Help..holding up exchange...planning consent for conservatory???

brock-cruse

Hi
Think the house was 1960s build
Conservatory is 12 feet by 8 foot nine. The house is detached (will try a link for you to see). Its difficult to tell whether the conservatory was built before or after the extension. Here's the link.

http://www.vebra.com/home/search/vdetails.asp?src=vebra&cl=3541&pid=11569787

Thanks

RAS

Hi

I understand richard's comments.

We found ourselves in a similiar situation, but on the opposite side of the fence when we sold my mother's house.

Their solicitor want the planning permission for the conservatory, which they planned to demolish anyway. It was built prior 1968 anyway, but he insisted.

Our EA offered to buy a sledge hammer and remove said article if it was going to stop the sale; I even authorised the purchase of the hammer. Needless to say the solicitor decided to back off at that point

Richard_Webster

If the house is 25' deep (length of main room) then the extension is roughly 7.5m long - must be about 5m high - and ? 2.5m wide - this makes volume of extension round about 95 cubic m. I would guess that is more than 15% of the volume of the original house and would use up the permitted development allowance. If the extension was built before the conservatory then the conservatory would need planning permission (because the PD rights would have been used up) and you would have to show it was 4+ years old. If it is 1960s built then a condition restricting use of PD rights is very unlikely indeed.

If conservatory was built before the extension then it is very unlikely it was not permitted development. The subsequent construction of the extension would have needed planning permission - but you say that exists.

Building regs is different. Under Planning Law there are definite periods of time - 4 or 10 years depending upon what the detail - that provide immunity under the law. Under Building Regs it is more obscure. The Council lose the right to prosecute for a breach after 12 months and from that point of view, after that time the actual possibility of any enforcement is almost nil.

In theory they can apply for an injunction to have the work removed/reinstated to its former condition! This is extremely rare and is completely OTT for domestic works - imagine the local papers making a fuss about a Council with nothing better to do than worry about an extension/conservatory built several years ago! Trouble is that nobody told the judge in Cottingham v Attey-Bower in 2000 that injunctions didn't happen in the real world so he found a solicitor negligent for not checking fairly old works because he should have considered the possibility of an injunction. That's what is at the back of all this stuff about getting Indemnity Policies for building regs - in practice 12 months is really long enough - but try getting your mortgage lender to understand what it is all about - it is simpler a lot of the time for your solicitor to require a policy.

The conservatory would appear to be exempt from compliance with the building regs - there are some detailed criteria involved, so I couldn't be absolutely certain, but generally small conservatories (up to 30 sq m floor area) don't need any building reg paperwork.

As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients

brock-cruse

Just want to say a big thanks to Richard for yet again taking the time to explain my solictors mind!!!:beer: Can you try and explain what is going on with my buyer now???!!!!:eek:

patman99

Hi, as a local PC planning advisory panel member I was sent on a planning course. The chap running it said that certain types of building extensions including conservatorys need planning permission, BUT it is only a formality as PP is automatically granted (them same applies to sheds & porches). So in escence, the council would have NO legal right to deny PP.