Buying house, no planning for extension????

katepnlo

We are getting ready to exchange and just had teh last of the papers back, it turnsout that the double height extension that runs along the back of the semi detached house we are buying (extension runs across 'my' house and the adjoining house) which was built in about 1980 and a garrage does not have planning permission?!
On land reg it states about conditional planning in 1980 and that is it.

Now i am worrying!!
It is a our dream home, full of potential, 5 bedrooms, huge garden..(horrific carpets and decorations, but i can see past that :P)
The extension makes it huge.
Now it has been stood for 30 years.
But what are the implications?! My solicitor said about an indemnity insurance policy.
We are looking at completion by next friday..

Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated

kate

Doozergirl

If it's been stood for 30 odd years, it's perfectly legal. The cut off point for Planning Enforcement is four years if it isn't a listed building. Indemnity isn't necessary for it.

Is your surveyor happy with the structure? Does it have Building Regulations Approval? That is the one where there is still the tiniest chance that they would seek to enforce, but it just won't happen. It's been there for 30 years, they would have to seek a very expensive court order to try and make it comply with 30 year old regulations that simply don't even compare to current regulations. They'd only ever try if it was clearly dangerous, which it clearly isn't or they'd have taken action a long time ago. It's all a distant memory.

We've renovated so many houses, some of them with horribly dodgy work carried out. Building Control Officers have never ever asked us to look at work that someone else has previously done, but the simple fact is that if something looks badly done we don't want to live with it so it gets replaced to modern standards anyway. You'll probably be the same if this is your home - you'll want everything to be right and will change things that don't meet your standard.

Put it this way, the house itself, depending on it's age probably never had Planning (1944?) or Building Regulations anything like we have today (1966?) but that's not even a consideration for the solicitors. Make sure your surveyor is happy and let the vendors purchase the indemnity policy that will never be needed. Ask them to make sure it covers subsequent owners so that when you come to sell, the policy will be in place, the extension will be even older and the solicitor will tick the box for the next mortgage company.

Richard_Webster

People keep getting Planning and Building Regulations confused.

If the extension was built in 1980 the lack of Planning Permission is totally irrelevant. Period. Finito.

If the work was not checked and certified by the Building Inspector there could be an issue in theory and indemnity insurance may be needed to keep a mortgage lender happy.

If your surveyor hasn't found any issues with the work then you might feel the whole thing was theoretical. If the Council take action about a 30 year old extension, you just ring the national papers, I am sure the Council would like the adverse publicity!

katepnlo

The house was built in the 1920's. Surveyor was quite happy.
All is good.
Annoyed the owner didn't mention it...she only bought the house in 2001.
There is nothing mentioning building regs on the search reports either..all thats mentioned was conditional planning back in 1980.

I knew things were going too smoothly!
Thank you

kate

tyllwyd

katepnlo wrote: »

... Annoyed the owner didn't mention it...she only bought the house in 2001. ...

It might not be her fault - I've bought & sold a few times and things seem to have got a lot more fussy recently. It might not even have been mentioned to her at the time when she bought.