First time buyers - Solicitors arguing over a 'shed/garage'?

GeckoGirl1985

We are now coming up to 9 weeks since we had our offer on our first house accepted. We were really hoping to exchange by the end of this week, but having phoned our solicitor to ask if we were nearly ready for contracts, she has just told us that there is a dispute going on between herself and the vendor's solicitor over an outbuilding in the garden.

The building itself is a large wooden shed/garage like this;



Which has been kitted out with strip lights, a laminate wooden floor and inner 'walls' (sheets of mdf painted white), and is currently used by the vendor as a gym area. Now, the problem we're having is that the vendors solicitors are arguing that this is a converted garage. Our solicitors' view is that it is still just a shed. Our survey describes it as a shed, and states that planning permission is not needed for it to be there. Nobody seem to be able to answer our questions about whether this is right or not?!

Either way, we don't seem to be getting anywhere with it (vendor's solicitors taking ages to respond to letters/emails) and its pushing our completion date further and further back - we ideally need to exchange contracts by the end of this week as we have to give 2 month's notice to vacate to our landlord - if we don't have a fixed completion date by the end of October, we are going to end up having to pay rent for January 2015 on our rented house as well as paying the mortgage for this property!

Does anyone have any ideas about this?!

jamesperrett

Provided that it is more than 1m from your boundary and doesn't take up more than 50% of your garden, it shouldn't need planning permission or building regulations permission. (Although you'll need building regs if the internal area is more than 30 sq m). Check your local authority's website for more information on what does and doesn't need permission.

PasturesNew

What do you want/need it to be?

GeckoGirl1985

We are initially going to be using it for storage, but the plan is to eventually use it to house our reptile collection.

It is right on the boundary of the property - it sits behind the garden fence on a concrete base - the shed/garage takes up half of the base and the other half is used for car parking.

If this means that the shed/garage does require planning permission after all, who would then be responsible for obtaining this - the vendors?

silvercar

How long has the shed been in place?

GeckoGirl1985

I have no idea in truth, but it appears to be fairly new - say 3 or 4 years ?

stator

Why is it holding things up? Why does the seller care if it's a garage or a shed?

stator

Check google maps and bing maps and see if it is visible from the air, then look at the time stamps on the map and see how old it is. Also if it's visible from the street check google street view and it even lets you see previous years images too

Richard_Webster

What you call it cannot be the determining factor!

Hoploz

Either way it is just an 'outbuilding' isn't it? What is the difference? I don't understand why the solicitors are even having a conversation about it.

I would be interested if anybody can tell me the definition of different types of outbuilding, as some houses I have viewed have had permitted development rights removed, and I've always wondered how they determine the difference between standard shed, kids Wendy house and cabin etc.

AdrianC

Whether it's a "shed" or a "converted garage" is irrelevant. The question is whether there should have been PP for it - and that's a simple question of the permitted development rules.

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/outbuildings/miniguide

If it did need PP, but didn't have it, then you have a supplementary question of how long ago since it was built, which'll tell you whether enforcement action can be taken.