Permission for conservatory from builders?

geordiescouse

Hi, I am looking to move shortly and have been told that as there was a small clause in our contract somewhere in the small print we should not have erected a conservatory without first asking the permission of the housebuilders Leech (now Persimmon). Has anyone heard of this sort of thing and how much does it usually cost for retrospective consent? Would this also apply to our garage conversion?

Any help gratefully received, I would hate to be held up at the legal stage for lack of a consent letter.

virgo149

We had to do this when we put a conservatory on our Wesbury home. We only got the consent retrospectively when we wanted to sell.

I think it cost us about 125 quid - is slightly cheaper if you get it before. We did this just over 2 years ago - from Persimmon. We wouldn't have been able to sell without it. A simple letter and a photo of the conservatory was all they wanted. It took just under 2 weeks to sort out. Seemed to just be a money making scheme on builders part.

Just remember to make sure you have also complied with planning requirements - we didn't need planning permission and managed to get a letter from the council stating that which also made things easier.

Garage conversion - not sure. Our restrictions applied to 'erections' in our back garden!

Richard_Webster

Most conservatories don't need planning or building reg consents, but this is not always the case, so it is best to check, but do this carefully so as not to "drop yourself in it".

Most builders will give a retrospective consent under covenants but they don't have to. It is a matter of local knowledge. If your solicitor is reasonably confident that he has dealt with a particular builder before and not had a problem, and not been charged too much, then it is worth approaching them.

The alternative is a restrictive covenant indemnity policy, which typically costs £100-£300. A policy is not available if you have already approached the builder. So it is only worth approaching the builder if you are pretty sure of the outcome. Sometimes these letters get stuck in the builder's internal system - particularly for large organisations - then you can't have a policy and you haven't got a consent. A few builders will charge what they can get away with.

I have one near me who would give these consents for nothing and got fed up with a local solicitor imposing on his good nature to demand that he dropped everything and faxed a response that he decided to charge £300 for retrospective consents in future because of this.

MissNobody

I had a similar clause with Persimmon for permission to have a shed. I wrote them a letter asking for permission, they replied saying ok as long as similar to others in area - there were all shapes and sizes. There was no charge. This was about 6 years ago so maybe the charge is a new way to make money!!;)

jaywhoopee

A similar clause turned up in our paperwork meaning that the original builder - who doesn't seem to exist any more - should be contacted before any modifications were made.

Our conveyancer said it's a common practice and because of the difficulty tracking down the company (which seemed to still exist legally but not in reality) we just got the vendor to put an indemnity in place to protect us in the unlikely event of it becoming an issue.

space_rider

I can remember reading that when I bought my house. How long does it last for? I`ve put my paperwork in the loft and can`t get access until someone tall enough comes round. My house is a barratt one and its now 3 years old.

jaywhoopee

Well my house was built in around 1968 and it still seems to be a requirement (along with various other clauses that get ignored by all, such as prohibiting cars being parked on the street), but check your paperwork in case it's time limited.

I doubt they'd pass up the opportunity to make a few quid for looking at some plans though and chances are the indemnity could cost more than getting their approval

I seem to recall the indemnity was around the 125 mark mentioned in this thread, but that was 5 years ago.