buyers not charging any commission to sellers.
Finding the right selling option for your situation can be made easier by first writing down your priorities with finding a buyer, including the goal selling price, your willingness to pay any fees to sell and how long you’re prepared to wait before securing a buyer. Then compare these facts against the four approaches below and this should help you identify the ideal choice.

Selling with an estate agent

A traditional way of selling a house with a TPO is using an estate agent, who handles most of the necessary steps. This includes the creation of a listing that describes the property and includes photographs of the interior and exterior, which the estate agent will then advertise online, in their office and in local newspapers. They’ll also schedule viewings to give people tours of the home, and hear offers, with the goal of taking one through to exchanging contracts.
For doing all of this work, the typical estate agent will charge a seller commission within a range from 1.15 percent to 1.40 percent of the property’s eventual sale price. This fee will raise your overall costs because it will be subtracted immediately from the final selling proceeds.
Deciding to sell through an estate agent is also not the most rapid choice available, because the entire process from beginning to end could take more than a full year. If you’re hoping to sell your house with a TPO as fast as feasible, you should consider other options, such as getting in touch with a quick home buyer that could complete the process in just a few short weeks.
And it’s important to be aware that someone could make a genuine offer to purchase your property but then change their mind and rescind the offer, and so long as contracts have not yet been exchanged then they can do so without being subject to any penalties. This would also delay your selling date even further as you’d have to start over with looking for a buyer.

Selling to a quick home buyer

Quick buyers are companies that have the financial resources available right away to purchase almost any category of freehold or leasehold home. They don’t have to wait weeks or months to initially win approval for a mortgage that will pay for the purchase, and therefore they can usually complete the process of buying a property within a handful of weeks.
This timeline includes the important final steps of exchanging contracts and paying the seller the full proceeds, and it’s usually much swifter than any of the three other methods of selling.
LDN Properties, founded roughly two decades ago, is a quick buyer that has an extensive history purchasing homes throughout the UK, regardless of their age, condition, location, shape, size, type or any potentially negative factors such as the existence of a TPO.
For example, the long and always growing list of homes that LDN Properties has bought and considered buying includes not just houses with TPOs but also properties with legal problems, flats that have elevated levels of asbestos, homes situated near power lines, Wates houses, flats located close to a railway station, inherited retirement homes, properties near a petrol station, houses that do not have planning permission, listed houses and many other varied situations.
Another important benefit of using quick home buying companies is that they should not charge you any commission when purchasing your property, which helps to lower your costs. Compare that to selling your house using the services of an auctioneer or estate agent, who will charge you commission if they’re able to sell your home, and this is taking out of the final proceeds.

Selling at an auction

Or you could consider trying your luck with an auction, where you’ll choose a reserve price – the lowest value at which you agree your home can sell – and then people will be able to place bids at increasing price amounts on the property. Just note that if you don’t receive at least one bid qualifying at the reserve price or higher then your home will go unsold.
Auctioneers will reduce your workload when selling a property because they will take care of the important steps like preparing and marketing a listing for your home, hosting the auction itself and then overseeing the completion of a successful sale of your house. For this work, they will charge commission, often at 2.5 percent of the property’s eventual sale price. This will increase your expenses because the fee is subtracted immediately from the final auction proceeds.
There are some auctioneers that may be willing to either reduce the level of commission that they charge you, or to have the buyer pay some of your costs, so ask about this possibility.
Selling through an auction is also far from the quickest method available, because there are several long waiting periods involved. For example, you’ll have to wait for many weeks or even months between the day on which you decide to sell your property and the day on which the auction is held. Then, if your house does sell, the buyer will usually be given about a month to sign the required legal papers and complete their other tasks needed to finalise the sale.
In some cases, auctioneers might set a tighter deadline for the winning top bidder to finish these actions, but other auction houses could give buyers even longer than a month.

Selling on your own

Another way to sell your house with a TPO would be on your own, which puts the burden on you to handle every step from the initial creation and advertising of a listing through to scheduling viewings and ultimately hearing offers, ideally taking one through to exchange of contracts.
It’s a huge amount of work and it’s not something that you can only do in your spare time, and if you have never sold a home before it could take more than a year to find a buyer. That’s why it’s only suggested to pursue this method if you have prior experience with selling a property, or you have a suitably qualified friend or family member that can help you out for free.
Note also that a buyer could make an offer but then withdraw it and walk away from the sale without facing any penalties, so long as contracts have not yet been exchanged. Should this happen, you’ll have to begin again with finding a buyer, slowing the timeline even further.
Perhaps the only clear benefit of selling without assistance is that you won’t have to pay any commission to an auctioneer or estate agent. But the saving you make could be cancelled out by the funds you’ll have to spend on advertising your property and all the other steps of selling.
As an alternative, you could instead sell to an honest no-fee quick buyer such as LDN Properties. These companies would not only provide the same benefit of you not having to pay any commission, but you would get an additional advantage with the fact that their typical timeline for purchasing most homes is just a few weeks, including the exchange of contracts. It’s a streamlined and stress-free alternative to the hassle of selling without any third party help.

Top queries and answers about selling a house with TPO

If you are a homeowners looking to sell fast, you may have some questions to be answered. Here are some questions you may be thinking of asking if you are selling your house with a TPO.