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

NMCI

I call it a conservatory as on the floor plans from the brochure it is called a conservatory!

I do not believe that 50 percent of the new walls are glazed at all no...

Doozergirl

NMCI wrote: »

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!

No. You're coming at this from a position of complete ignorance. You need to read more about permitted development and what it is.

The very point of permitted development is that people are allowed to carry out certain works and extensions without bothering with bureaucracy. The point is that no paperwork is needed at all. In some cases people may want what is called a 'Certificate of Lawful development' but that is really where the permitted development rules in certain places can be ambiguous and something that looks on the face of it like it shouldn't comply does; because of a loophole.

Building control don't concern themselves with outbuildings. They don't want heat being lost out of conservatories and that is why there is reference to heating and glazing. In most cases, they would just demand a door because conservatories are cheap - they're not made to comply with regs and people have them because they don't want/can't afford a full extension. They are not a substitute for an extension.

The condition of the conservatory bothers no one at the council. The fact that a homeowner has a conservatory with a leak should be enough for them to fix it.

If the roof on my house leaked now, they wouldn't remove my planning permission would they?! If you don't need something, you don't need it.

This conservatory needs fixing. It's likely something simple or it is just really old and has come to the end of it's life. You can tell me better which of those it might be.

The important thing is the door. It needs one.

Doozergirl

NMCI wrote: »

I call it a conservatory as on the floor plans from the brochure it is called a conservatory!

I do not believe that 50 percent of the new walls are glazed at all no...

Do you have a picture?

Looking at it, what do you *think* it looks like? A conservatory, an extension or perhaps a lean-to (or what my in-laws call a veranda).

How big is the door opening?

System

3mph wrote: »

The_r_sole
It is their job to contact the council and find out as they are trying to buy. If it's correct no problem if wrong it needs sorting. Insurance is not a very good answer. Had the buyer explained it at start then a different matter

It's silly to not ask the seller for the paperwork or let them explain the situation, going straight to the local authority, before even having an offer accepted on a property in my eyes is bizarre, especially since the OP clearly doesn't understand what permissions are required from what council departments.
Solicitors again, don't know much about these things so rely on indemnity policies, so removing their easiest solution to satisfy lenders is stupid and will end up adding time and complications to the paperwork. It's a conservatory added onto a building, I'd be surprised if it actually affects the value of the house in he slightest, if you're worried about the build quality of it you get a survey done or a builder to assess it, building control approval doesn't have anything to do with the standard of workmanship or products.
Planning approval is very unlikely to have been required, generally conservatories are designed to fall under the guidance, further the requirements for glazed roofs has been relaxed in a lot of local authority areas for building regs...
At the end of the day, these bits of paperwork for a conservatory are purely to satisfy lenders, so limiting their options is a costly mistake

Hoploz

The local authority aren't going to bother investigating this.

We still don't know when it was built, to know whether it is even legally possible for them to do so.

If an indemnity policy is purchased, it's never going to be claimed upon anyway. They are pointless. Therefore it doesn't matter whether the council have been alerted. The seller and their solicitor need never know. If the lender requires it, just give them the piece of paper and think no more about it.

...... Unless the building is very recent ... Which we don't know... But if it's leaking and poorly constructed it's pretty likely it isn't a recent build, isn't it?

NMCI

It looks like an extension to me, but The original Walls were not touched. I did hear The term 'lean to' mentioned, so perhaps this is the best description!

I believe it was built several years ago, Just not 100% of how many.

The door opening (no door) is wider than a standard door size.

The_Logans

NMCI wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, perhaps it was silly to contact the Council, but I was not aware that this may have effected anything. It is the vendors fault for not obtaining the permission in the first place and then not disclosing this in the first place..

Regardless, I am in this situation now and want to know the best course of action. The vendor is so eager to move quick and we are on good terms with them...

I'm with you on this one. It's not your fault the vendor didn't dot his i's and cross his t's!

Riggyman

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.

My conservatory built in 2010, on my house sold in 2013 did not need building regulation certification (or indeed bldg reg Cert). My buyers and their solicitor did not ask for it or require it, as it wasn't needed.

You do the math...

3mph

This is not a forum where you are required to be an expert on houses and house building so if I and also NMCI do not know much about it and are not comfortable trying to find out the details about planning and building regs then I think it is sensible we contact the definitive authority for advice.

Anyhow how was NMCI to know that this would invalidate an insurance they knew nothing about?

Doozergirl - your advice will undoubtedly be helpful for some cases in the future, but possibly tempered with a little less dogmatism.

Our conservatory which was 15sqm needed Building Reg Cert and although it had been finally inspected and passed I forgot (did not know) I had to tell the Council in order to have it registered. So when selling it a month ago I had to get them to find the details from 7 yrs ago and come out and check and then they issued it since my buyers solicitor had asked for Bldg, Planning certs on extension and conservatory, elec, boiler etc certs.

3mph

I live in Wales so maybe we have to have Bldg Reg certs but not Planning Permission on conservatories
The parameters quoted earlier in this thread applied to whether Planning permission is required for conservatories. Swansea Council stated clearly that conservatories need Bldg Regs Cert.