Retrospective Planning on Porch

rajidoc

Hi I was hoping to exchange contracts on a house that has recently been gutted by the seller. Its had a new roof, new windows, new kitchen, new bathroom, new central heating, new drive.
There are 2 main problems: 1) the seller has built a canopy porch and it needs planning permission as is outside permitted development. This will take 8 weeks. The porch is less than 12 months old so I understand the seller will not be able to get an indemnity policy. The council say its unlikely they will ask for the porch to be knocked down, unless it significantly impacts the neighbours - but it doesn't. My buyer wants to complete in a few weeks so I cant wait 8 weeks unless i'm prepared to lose my sale (without which I cant buy the house anyway). I have suggested that we go ahead with completion but for our solicitor to hold back £5000 retention until the planning permission is sorted out - when its sorted we will release that money to the seller. Do you think Nationwide would accept this proposal?
The other thing is the house has had a new roof in last 12 months and comes with a 10 yr guarantee. We offered the agreed price on the assumption that the house has been recently refurbished and will have all vaild guarantees. Trouble is the roof company is a ltd company. I'm not sure whether they are insurance backed or whether the roof guarantee would transfer to me as the new owner. Is it reasonable to hold back another £5k for 5 years and if the roof is sound the solicitor can release that money to the seller or should I just ask for an overall reduction in price. Would Nationwide accept a reduction in price as long as I agreed to sort out retrospective planning permission myself on completion. I would appreciate any advice please

davidmcn

rajidoc wrote: »

I have suggested that we go ahead with completion but for our solicitor to hold back £5000 retention until the planning permission is sorted out - when its sorted we will release that money to the seller. Do you think Nationwide would accept this proposal?

Where has the £5000 figure come from? Wouldn't have thought it would cost that much to remove it (unless a "canopy porch" means something other than what I think it does). Do Nationwide actually care about the planning? It's more of a question for your solicitor (who'll be reporting to the Nationwide).

Is it reasonable to hold back another £5k for 5 years and if the roof is sound the solicitor can release that money to the seller

No.

or should I just ask for an overall reduction in price.

Why? It's got a new roof. The extra value of the guarantee being insurance-backed is probably minimal, you'd be struggling to find any surveyor saying it makes a difference to the open market value of the house.

DTDfanBoy

If the prospective purchaser of my property asked to retain £10,000 due to the a planning breach caused by a porch, and the lack of a guarantee for a new roof I'd be putting the property straight back on the market :cool:

rajidoc

The £5k retention would be cost to take down the canopy and rebuild it within the guidelines...

I thought if the council asks for it to be knocked down Nationwide would say the house is therefore worth less without the porch?

I hear what you say about the roof, it is new but I'm just worried if something goes wrong and the company goes bust I will have no guarantee...

davidmcn

rajidoc wrote: »

I thought if the council asks for it to be knocked down Nationwide would say the house is therefore worth less without the porch?

I doubt the porch makes any significant difference to the value

I hear what you say about the roof, it is new but I'm just worried if something goes wrong and the company goes bust I will have no guarantee...

The vast majority of people don't have guarantees for their roof.

Hoploz

Ask for clarification details of the roof guarantee.

rajidoc

The roof has only been replaced in the last few months. the receipt does not show the company number, registered address or landline number - that's why I was getting worried.

rajidoc

The most important issue here is probably how can we satisfy the solicitor and lender about the retrospective planning application going in and completing the sale and purchase before the permission gets granted. I like the house and don't want to lose my buyer.

Angie_B

Regarding the roof, if you are that worried about it get an independent surveyor to do a roof inspection (not a roofing company who has a vested interest in getting work out of you).

An independent surveyor should be able to tell you if there are any obvious problems with the work carried out. (And yes, you would need to pay for this survey yourself).

phoebe1989seb

Regarding the indemnity insurance position, when we sold our last house in 2014 we had recently fitted high quality hardwood sash windows (reputable local joiner had made and installed these 6 months previously) and there was a mix up over building regs/fensa (our joiner wasn't FENSA registered and we mistakenly thought these were covered by our building regs for restoring the period property), as a result of which our buyer's lender was unhappy, although our buyer would have gone ahead regardless were it their decision. Our solicitor obtained *specialist* indemnity insurance.....cost a bit extra - £500 iirc - but saved having to delay exchange