No planning permission for extention

VICSH

HI All

I am after a bit of advice on a house we have recently veiwed in mind of putting an offer down.

At the back of the living room there is a sunroom/ extention. No door between the lounge and this area it is all open plan.

The room dimensions are 3.4 x 2.5 it has part wall part glazed windows which are fairly old/ dated.
I asked the estate agents when it was constructed and it was pre the current vendor and she has no detials on it (she brought the property 13 years ago).

I have checked the local planning website which shows no extention on the property on the map (nearby properties have applied and successfully been grated planning permission for a single storey extention at the back). I dont know if that makes any difference.

I dont want to offer on the property and go throught the expenses of surveys/ solicitor costs to find out the that could be knocked down?

What is the usual way of dealing with this kind of thing?

Thank you all in advance

Davesnave

VICSH wrote: »

What is the usual way of dealing with this kind of thing?

Thank you all in advance

Indemnity insurance paid for by the vendor, but as it's been there for well over 4 years, it's extremely unlikely that the local council would make you do anything.

VICSH

Thanks Dave, How do you prove it has been there for 4 years or more? just out of interest really

tim123456789

VICSH wrote: »

Thanks Dave, How do you prove it has been there for 4 years or more? just out of interest really

invoice/receipt from builder

or builders merchant(s) if a diy job.

People selling houses do know that they have to have kept this sort of thing don't they (don't bother I know the answer )

nickcc

I would be more concerned if it didn't have building regs. If they didn't go for planning consent then they probably didn't go for building regs. Council tax will also be affected if there's no doors between the new conservatory/extension and the original construction.

happycamel_2

Is to small enough to qualify under permitted development rules? It might not have needed planning permission.

chappers

Also it is over 10 years old and so no longer open to enforcement.
A sworn affidavit by your vendor as to it's age should be sufficient, is it mentioned in their conveyancing purchase survey etc.

lincroft1710

nickcc wrote: »

Council tax will also be affected if there's no doors between the new conservatory/extension and the original construction.

Very doubtful that the absence of a door would in itself affect the CT band. However as there's no pp and if the conservatory was built after 1993 it probably isn't reflected in the current CT band, as the VOA won't have been informed.

nickcc

Planners told us that if we removed the doors on our conservatory it would be classed as extra living space, obviously didn't affect us as no increase in banding until a new buyer purchases.

lincroft1710

Planners are not experts on CT. CT bands are based on a dwelling's value, so it is the effect on value the actual structure will have. So if a conservatory is built to the same standard and quality as the main house the VOA may treat it as part of the main house, so the presence or absence of doors would have no effect.

I'm ex VOA and if I came across a conservatory built of inferior construction to main house but there were no doors between them, I would not include that conservatory in the house area when calculating the band.

bclark

The Council tax issue seems like a total non issue to me, people add conservatories, loft conversions etc all the time without any impact on council tax banding so don't worry about that.

OP it sounds like this is a very small extension so may well be covered by permitted development, look into that.

Building regs may be the next issue but that can easily be covered by an indemnity policy.