Readers' forum : Land confusion

Mrs A inherited 5.5 acres of land from her late husband. Of this 1.1 acres have frontage to the village green and the back to the rear building boundary has had planning permission for five detached houses since 1987.

My client Mr B approached Mrs A with a view to buying a plot in 1990. In 1991 Mr B and Mrs A married and revised the planning permission to three houses. One plot of one-third of an acre was sold and they built a house for themselves on a second plot in 1992. The third plot has been used as garden ever since. The planning permission on the third plot was changed some years ago from a single house to three apartments; two on the ground floor and one on the first.

My client and his wife are now considering contracting a builder (C) to construct the three...