Advice re lack of listed building consent and other issues!

DVardysShadow

jen999 wrote: »

Can you just explain why the policy would be invalidated?

It is like a dangerous sports exclusion on a life insurance policy. Generally, for reasons which escape me at the moment, insurance companies dislike the people they insure doing things which are likely to bring about the event they are insuring against.

So if you did go and ask the council some questions, they could cotton on to the fact that there are unauthorised alterations that they should insist were put back the way they were.

jen999 wrote: »

I do recognise that it could be 'money well spent' its just £1000 is a hell of a lot of money to me, to have nothing to show for.

At least you would have nothing to show for it. This is far better than keeping your £1000 and having an unplanned bill of £40,000.

devotee

Or you could just ring English Heritage and ask for advice without giving any specific details?

Either way, the vendor is in deep !!! for doing unauthorised work without ok-ing it with the EH. How on earth do they think they will sell to anyone? Someone will have to put it right and it really should not be you. The bank is trying to pull a fast one, they know really well that the indemnity policy will make no difference to the EH.

jen999_2

Thanks for replies, I have, at least, got one thing clear in my mind. I am not going to proceed with this purchase - with an indemnity insurance in place. Because as said by FireWyrn, I don't want these problems when I come to sell, because this isn't a house I am likely to be in forever. And as far as I understand, as I know about the problems, the indemnity insurance wouldn't be worth the paper its written on, never mind the £300 they wanted me to pay for it!

I think, the last thing I am going to try is to speak to the vendor and suggest to them about them fixing the issue/speaking to the conservation office. With it being a repo, I haven't as yet been able to speak to the vendor direct - all seems to be through my solicitor to their solicitor - is this the norm?
As far as I can see it is going to be near on impossible for them to sell this to someone with a mortgage will it not??

Can they really sue me if I speak to the council?? No one has ever made mention that the discussions are confidential? Can I not feel that I have a 'duty' to report a criminal offence of breach of listed building consent?

Itismehonest

jen999 wrote: »

No, I don't have experience of living in a listed building. I do have a number of colleagues who live in this village and have researched A LOT about what can/cannot be changed.

Thanks, Jen

Then, truly, if £1000 is a lot of money to you, don't even entertain buying a listed building.

Note paragraphs 5 & 6 of this article.

jen999_2

devotee wrote: »

Or you could just ring English Heritage and ask for advice without giving any specific details?

Either way, the vendor is in deep !!! for doing unauthorised work without ok-ing it with the EH. How on earth do they think they will sell to anyone? Someone will have to put it right and it really should not be you. The bank is trying to pull a fast one, they know really well that the indemnity policy will make no difference to the EH.

I don't actually think the vendor knew anything about it until my solicitor told them!! With it being a Repo, they knew v.v. little about the property, have never seen it etc. And its not being sold as 3 bedrooms (i.e. inc the loft conversion) it just says loft room used for storage on the estate agents particulars.

sooz

As I understand it, a regular indemnity policy on an unlisted building is for work ( such as ground floor kitchen extension) done x years ago & unlikely to cause issues. More likely to be left in place for 20 years, sold to new owners, then replaced, with not too much bother. Yes, they should have done it properly, but once it's been up so long & not noticed, it's not really relevant & they got away with it.

But this is a listed building. You should get english heritage in if you want to change the toilet [STRIKE]paper[/STRIKE] seat.

When the next owner wants to do anything legitimately, EH may notice that there is a new floor. And want everything replaced, as it was originally. Do you fancy dealing with their wrath & having to source 16th century roof timbers?

Run....

£1000 is money well spent not to be further involved in this mess.

sooz

jen999 wrote: »

I don't actually think the vendor knew anything about it until my solicitor told them!! With it being a Repo, they knew v.v. little about the property, have never seen it etc. And its not being sold as 3 bedrooms (i.e. inc the loft conversion) it just says loft room used for storage on the estate agents particulars.

So is it a conversion? Or just a loft?
Is there a fixed staircase?
Can you look on the EH site to see what details they have about the building?

jen999_2

a loft with a fixed staircase, which changes the shape/size of one of the bedrooms.
I know from others living in the village who have made enquires that loft conversions and even velux windows in the roof have been accepted - (for storage purposes only - not to be treated as a bedroom) but the permanent staircase will not be accepted by the conservation office.

What I want to do, is arrange a meeting with the building regulators, conservation officer to see exactly what they say needs to be done in order for it to be approved to gain the retrospective listed building consent - get an estimated cost for the works and make a decision from there whether its worth all the hassle. Its just the minor problem of it not being my decision to allow for these authorities to come in and inspect!

Thanks again for all opinions, definitely taking them all on board!

DVardysShadow

jen999 wrote: »

Can they really sue me if I speak to the council?? No one has ever made mention that the discussions are confidential? Can I not feel that I have a 'duty' to report a criminal offence of breach of listed building consent?

They can sue you for almost anything. Whether they win is another matter. But the amount of money involved is probably more than you would want to risk, given your thinking on your fees so far for a potentially abortive purchase. And it is a single irrevocable action, so there is no point in them telling you to back off or cease and desist - the damage would have been done. If they felt sore about it, they might try to intimidate you into making good their losses. It is the kind of thing which could blight your life for several years to the point that losing would be a relief, giving in would be an attractive prospect and winning would not assuage the regrets.

Add to that the idea that you were only reporting the crime to gain a reduction on the price of the property, you would not appear to have clean hands.

jen999_2

DVardysShadow wrote: »

They can sue you for almost anything. Whether they win is another matter. But the amount of money involved is probably more than you would want to risk, given your thinking on your fees so far for a potentially abortive purchase. And it is a single irrevocable action, so there is no point in them telling you to back off or cease and desist - the damage would have been done. If they felt sore about it, they might try to intimidate you into making good their losses. It is the kind of thing which could blight your life for several years to the point that losing would be a relief, giving in would be an attractive prospect and winning would not assuage the regrets.

Add to that the idea that you were only reporting the crime to gain a reduction on the price of the property, you would not appear to have clean hands.

Or the fact, that as a police officer, I feel I have a duty to report any criminal offences to the appropriate departments?