Loft Conversion with Building Reg's but can't find planning Permission

ma9gm

Hi,
We bought a house 5 years ago, and are now looking to sell it. When we bought it, it'd already had a loft conversion and a 2 floor extension. I've been looking through the documents that were provided to us, and I've found building reg certificate's for both the loft conversion, and the 2 floor extension. I can find full plans approval notice, but only for the 2 floor extension.
However, I can't find anything else. Should there be planning permission for the loft conversion and the 2 floor extension somewhere? Is the plans approval notice the same thing as planning permission?
Is it possible to get a building reg certificate and not get planning permission?
I'm really sorry if these are stupid questions. When we bought the house the solicitors didn't mention anything was questionable regarding the loft conversion. So we assumed all the documentation was valid. Now I'm a bit worried we might be missing something!
Cheers

System

does the loft conversion have a front facing dorrmer window?
It could be that the loft conversion was done under permitted development and therefore no planning permission was required

phil24_7

I wouldn't worry tbh.

You have building regs documentation which is the important one and I would suspect that you have long since passed the point where the planning department can do anything about it (4 years I think).

bmthmark

I just had a loft conversion done. No planning permission was needed.
We still had to get building control out to ensure we followed building regulations. They came out at certain stages of the development. In the end we were provided with a building regs certificate. It sounds like mine was similar to yours as you also have building regs certificate.

But as the_r_sole mentioned it you may need planning if the dormer (if you have one) is front facing. Also it depends on the size of the loft conversion.

ma9gm

The house is a "back to front" house. So the front door actually faces an open green space. The back of the house actually faces the road and the drive. So it does from the front door, but not from the road.


I googled it, and couldn't find a similar situation where someone had building regs, but not planning permission. I wondered if it was just that they'd lost the documentation for it. Would that be the case? Could I possibly get replacement ones? It's been about 6 years since it was put up.

ma9gm

Hi, thank you for that. I think the dormer windows are ok. They are facing away from the road, which I think is what's needed. Is the full plans approval notice the equivalent of planning permission approval?

JimmyTheWig

I would go along with the "probably wasn't needed" camp.
But worst case scenario is that it will cost you a few hundred pounds for an indemnity policy.

Ignore it for now.
Don't approach the council and tell them that you don't have it. If you do, that may mean you are unable to get an indemnity policy.

Hoploz

Full plans approval will be building regs approval to go ahead. But there should have been a completion certificate issued at the end, which will be required. PP prob not required, so state this when buyer asks.

Hoploz

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I would go along with the "probably wasn't needed" camp.
But worst case scenario is that it will cost you a few hundred pounds for an indemnity policy.

Ignore it for now.
Don't approach the council and tell them that you don't have it. If you do, that may mean you are unable to get an indemnity policy.

You're right about this, except that the worst case scenario is that the buyer refuses to proceed due to lack of building regs completion certificate - no evidence that it was built to a safe standard.

ma9gm

Hi, Thank you for that. It has a buildings reg completion certificate. I just can't find the planning permission part. But I might be being really stupid. Sounds like it only needs the building regs bit (which I have). Am I right there?

Doozergirl

https://ecab.planningportal.co.uk/uploads/miniguides/lofts/lofts.pdf

Read that and you can tell us if it needed planning permission.

Most loft conversions don't.