Help! No conservatory planning/building permission & cannot get indemnity

Doozergirl

3mph wrote: »

Conservatory doesn't need planning permission if under a specified size just building regs

If I was a buyer I would want it sorted and not an indemnity since that stores up trouble for when I sell.

They don't need Building Regs either! OP, you have given me no information that suggests that it needs Planning Permission or Building Control Approval!

I'm not surprised people were appearing shifty if they genuinely didn't know what you meant.

Unless on designated land, conservatories fall under permitted development. If they are under a certain size they are also exempt from Building Control as they are classed as an outbuilding not an extension. (That's why I asked you which you were talking about)

You're telling us that this is a conservatory in a side-return of a terraced house. These wouldn't normally be big enough to fall into needing Building Control Approval.

This sounds like a storm in a tea cup where no one is qualified to know what they are talking about.

Here is the appropriate guidance on planning permission for conservatories. Build Regs are covered on page 3.
https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/10/conservatories

Read it and then tell us if you still think it needs one of them.

The damp is a different issue. Ask your surveyor to advise on whether it can be repaired. You do not need a damp specialist if it has a hole in it. The cause is obvious. It needs to be repaired and allowed to dry out. Once dry, if the plaster is ruined then it will need patching. It may just need redecorating. You will regret calling a damp specialist as they will sell you solutions to problems that you do not have.

3mph

For petes sake they are making the biggest purchase of life so obviously they check everything stupid not to. If their Solicitor has not checked or told them then they have to do it themselves.

3mph

Conservatory do need bldg reg Cert mine did and buyers Solicitor asked for it and this was how I found I didn't have it.

3mph

Doozergirl. They did check if you read the original post.
Anyhow why are they expected to know everything seems obvious to ring council with general question

Doozergirl

3mph wrote: »

Conservatory do need bldg reg Cert mine did and buyers Solicitor asked for it and this was how I found I didn't have it.

I've been building for 17 years and replying to endless posts on conservatories here for the last 12. Whenever this comes up it is because solicitors don't have a clue what needs permission and what doesn't. They are not taught; they are not building professionals.

I have posted the link to where building regs apply. If your house falls outside that then it may have needed sign off but the huge majority of conservatories in this country are exempt. I expect you'll find that yours doesn't either

NMCI

So the council issued the following:

Domestic conservatories are generally exempt from Building

Control if the following applies:

1. Internal Floor area of less than 30m2.

2. Not less than 75% of it’s roof should be

be glazed or made from translucent

material.

3. Not less than 50% of it’s external walls should be glazed.

4. There should be separation (i.e. no permanent openings) between the conservatory and the rest of the property.

5. Safety glazing – as per the requirements of Part K, Schedule 1 - to be used in all critical areas.

6. Construction is at ground floor level.

7. If there is to be heating in this area it must have separate time and thermostatic control so that it can be isolated from the rest of the heating system.

I believe it does not satisfy numbers:
3- 50% is hard to make a judgement call, but I would confidently estimate that 50% is not glazed
4- there is is a permenant opening from the conservatory into the kitchen - there is no door in place

Doozergirl

3mph wrote: »

Doozergirl. They did check if you read the original post.
Anyhow why are they expected to know everything seems obvious to ring council with general question

And I asked why they felt it fell outside the remit. And they have not provided an answer, which is why I have elaborated. I still want to know as something physical could be done to solve the current status quo.

I am sure that the OP can speak for themselves. If I have provided too much information I do not apologise. It may well help someone in future.

Doozergirl

NMCI wrote: »

I believe it does not satisfy numbers:
3- 50% is hard to make a judgement call, but I would confidently estimate that 50% is not glazed
4- there is is a permenant opening from the conservatory into the kitchen - there is no door in place

4. Ask the vendors to install a door. The pure reason for this is heat loss as the amount of glazing, unless of superb specification does not fit the criteria for an extension. The doorway between keeps it as an outbuilding. As soon as you install a door, you stop losing heat. I would recommend this anyway!

3. I'm surprised you call it a conservatory yourself if 50% is not glazed. Bear in mind that the original walls of the house don't form part of that 50% or no conservatory using two original house walls would qualify. Are 50% of the 'new' walls glazed?

Hoploz

We still don't know when it was built.

If it was more than a few years ago then the paperwork is likely to be unnecessary.

Get the surveys done etc but the likelihood is it either doesn't need the paperwork or it's built long ago now so it doesn't matter one way or the other.

NMCI

Thanks for the comments and discussion.

Although the conservatory may not require building permission, surely it would need an exemption at least?

My worry is also that the damp arising from the poor job is a sign that the council may refuse any permission.

I just want this put to bed as we are first time buyers and do not have the capital to spend anything more in additon to the cost of the property, and it is in London so already v expensive!