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Buying a house with an extension - advice needed please

carlosthejackal
Posts: 26 Forumite
Hi, my wife and I are buying a house with an extension built in 2007. So far I have obtained the planning permission document which states it was granted conditionally (must match submitted plans/be finished in 5 years/materials same as existing house/any windows on eastern elevation need to be frosted). I have also obtained the building regs completion certificate.
My question is... do I need any other certs/documents to sleep safe at night and not worry the council will come and rip it down? I have read that there is a time limit for the council to enforce action - would the 4 or 10 year limit apply and is it from permission being granted or from the completion date?
Our solicitor isn't great so I'm putting my faith in the MSE community!
Thanks
My question is... do I need any other certs/documents to sleep safe at night and not worry the council will come and rip it down? I have read that there is a time limit for the council to enforce action - would the 4 or 10 year limit apply and is it from permission being granted or from the completion date?
Our solicitor isn't great so I'm putting my faith in the MSE community!
Thanks
0
Comments
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An extension that has both planning permission and a building regs certificate means it has been built lawfully in the eyes of the council (provided the structure was built in accordance with the planning permission given)
I wouldn't worry that the council are going to ask you to rip it down, this happens with extensions that have no permissions in place."Put the kettle on Turkish, lets have a nice cup of tea.....no sugars for me.....I'm sweet enough"0 -
We had an extension built several years ago & we got a completion certificate from building control but nothing from planning so I think you're ok.
We sold the father-in-laws place after he died recently & he didn't have anything for his extension (being a builder!). We called the council & a man came round looked at it for 5 minutes & said "That's fine" & a certificate was issued.Tall, dark & handsome. Well two out of three ain't bad.0 -
Leave it to your solicitor, they know what they're doing even if you feel like they aren't much good. You've got the main documents. Other certificates may exist for gas or electrical works. They are requested on the property information forms the seller's solicitor would have given them to fill in, and these will be forwarded to you in due course. But if you've got the completion certificate then the building inspector would have seen all those in order to issue his completion cert.0
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Thanks for the replies. I spoke to the council and they said that the planning conditions such as the glass being obscured would always stand, so we have asked our solicitor to check this with the vendor. However, if the extension had been built too large or not to the plans then because it is more than 4 years since completion, then they couldn't enforce any alterations.
So worse scenario is that we have to change a couple of windows *phew*.0 -
You can obscure existing windows pretty easily using stick on stuffChanging the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0
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carlosthejackal wrote: »
So worse scenario is that we have to change a couple of windows *phew*.
Surely the vendors will have to change the windows, if these are in breach of the planning permission.0
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