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Scrabbles

Hello,

This is perhaps not the correct section, my solicitor is on leave until next Thursday and there is nobody dealing with the matter in his absence as I was told its not 'urgent'.

I was checking to see the progress and I was told by the junior member of staff that the searches were back. I asked them to send to me a copy. I am confused I know I should wait for my solicitor but i want to understand what this all means for future reference.

In the local search, there are two sections :

'Planning Consents' = There appears to be two entries under this heading:

1. Full planning permission for rear conservatory
2. Certificate of Lawfulness

I have done some research and it appears this certificate of lawfulness relates to the planning permission for the rear conservatory.They did not get buildings regulations for this I guess.

Where I am stuck is the section 'Building Control Register'

There is an entry stating 'First Resubmission: Single storey rear extension'

I do not understand this? Does this mean the local authority have taken some form of enforcement action?

Maybe im being paranoid as I have been told the vendor has not got planning permission and building regs for the work that has been carried out to the property.

I really want to buy this property but do not know if indemnity insurance will cover this.

Argh the joys of a first time purchase I thought it all would be straightforward

thanks in advance for any help and i know i should really wait for the solicitor but this is really worrying me.

planning_officer

A Certificate of Lawfulness is a formal determination of the Council as to whether something requires planning permission from the Council or not.

Was the Certificate of Lawfulness granted or refused? If it came before the planning permission, then the owners obviously applied for a Certificate, thinking that the conservatory didn't need express planning permission. If it was refused, the conservatory clearly did require planning permission from the Council, hence then they submitted a planning application.

That's the most straight forward answer - but it depends on the chronology of the applications.

Certificates of Lawfulness have nothing to do with Buildings Regs by the way. I'm not sure about the Building Control Register you refer to, as that's not my area of expertise. But, to me, it just sounds like a submission for Building Regs - nothing odd.