Lean to without building regulations?

Kavanne

Hi I've seen a property I like but been told by the estate agent that the lean to doesn't have building regs. What does this mean for me if I buy it?

He says he thinks it's been up about 7 years. I asked if I applied for the building regs and the council said no, would I have to pull it down and he said 'possibly'!!!!! From what he said it seemed that if the work was done over a certain amount of time ago then they couldn't make you demolish? Help!


Should I just discount a property like this?

Dan-Dan

I am buying a house with a lean to , cheekily named a `conservatory` in the sale info , it`s not got any regs , is about 18 years old , and probably built up from the patio (i.e no footings) i offered with this in mind and plan to rip it down

Kavanne

Dan-Dan wrote: »

I am buying a house with a lean to , cheekily named a `conservatory` in the sale info , it`s not got any regs , is about 18 years old , and probably built up from the patio (i.e no footings) i offered with this in mind and plan to rip it down

The problem is this 'lean to' makes the house. It's 21' x 13' and got lovely wood floors, skylights and a wood burning stove

Yorkie1

Have you double checked whether it needed planning permission too? (Don't contact the council)?

What sort of doors are there between the lean-to and main house?

Kavanne

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Have you double checked whether it needed planning permission too? (Don't contact the council)?

What sort of doors are there between the lean-to and main house?

Don't contact the council? Surely they are the ones who would know about planning permission???

There are outside type doors leading from the house in to the lean to by the look of it. Not viewing til Wednesday though so would have to have a closer look then.

pmlindyloo

Look up planning permission and building control on your local council website. That will give you a good idea of whether the 'lean to' (sounds more like a conservatory to me!) needed planning permission. From the size of it would certainly needed to comply with building regulations.

The reason you have been advised not to ask the council specifically about the particular property is because once you have informed them you can no longer get an indemnity policy.

Indemnity policies are usually taken out where there is a lack of the correct certificates available. These are usually insisted upon by mortgage companies. They will insure you against the council taking action. However, they do not insure you against any remedial work.

There are various options you can take - insist the vendors apply for retrospective building permission (would mean some intrusive building inspections), do nothing and just get an indemnity insurance policy and, of most importance (in my opinion) get a full structural survey.

The chances of the council coming to the house to look at the conservatory is very small. But you must insure that it is 'fit for purpose' and not about to fall down or require major works for your own piece of mind.

The major difficulties come if you want to sell it and your potential buyers will go through the same that you are going through!

There are lots of threads on here about similar questions and lots of information on google.

Let's hope that when you go to see it you don't like it - saves a lot of hassle!

If you do 'fall in love with it' then just remember there are thousands of houses without the correct 'permissions' and no one worries too much as long as you can be sure it is safe and won't cost you lots of money.

Kavanne

So if I applied for building regs for it, and it was not up to scratch, would the council give me x amount of time to put it right? Or could they potentially declare it unsafe and force us to tear it down completely?

Also, why would someone build something like that WITHOUT obtaining building regs??