Indemnity Policy - Conservatory

oldskoo1

Just going through the paperwork for selling our house.

Seems like the buyers solicitor is pressing the point about not having permission from the builders to build a conservatory.

Firstly, we still dont know if in the deeds there is a restrictive covenant saying we needed to get permission to build a conservatory. So that is the first step, check if we are in breach first.

Secondly, we didnt even build the conservatory, we bought the house 6 years ago, the house was build 17 years ago and the conservatory added at some point during that time. So we are pretty annoyed that our solicitor didnt pick this up when we bought the property.

Worst case if we are in breach we will have to take out an indemnity policy. I've tried looking this up and i have some questions. Is it just a one off payment, of between £50 and £200? I tried looking online but couldn't find any online quotes. They all asked for a company name.

I'm just trying to forward plan costs, and wanted to check it's a 1 off payment below £200. And is this a fairly common problem?

housebuyer2

Just going through a house purchase myself, which has restrictive covenants. From what I understand, the indemnity insurance is a one-off premium that can last for a specified period of time (usually 25 years) - for a conservatory I would imagine it would be in the region £100-£150.

It seems as though it is an extremely common occurence - and many Vendors simply pay for the indemnity insurance, to keep the buyers sweet. If I were you, I would just purchase it - though if you want to kick up a fuss, the buyer can always buy the indemnity themselves?

My knowledge is very limited on these though, so I stand to be corrected. Good luck.

oldskoo1

Thanks!

Annual policy seems pretty ridiculous. I heard the builders have 20 years to make a claim or whatever. Even my solicitor said the industry is insurance mad and the likely hood of a claim is practically zero.

I have no problem purchasing the policy, it's peanuts in the grand scheme of things providing it is just a one off payment.

Just slightly annoyed that our solicitor didnt pick this up 6 years ago.

phoebe1989seb

We had a similar situation when we sold our house last year - there was a conservatory that had been built some time before our ownership (we bought the house in 2007) and most likely in the early 1990s. The house had been built on the site in the 1930s, although it was a much older (Tudor) building that had been re-located from elsewhere at that time. The owner of the estate where the house was re-errected put a restrictive covenant on the whole estate in the 1930s regarding the addition of conservatories, extensions and such things as caravans in the gardens.

Our solicitor didn't pick this up when we bought either so we were pretty miffed too, but we paid the indemnity (around £200 I think) and got on with the sale......x

go_cat

We also had similar when buyi g a house that had breached a covenant with a conservatory.

Our solicitor would not exchange until an indemnity policy was in place