4 bed repo that only has planning permission for 3 bed?

jennimoo

We saw a repossessed house on the market a while back, and couldn't do anything because we had no offer on ours yet. Today I got an email saying it is back on the market, for much less money. I called the estate agent to get the story and it turns out that when the house was built (I would guess in the last 5 years) they had planning permission for a 3 bed and built a 4 bed, and of course got no completion certificate for it. The buyers who intially offered have backed out as it is all too complicated. Apparently the solicitor for the company selling it are getting an indemnity certificate.

Basically we are wondering if we should persue it in the hope we get a bargain, or whether we should steer clear. If there is an indemnity certificate does that 'make it alright', or is it still going to come up as an issue when we sell in years to come, and in our purchase now I guess?

PasturesNew

Is it physically bigger/different on the outside, or did they achieve 4 bedrooms just by moving the internal walls about a bit?

jennimoo

I don't know yet, have only have very limited info at the moment, from the estate agent.

silvercar

I think that once 4 years have elapsed there is no action that the council can take. For peace of mind (and to satisfy the lender) you would want the indemnity policy, but it won't mean much as no action can be taken.

You would want a completion certificate for the building regs to show it has been built correctly. It is possible to have a completion certificate even without planning permission. With no completion certificate you are relying on your surveyor to say the work is sound, so I would want a full strucutural survey.

Councils can only take action on lack of building regs within 12 months, so that won't be a problem; but you want reassurance that the place won't collapse, hence the FSS.

If it is only an internal difference between the plans and what was built, then it matters less. There is nothing to say that the original plans were followed and then changes that wouldn't have needed permission made later.