Hold up on purchase due to conservatory

lozzaj83

Hi

I am after some advice as we seem to keep hitting a snagging point and as a first time buyer, I am not sure of all the rules and regs.

We are in the final stages of buying our first house / family home and the enquiries came back from the solicitors saying that the conservatory that was built in 2010 has to have doors to separate the house from the conservatory.

The seller has contacted us to say when they had the conservatory build it was down to the buyers discretion which I know is the conservatory company not taking an notice of the building regs. However, it seems to be a sticking point as our mortgage surveyor listed it on the mortgage that there were no doors and that they have to provide building regs to support this or look at taking out indemnity insurance.

So my questions are:
1. What is the best way to proceed with this? Should the seller build some doors?
2. What is indemnity insurance and who pays for it?
3. What constitutes a conservatory and an extension? I read that if it doesn't have doors and the conservatory contains a radiator this would be an extension? Is this correct?

We are keen to complete at the end of May (all being well) and this is the only thing that seems to be holding it up.

Thanks in advance.....

L

AdrianC

lozzaj83 wrote: »

2. What is indemnity insurance and who pays for it?

It's an insurance policy that covers you against the costs arising from the council taking building regs enforcement action against the lack of conservatory doors. Your solicitor should insist the vendor pays for it.

Personally, I'd want doors. A conservatory is inherently going to be cooler and more difficult to heat than the main body of the house. In winter, you may very well want to shut off that dark, cool space. The most viable way forward is probably to go for the indemnity and plan to fit doors - maybe after living with it for a winter just to confirm to yourselves whether they really are required or not. If you ask the vendor to fit doors, they'll just go for the absolute cheapest solution, and you will probably want to replace them anyway.

jjlandlord

This seems to be a non-issue: No-one is going to go after you for the lack of doors, and installing doors should be simple enough.

However, if the lender insists on it, just instruct your solicitor to request that vendor buy an indemnity insurance. Should be cheap enough.

Doozergirl

lozzaj83 wrote:

3. What constitutes a conservatory and an extension? I read that if it doesn't have doors and the conservatory contains a radiator this would be an extension? Is this correct?

We are keen to complete at the end of May (all being well) and this is the only thing that seems to be holding it up.

Thanks in advance.....

L

A conservatory is essentially an outbuilding. The house having doors keeps it separate to the main body of the house. It therefore doesn't need to be built to any particular standard and is cheaper than an extension.

An extension a permanent addition to the house. It is built correctly to building standards and checked for that. It will have solid foundations and meet standards for insulation and heat retention. A regular conservatory, open to the house like this house mens that you are effectively leaving a window open in winter and you heating system is trying to heat the sky. An extension will have those things measured and means that you should be comfortable all year round.

It has nothing to do with radiators and everything to do with quality. I'm all for open plan spaces, but a conservatory with no doors is cheap, not a style statement.

pinkteapot

So long as you're happy with the layout (and lack of doors), indemnity insurance is the cheapest and easiest solution. Tell your solicitor you want the vendor to pay for it and see what the response is...

lozzaj83

pinkteapot wrote: »

So long as you're happy with the layout (and lack of doors), indemnity insurance is the cheapest and easiest solution. Tell your solicitor you want the vendor to pay for it and see what the response is...

Will this not cause us a problem in the future should we want to sell it?

AdrianC

lozzaj83 wrote: »

Will this not cause us a problem in the future should we want to sell it?

<shrug> Who knows _what_ a future buyer will decide is or is not a problem...

jbainbridge

lozzaj83 wrote: »

Will this not cause us a problem in the future should we want to sell it?

You'll have exactly the same problem when you try to sell it.

Perhaps negotiate a contribution towards installing doors?

lozzaj83

Thanks - I am assuming that as the solicitor has logged this an one of the enquiries off the back of the mortgage survey that it isn't going to go away without sign off in some way?

silvercar

Round here everyone who extends by way of a (solidly built) conservatory get the building inspectors in before they knock out the wall. That way they get the necessary piece of paper and have the open plan they want.

Sometimes the build order means that dodgy looking doors are put in just for the sign off and removed within the hour.

All about bits of paper.

Jaycee_Dove

Ironically we are having problems because our Conservatory DOES have doors! It was built in 1972 with approved and passed plans but with just an open gap into the garden (no doors). They apparently asked to put doors on, but were denied, because the ceiling was too low to make it a habitable room by 1970s standards (it is well within limits today). The door was seemingly put on anyway all those years (and three previous owners) ago but technically made the difference between it being a porch and a room! So - even though nobody has cared two hoots for four decades - we are being asked to pay for an indemnity policy in case the council demand the new owners take the doors off! I did offer to leave the doors off when we move, but, of course, that is absurd. However, this policy is only £21 so not worth fretting over. It appears to be something modern mortgage rules are demanding more often. It never even came up when we bought the house in 2002 and we only discovered there was an 'issue' when we got the deeds recently after paying off the mortgage.