insurance for no planning permission

mews88

help, we are buying a new build house in a conservation area. we wish to convert garage to play room, although we have not officially applied for planning permission, the council will say no as clause in original planning permission states that garage must stay as garage to provide 2 parking spaces. my insurance company have said that if we do it without permission and we claim for anything, we will not be covered. i am hearing about indemnity insurance - would this cover this type of thing. i am not worried about converting it back as hubbie will do the conversion so won't cost much. i am just worried about not being insured!

huckster

The conveyancer liability cover is normally taken out by any purchaser of your home, to cover any potential liability for taking on a home where there has been a change made without planning permission.

Not aware of any Insurance you can take out to cover liability that you are about to knowingly cause.

If you are talking about your Buildings Insurance when you say that the unauthorised conversion of the garage won't be covered, then I think you need to read the terms of the policy. What does the policy say about this type of situation. Sometimes when you ask Insurers, you need to ask them to point to the part of the policy that excludes the situation. They might have given you an 'off the cuff' answer that is not backed up by the policy wording.

Before you convert the garage, I would suggest that you take advice. See if anyone that lives near you, has made a similar change.

mews88

thanks for your reply huckster.
is a hard one really as loads of people in the area have converted their garage but none have done with permission and one has even been asked to convert back. my insurance company are adamant that if we change the use of the garage without required permssion they will not cover the building as the garage was not designed to be lived in. this makes me laugh because it is either structurally sound or it isn't. anyhoo, having tried quite a few insurers none can help so guess we either take the risk and be uninsured or don't do it!
thanks for taking the time to reply tho :undecided

Loughton_Monkey

I cannot see any logical reason why your Insurer would not provide normal insurance cover. They do not ask on a proposal form "Do you intend to break planning permission laws....?" and these days Insurance Companies are not allowed to avoid claims due to facts they didn't ask about.

[They can, of course, avoid in other 'normal' ways - for example if they require 5 lever locks on all final doors, and window locks etc. - and if you didn't fit these to, say, a new door in the 'garage'....]

Breaking planning rules, though, is another matter. There is no insurance you can buy to indemnify you for anything to do with it. So you are taking a risk in this respect. It may affect NHBC cover as well.