Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)

--
*Pentium wise, pen and paper foolish *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On May 22, 2:09*pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)

If extension's over 4 yrs old, just get certificate of lawfulness.
Buyer might want seller to pay for a worthless £200 insurance policy.

If not 4 yrs old, its a bit more fun.


NT

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
scribeth thus
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)


Can't you apply for retrospective planing and build control approval?.


--
Tony Sayer

On May 22, 2:09*pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.


Survey has nothing to do with planning permission. Did he do the
conveyancing himself? If he employed someone else to do it, then it
was their responsibility to check into the lack of planning
permission.

Did the extension go through buildings control? If it didn't, then
that's liable to be a bigger issue for the buyer!

On May 22, 2:09*pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.

So his solicitor/conveyancer did a better job than your mate's
solicitor.

Mate is tearing his hair out.

Let it be a lesson.

He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Surveyor would not have identified planning issues.

He needs to get on to the solicitor, or whoever did his conveyancing
during his purchase. The standard questionnaire asks about these sort
of things. Maybe it was the original vendor who lied.

MBQ

On 22/05/2012 14:37, tony sayer wrote:
In , Dave Plowman (News)
scribeth thus
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)


Can't you apply for retrospective planing and build control approval?.


Did the extension even require PP? (see Permitted development)

On 22/05/2012 14:09, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)

'They' are usually only after getting you to buy an indemnity policy...

On 22/05/2012 14:09, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.

Happened to me buying our first house. Although we had a solicitor do
the conveyancing and "all" due diligence at the time they had gone out
of business 5 years later when we came to sell the house. Fortunately
our new set of solicitors took it in their stride and obtained
retrospective planning permission for us without too much difficulty.
Just delayed things and made for severely shorter finger nails...

I suspect it could be a lot harder if the extension crossed a building
line or the council decided to be bolshy about it. This sort of thing
only shows up when you try to sell your house - that your original
solicitor basically did not know which way is up

Probably better off discussed in uk.legal really

He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Tue, 22 May 2012 14:09:53 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)


Why does he need PP?
Have the council enquired/someone complained?
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On 22/05/2012 15:58, mogga wrote:
On Tue, 22 May 2012 14:09:53 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)


Why does he need PP?

He is trying to sell the house.

Have the council enquired/someone complained?

The people who are buying it have noticed the paperwork is not in order.
Their solicitors were on the ball unlike his.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Well maybe he knows who built it and then he can bill them for the costs of
getting planning permission etc. Unless of course the retrospective
permission has not been granted. That really depends on local rules and one
could presumably prove if its been up for a while with no complaints that
there is no reason for not granting it.

Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)

--
*Pentium wise, pen and paper foolish *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article
,
NT wrote:
On May 22, 2:09 pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)

If extension's over 4 yrs old, just get certificate of lawfulness.
Buyer might want seller to pay for a worthless £200 insurance policy.

You don't just "get a certificate of lawfullness". You apply for one and
hoope your local authoity will grant it. They don't always.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

Most do need it but its often a formality at least around here assuming the
original building was not listed or in a conservation area.

Brian

--
--
From the sofa of Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Phil" wrote in message
...
On 22/05/2012 14:37, tony sayer wrote:
In , Dave Plowman (News)
scribeth thus
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)


Can't you apply for retrospective planing and build control approval?.


Did the extension even require PP? (see Permitted development)

In article
,
Ben Blaukopf wrote:
On May 22, 2:09 pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.


Survey has nothing to do with planning permission. Did he do the
conveyancing himself? If he employed someone else to do it, then it
was their responsibility to check into the lack of planning
permission.

He used a solicitor for all that. But of course how would a solicitor know
there was an 'illegal' extension? A surveyor presumably would realise it
was newer than the house and instruct the solicitor to check?

Did the extension go through buildings control? If it didn't, then
that's liable to be a bigger issue for the buyer!

Dunno. I've a feeling it was just built, as it were.

--
*Cover me. I'm changing lanes.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Tue, 22 May 2012 16:01:49 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:

On 22/05/2012 15:58, mogga wrote:
On Tue, 22 May 2012 14:09:53 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)


Why does he need PP?

He is trying to sell the house.

he bought it 3 months ago?

I'd read that most banks won't touch a property that's been sold so
recently anyway.


Have the council enquired/someone complained?

The people who are buying it have noticed the paperwork is not in order.
Their solicitors were on the ball unlike his.

Is he making a loss?
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On Tue, 22 May 2012 16:06:06 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

Most do need it but its often a formality at least around here assuming the
original building was not listed or in a conservation area.

I don't think that's so. It depends on the size of the extension and
the nature of the property being extended. My extension didn't need PP
but I do have a certificate of completion from BC.

In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
Most do need it but its often a formality at least around here assuming
the original building was not listed or in a conservation area.

I said it was a fairly new house. I believe about 10 years old.

--
*How can I miss you if you won't go away?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
mogga wrote:
He is trying to sell the house.

he bought it 3 months ago?

He's emigrated. Quite suddenly, as he met a woman on holiday and married
her.

I'd read that most banks won't touch a property that's been sold so
recently anyway.

Why on earth not? People die. And so on. Any number of valid reasons why
you might want to sell shortly after buying.

--
*Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

NT spake thus:

On May 22, 2:09Â*pm, "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer. Buyer
discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)

If extension's over 4 yrs old, just get certificate of lawfulness. Buyer
might want seller to pay for a worthless £200 insurance policy.

I bought an insurance indemnity policy against PP being invalid. It cost
£160, is perpetual and may well be worth many, many times that when I come
to sell the house.

In article ,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
mogga wrote:
He is trying to sell the house.

he bought it 3 months ago?

He's emigrated. Quite suddenly, as he met a woman on holiday and married
her.

I'd read that most banks won't touch a property that's been sold so
recently anyway.

Why on earth not? People die. And so on. Any number of valid reasons why
you might want to sell shortly after buying.

round here, a married couple bought a house together and divorced shortly
afterwards. The hosue came back on the market. Another house was bought
by a "speculator", enlarged and then resold.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

On 22/05/2012 14:09, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)

Get him to first work out if it even needed permission:

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On May 22, 2:09*pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Discuss. ;-)

--
*Pentium wise, pen and paper foolish *

* * Dave Plowman * * * * * * * * London SW
* * * * * * * * * To e-mail, change noise into sound.


First thing is to find out if it is a permitted developement or not.
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/per...sion/permitted

If not the **** hits the fan.

After a certain length of time has elapsedhe can apply
forlawfudevelopement.
Can't recall the time.

If it comes to official attention before that time has elapsed he has
to apply for retrospective planning permission. Which might or might
not be granted depending on local planning policy.

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/per...ission/failure

"Scion" wrote in message
...
NT spake thus:
I bought an insurance indemnity policy against PP being invalid. It cost
£160, is perpetual and may well be worth many, many times that when I come
to sell the house.

+1

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Mate of mine bought a house - cash - about three months ago.
Emigrated to SA and sold the house - or rather accepted an offer.
Buyer discovered the extension has no planning permission.
Mate is tearing his hair out.
He didn't have the house surveyed before buying as it was quite new and
appeared to be in good condition.

Is there any proof of the age of the extension?
ISTRC that a structure that has existed for more than 4 years does not
require PP. With exceptions, of course, conservation area etc. I may well be
wrong.
To prove the age there may be existing paperwork relating to the
construction of the extension. Google earth can be useful in situations like
this.
OTOH.
Person buys a house for cash. Give, say, a month for the transaction to be
completed. I think a month would be very optimistic these days.
Three months after the purchase the owner emigrates to SA.
I stand to be corrected but surely (1) the person would have had some
inklings of the intention to emigrate, (2) unless already a SA passport
holder this would have taken more than three months and finally (3) he
didn't have the house surveyed.
Put these words in the correct order:
asmellirat

hth

On Tue, 22 May 2012 16:30:01 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

he bought it 3 months ago?

He's emigrated. Quite suddenly, as he met a woman on holiday and married
her.

Hum, tell him to rent the house out for at least 12 months before
really deciding to sell. He might need it...

--
Cheers
Dave.

In article ,
Nick wrote:
Person buys a house for cash. Give, say, a month for the transaction to
be completed. I think a month would be very optimistic these days.
Three months after the purchase the owner emigrates to SA. I stand to be
corrected but surely (1) the person would have had some inklings of the
intention to emigrate, (2) unless already a SA passport holder this
would have taken more than three months and finally (3) he didn't have
the house surveyed. Put these words in the correct order: asmellirat

His original intention was to keep the house as a UK 'base', and rent it
out. Later, he bought a small business in SA and needed the capital to
develop it. No rats involved. Apart from possibly his solicitor. He is,
shall we say, a bit impulsive, but this mess isn't really of his making.

--
*It sounds like English, but I can't understand a word you're saying.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Tue, 22 May 2012 16:30:01 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
mogga wrote:
He is trying to sell the house.

he bought it 3 months ago?

He's emigrated. Quite suddenly, as he met a woman on holiday and married
her.

I'd read that most banks won't touch a property that's been sold so
recently anyway.

Why on earth not? People die. And so on. Any number of valid reasons why
you might want to sell shortly after buying.


Even if it's not been developed they've suddenly realised there's lots
of issues relating to short ownership properties.

Like people realising it is next to neighbours from hell, or doesn't
have PP for extensions etc.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On Tue, 22 May 2012 23:46:31 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Tue, 22 May 2012 16:30:01 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

he bought it 3 months ago?

He's emigrated. Quite suddenly, as he met a woman on holiday and married
her.

In three months?



Hum, tell him to rent the house out for at least 12 months before
really deciding to sell. He might need it...


I would go with this too.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On Tue, 22 May 2012 23:55:10 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Nick wrote:
Person buys a house for cash. Give, say, a month for the transaction to
be completed. I think a month would be very optimistic these days.
Three months after the purchase the owner emigrates to SA. I stand to be
corrected but surely (1) the person would have had some inklings of the
intention to emigrate, (2) unless already a SA passport holder this
would have taken more than three months and finally (3) he didn't have
the house surveyed. Put these words in the correct order: asmellirat

His original intention was to keep the house as a UK 'base', and rent it
out. Later, he bought a small business in SA and needed the capital to
develop it. No rats involved. Apart from possibly his solicitor. He is,
shall we say, a bit impulsive, but this mess isn't really of his making.


When you buy a house the only people who see it are you and any
surveyors you instruct.
The solicitors don't know whether any bits are new - it is up to the
person buying to be aware and if they are not sure ask and get answers
in writing.

Within 3 months he's decided to marry, emigrate and buy another
business. He is more than impulsive.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

In article ,
mogga wrote:
Within 3 months he's decided to marry, emigrate and buy another
business. He is more than impulsive.

I haven't given the exact timescale of all these events. He did intent
getting married and emigrating before he bought this house, though. But
none of that makes any difference.

Perhaps you'd explain just how the average person is expected to know if
any extensions etc to a house are legal? Surely that's the solicitor's job?

--
*The closest I ever got to a 4.0 in school was my blood alcohol content*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Wed, 23 May 2012 10:58:32 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
mogga wrote:
Within 3 months he's decided to marry, emigrate and buy another
business. He is more than impulsive.

I haven't given the exact timescale of all these events. He did intent
getting married and emigrating before he bought this house, though. But
none of that makes any difference.

Perhaps you'd explain just how the average person is expected to know if
any extensions etc to a house are legal? Surely that's the solicitor's job?


No. That's the surveyors job!

The solicitor doesn't see the property.
They don't usually even see plans.

They can do searches with the council but they'd only indicate any
permission sought or successful and any building regs paperwork. All
that is available to the general public anyway.

You're supposed to get a surveyor to look at the property so they can
point out any issues with it - such as the roof falling off - although
most surveys only come with disclaimers "get an expert surveyor in
field X to look at the X" - but a surveyor should have noticed the
property had an extension.

How new is it?
How does the buyer know it's an extension? Do they have original plans
from somewhere?

Normally a person would look at a street of virtually identical houses
and then wonder why the one they were viewing had an extra bit.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

In article ,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
mogga wrote:
Within 3 months he's decided to marry, emigrate and buy another
business. He is more than impulsive.

I haven't given the exact timescale of all these events. He did intent
getting married and emigrating before he bought this house, though. But
none of that makes any difference.

Perhaps you'd explain just how the average person is expected to know if
any extensions etc to a house are legal? Surely that's the solicitor's
job?

of course it is. The "Searches" should reveal all this - unless the
previous owner did not answer the solicitor's questions truthfully.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

In article ,
mogga wrote:
How new is it?
How does the buyer know it's an extension? Do they have original plans
from somewhere?

Read my first post.

--
*Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
mogga wrote:
On Wed, 23 May 2012 10:58:32 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
mogga wrote:
Within 3 months he's decided to marry, emigrate and buy another
business. He is more than impulsive.

I haven't given the exact timescale of all these events. He did intent
getting married and emigrating before he bought this house, though. But
none of that makes any difference.

Perhaps you'd explain just how the average person is expected to know if
any extensions etc to a house are legal? Surely that's the solicitor's job?


No. That's the surveyors job!

The solicitor doesn't see the property.
They don't usually even see plans.

but the vendor is sent a list of important questions where an extension to
the property would be mentioned.



--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

On 23/05/2012 12:48, mogga wrote:
On Wed, 23 May 2012 10:58:32 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In ,
wrote:
Within 3 months he's decided to marry, emigrate and buy another
business. He is more than impulsive.

I haven't given the exact timescale of all these events. He did intent
getting married and emigrating before he bought this house, though. But
none of that makes any difference.

Perhaps you'd explain just how the average person is expected to know if
any extensions etc to a house are legal? Surely that's the solicitor's job?


No. That's the surveyors job!

I can't see how.

Its a part of the conveyancing process, where the vendor has to fill in
prescribed forms that require disclosure of these things.

The solicitor doesn't see the property.

No, but his client makes a legal declaration to him.

If there is a problem, it should first fall to the conveyancing
solicitor to fix. If it turns out his client has mislead then it may
fall to them.

Normally a person would look at a street of virtually identical houses
and then wonder why the one they were viewing had an extra bit.

How would that work in a situation where every property is different, or
in a rural setting where the house sits alone with no "street" to
compare to?

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Wed, 23 May 2012 13:31:15 +0100, charles
wrote:


No. That's the surveyors job!

The solicitor doesn't see the property.
They don't usually even see plans.

but the vendor is sent a list of important questions where an extension to
the property would be mentioned.




Is this is the case that the original sellers have lied then there
might be a case to look into.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

In article ,
charles wrote:
In article ,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
mogga wrote:
Within 3 months he's decided to marry, emigrate and buy another
business. He is more than impulsive.

I haven't given the exact timescale of all these events. He did intend
getting married and emigrating before he bought this house, though. But
none of that makes any difference.

Perhaps you'd explain just how the average person is expected to know
if any extensions etc to a house are legal? Surely that's the
solicitor's job?

of course it is. The "Searches" should reveal all this - unless the
previous owner did not answer the solicitor's questions truthfully.

Thanks Charles - what I suspect happened. I've only ever bought one place
so not well up on the procedure.

--
*Some people are only alive because it is illegal to kill.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 23/05/2012 12:48 mogga wrote:

On Wed, 23 May 2012 10:58:32 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

Perhaps you'd explain just how the average person is expected to know if
any extensions etc to a house are legal? Surely that's the solicitor's job?


No. That's the surveyors job!

No, it's the solicitor's job to ask relevant questions and get accurate
answers. Those questions include 'Do any extensions have the relevant
permissions?' or similar such wording.

--
F

On Wed, 23 May 2012 10:35:45 +0100, mogga
wrote:

On Tue, 22 May 2012 23:46:31 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Tue, 22 May 2012 16:30:01 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

he bought it 3 months ago?

He's emigrated. Quite suddenly, as he met a woman on holiday and married
her.

In three months?

That's a long time, 30 years ago the Landlord of a pub that I
sometimes visited went on a Golfing holiday to Florida.
He struck up an affair with a multi millionairess who became
infatuated with him and showered him with gifts like a Rolls Royce,
his own apartment at a golf course amongst other things.
He returned home just long enough to transfer the pub over to his wife
and eldest son, flash the Rolex around the bar and then departed to
become a kept man of leisure about 5 days after returning from the
holiday.
Last time I spoke to the Son was about 7 years ago,his Dad was still
out there and happily married to his wealthy partner.

G.Harman

On 24/05/2012 07:15, wrote:
On Wed, 23 May 2012 10:35:45 +0100,
wrote:

On Tue, 22 May 2012 23:46:31 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Tue, 22 May 2012 16:30:01 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

he bought it 3 months ago?

He's emigrated. Quite suddenly, as he met a woman on holiday and married
her.

In three months?

That's a long time, 30 years ago the Landlord of a pub that I
sometimes visited went on a Golfing holiday to Florida.
He struck up an affair with a multi millionairess who became
infatuated with him and showered him with gifts like a Rolls Royce,
his own apartment at a golf course amongst other things.
He returned home just long enough to transfer the pub over to his wife
and eldest son, flash the Rolex around the bar and then departed to
become a kept man of leisure about 5 days after returning from the
holiday.
Last time I spoke to the Son was about 7 years ago,his Dad was still
out there and happily married to his wealthy partner.

G.Harman

Now that's what I call a happy ending