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Indemnity insurance and retrospective approval - a risky purchase?

So after a year of searching my husband and I found a great house to buy in a perfect location. We've had the survey done and are currently on track to exchange contracts by the end of next week.

The only outstanding query at the moment is on the buildings regulation certificate for the single storey extension on the house. It seems that the seller doesn't have one (we also think the extension predated when they bought it in 2002) so we are required to purchase indemnity insurance by our mortgage lender.

I suspect that planning permission wasn't sought when it was built - a number of other houses on the street have extensions that are slightly smaller, but as far as we can tell they are mostly glass convervatory rooves (this one has a plaster/plastic roof) and the council has a restrictive convenant on building work that restricts light or air on surrounding properties.

Now the indenmity insurance would cover us for the council finding out at random and forcing the extension to be removed, but we do plan to add a porch extension to the front. The roof over the current extension is flat sloping with plastic sheeting on the top, and is also currently leaking. Our surveyor and electrican both recommend changes are made to the roof materials rather than just patching.

My understanding is that if we apply to the council for changes to the roof or to add a porch on to the property, then the indemnity insurance is invalid. Our solictor mentioned the other option would be to apply for retrospective approval, but that also sounds rather risky.

The extension adds around 20k to the value of the house at the moment, and without it the downstairs living space is a narrow and cramped room. So my concerns are not just over the cost of having an extension removed or rebuilt in a different way and change to the value of the house, but also the affect it would have on the living space.

Is this kind of situation common, or would we be better to back out now? We're currently renting, so the longer it takes us to find a house the more money we are giving away anyway.

Would a council be more likely to grant retrospective certificates for extensions that have been there for a long time?

Don't know if I'm over thinking this - but as first time buyers we have no experience and its such a huge and scary step....thoughts and experiences welcome!

Comments

  • ValHaller
    ValHaller Posts: 5,212 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    khgibb wrote: »
    We're currently renting, so the longer it takes us to find a house the more money we are giving away anyway.
    When you buy, you will only be renting money!

    Do not let the thought of currently renting put any pressure on your house purchase decisions. 3 months rent 'gone to waste' could be very cheap compared to the cost of a bad house purchase decision.
    You might as well ask the Wizard of Oz to give you a big number as pay a Credit Referencing Agency for a so-called 'credit-score'
  • khgibb
    khgibb Posts: 34 Forumite
    ValHaller wrote: »

    Do not let the thought of currently renting put any pressure on your house purchase decisions. 3 months rent 'gone to waste' could be very cheap compared to the cost of a bad house purchase decision.

    Of course I'm not, my question isn't about the pressure of renting (and 3 months rent for us is £4k, so I'd rather not think about how much money we've spent on someone else's mortage over the past 10 years..)

    Apart from this issue, the house is exactly what we want. What I'm trying to do is work out if it could be a bad purchase due to this issue with the extension. Having no experience I don't know whether this is a real potential problem which could have big risks, or whether it is something that is quite common.
  • Seabee42
    Seabee42 Posts: 448 Forumite
    I am no expert on extensions my general understanding is that if such extensions are standard (i.e. lots of people have them) then they are normally approved. I would consider phoning your local council planning office.

    How permanent is the structure? The third option would be to knock it down and get planning permission to put up what you want. The plastic roof did not lead me to believe it was more than an add on to the house. :eek:
  • ValHaller
    ValHaller Posts: 5,212 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Seabee42 wrote: »
    I would consider phoning your local council planning office.
    If you do so you risk invalidating indemnity insurance or becoming ineligible for it.

    Only contact the planning office with the permission of the vendor and on the basis of a decision not to take indemnity insurance.
    You might as well ask the Wizard of Oz to give you a big number as pay a Credit Referencing Agency for a so-called 'credit-score'
  • khgibb
    khgibb Posts: 34 Forumite
    ValHaller wrote: »
    If you do so you risk invalidating indemnity insurance or becoming ineligible for it.

    Only contact the planning office with the permission of the vendor and on the basis of a decision not to take indemnity insurance.

    I presume that even if we purchase the indemnity insurance and go through with the house purchase, if we then contact the council for retrospective approval or future planning permission for other extended work, then the indemnity will become invalid at that point too.
  • khgibb
    khgibb Posts: 34 Forumite
    ok, so I think I might have answered my question now. It seems that breaches in planning permission cannot be enforced by the council if the work is more than 10 years old. We have confirmation from the seller that the extension existed when they purchased the house in 2002. So even if planning permission didn't exist, the council could not enforce us to have it removed :D

    Phew! :rotfl:
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