Restrctive covenant - indemnity insurance

parbin98

Hi,
I am in process of buying a property. The property has undergone extension. Property originally built in 90s and extension done in early 2000s
My solicitors says that there is restrictive covenant in title deed that any modification in building needs original owner's (in this case builders) permission. Due to this my seller is in breach of this covenant.
Hence my solicitors have asked seller to provide indemnity cover.
My seller's solicitor is denying to get this cover and is saying this is not necessary.
And due to this sale is on hold...
Has any one been through this situation (surely lot of them)? what could be repercussions for not having indemnity cover?
What would be best possible route to solve this?

Many Thanks,

Pete9501

Personally this wouldn't worry me in the slightest and quite common. In a previous house I would have been required to pay 25/ to the builder for a house built in 1960. Fat chance of finding the builder or him coming around for his money.

I would be interested in ensuring that planning permission and building regs sign off are available. Many councils now allow you to search back to see if planning was obtained, so you could do this yourself.

Pete

TrickyDicky101

Pete9501 wrote: »

Personally this wouldn't worry me in the slightest and quite common. In a previous house I would have been required to pay 25/ to the builder for a house built in 1960. Fat chance of finding the builder or him coming around for his money.

I would be interested in ensuring that planning permission and building regs sign off are available. Many councils now allow you to search back to see if planning was obtained, so you could do this yourself.

Pete

Building regs - probably a good idea.
Planning permission - pointless.

Pete9501

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

Building regs - probably a good idea.
Planning permission - pointless.

Yes and no, shows if they did it properly and sort permission or did a mate knock it up over a weekend and they hoped no one noticed. If you have gone to the trouble of PP, then drawings might be available, the design done properly etc.

parbin98

Hi,
Many thanks for replying.
Got all reg docs and planning permission docs sorted from vendor.
Does mortgage lenders require indemnity insurance in place before completion? This is as per my solicitor.

Many thanks,

Rodders53

Solicitors sell these insurances - ask if they get a kickback (commission) for them.

As same solicitor acts for your mortgage co. he will advise them that indemnity is 'required'... so you're caught by the short and curlies...

Try to trace the original builders' ... if you can't what chance is there of them coming along for breach of covenant? and having to pay a 'fee' for permission?

dc197

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

Building regs - probably a good idea.
Planning permission - pointless.

Could you elaborate on why PP is pointless? I'm in a similar situation to the OP, and the extension on the house I plan to buy has neither PP nor dimensions within Permitted Development.

Pete9501

dc197 wrote: »

Could you elaborate on why PP is pointless? I'm in a similar situation to the OP, and the extension on the house I plan to buy has neither PP nor dimensions within Permitted Development.

He is implying that since it was built over 4 years ago the council can't do anything about it. However, if yours doesn't have any PP or Bldg regs approval you also have to ask yourself if it has any foundations :eek: Perhaps a little extreme, but you will want to tread carefully.

Dan-Dan

Suck it up and pay for the indemnity yourself , just to get the sale progressing

dc197

Pete9501 wrote: »

He is implying that since it was built over 4 years ago the council can't do anything about it. However, if yours doesn't have any PP or Bldg regs approval you also have to ask yourself if it has any foundations :eek: Perhaps a little extreme, but you will want to tread carefully.

Thank you.
Good to know that PP is unnecessary for an old conservatory. And this site says that conservatories under 30m2 are except from building regulations, except regarding the glazing and (if I understand correctly) the electrical side:

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/responsibilities/buildingregulations/approvalneeded/exemptions/classvii

opaque

The house we are buying had this issue. An extension was built in the 80's with a previous owner and had no permission from the builders (did get council approval) so the ones that have it now asked the builders (who yes still exist) for retrospective permission for it in the 90's when they moved in.
Just a box-ticking thing 'just in case'. We have evidence of that and things like looking after fences is all simple.
Our solicitor said it doesn't really matter but of course they had to point it out anyway as we could be legally responsible for that if someone DID decide to chase things up.