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136 legal corner By Owen Hill, Solicitor at Wollen Michelmore Dartmouth Office


Sometimes it is hard to see the wood for the trees


His architect sent an email from the legal department of the relevant local authority inviting my client to appoint a capable lawyer to act on his behalf in relation to the planning agreement that had to run alongside the planning permission I skimmed the draft document and came to the conclusion that it was a pretty standard arrangement with twenty pages of small print to achieve a single objective. The purpose was to ensure that when the existing building was converted from commercial to residential purposes – the owner of the building would pay just under £5,000 as a one off contribution to the local authority fund for play provision in the vicinity I noticed that the draft document included


I


terms to the effect that the obligation to pay the monies was to be triggered by the occupation of either one of the two new apartments that would be created by the implementation of the consent for development. I knew my guy was keen to proceed with the development and could just imagine his reaction to another clause in the small print of the draft document that said


recently received a new brief from a regular client who has just been given the green light on a planning application.


I love talking


myself out of a job when there is a simple


alternative that makes much more sense for my client.


he would have to pay £1,000 towards the legal costs of the Council in addition to my costs for sorting this planning agreement for him. The net effect would be legal costs of nearly half the value of the obligation that the document was designed to address! So I picked up the phone to my friend and asked him if he was likely to start the development straight away. He said “Yes – just as soon as the planning agreement is done and the planning permission issued with it.” I told him that the process would probably take a few weeks of email ping pong and leave him a few thousand pounds poorer. He seemed resigned to this and was about to close the call so that I could get on with it when I said, “Why don’t you just


write the cheque now and save yourself the costs and delay?” I love talking myself out of a job when there is a simple alternative that makes much more sense for my client. He is so happy that he has agreed to pay me fees that more than adequately cover the ten minutes it took me to see the wood for the trees and promised a slap up lunch some time soon•


Owen Hill is a solicitor at the Dartmouth office of Wollen Michelmore Solicitors. He can be contacted on 01803 832191. More information is available at www.wollenmichelmore.co.uk


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