Solicitors queries with house regarding planning

debred86

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has been in this situation. The house we are buying had an extension on it a few years ago. It is a single story sun room and the seller built it within permitted development rules.

Our solicitor had some queries on it so now the seller has taken out indemnity insurance as they believe it should cover any issues. Our solicitor didnt seem happy with it when i told her over the phone but said she will have a look when she gets all the paperwork in. Although she said its quite probably not worth the paper its written on so now im thinking she wont be happy with it.

Will the sellers need to supply a building regualtions certificate? if so what happens if they dont have it, or never had one in the first place??

Surrey_EA

The extension may or may not have required planning permission. If it is a small single storey sun room then the chances are it did not, but extra information is needed before being certain.

However, irrespective of whether the extension required planning permission it is almost certain that it would have needed to comply with building regulations, and a building regulations completions certificate should be provided.

What happens next depends on what the owners did when the extension was put up. Did they have a building inspector look at the work whilst it was taking place? In which case they may just need a final sign off. However, if the building inspector did not visit then you have no guarantees that the extension was built satisfactorily. Your surveyor may be able to give you an indication of how they feel the extension was constructed.

Another factor to consider is how long as the extension been there? If it was 15 years ago then any problems should now have identified themselves, and the local council cannot take any enforcement action. If it was done last year then it is still possible the council could take enforcement action, although unlikely, and any problems with the construction may not be obvious.

debred86

By the sounds of it they dont have the certificate, whether its a case of they have lost it or whether they never had one in the first place is another question.

I presume its the latter as i guess you can get copy certificates.

I imagine its been up only a few years as looking on zoopla you can see the house was last sold in July 2013.

I have also been doing some digging and i think they may be able to get a an inspection and certificate now but i can see them arguing that they have this insurance so that should be enough.

Any ideas whether or not the bank and solicitors are likely to accept the indemnity insurance??

Surrey_EA

debred86 wrote: »

By the sounds of it they dont have the certificate, whether its a case of they have lost it or whether they never had one in the first place is another question.

I presume its the latter as i guess you can get copy certificates.

Correct, the building control dept at the local council can easily supply a replacement. However, under no circumstances should you call the council to check, as if you make them aware of an issue it will no longer be possible to take out indemnity insurance.

debred86 wrote: »

I imagine its been up only a few years as looking on zoopla you can see the house was last sold in July 2013.

I have also been doing some digging and i think they may be able to get a an inspection and certificate now but i can see them arguing that they have this insurance so that should be enough.

It will be possible to get someone to carry out an inspection, but the chances are they will have to expose bits of the extension to see whether everything was done properly. The sellers may not be too keen on this happening.

debred86 wrote: »

Any ideas whether or not the bank and solicitors are likely to accept the indemnity insurance??

It's fairly common, so reasonably likely, but best to wait for your solicitor to have a look at the specific documentation and they will be able to advise you accordingly.

debred86

I haven't contacted the council! i read up on that! But the Insurance is in place now anyway.

But thanks, im sure the solicitors will have it all in hand, i can just see the seller complaining as they are desperate to complete. I was just making sure that it wouldnt cause any other problems. Seems as though its probably a common thing to happen.

I was just wondering what would happen if the solicitors werent happy once they had received the paperwork what might happen??

eddddy

debred86 wrote: »

I was just wondering what would happen if the solicitors werent happy once they had received the paperwork what might happen??

Do you mean your solicitors weren't happy?

They might...

1. Warn you about the potential risks of proceeding

2. Warn your mortgage lenders about the potential risks (i.e. saleability issues, reduction in value)

Obviously, you can go ahead, in spite of any warnings, if you want. But if your mortgage lender refuses to lend because of any warnings, I guess you'd have to find another lender or walk away.

debred86

Yes, my solicitors.

If the lender wasnt happy with the insurance is there anything else that can be done??

Doozergirl

Sun room?

Conservatory type room separated by doors or fully integrated into the house?

davidmcn

debred86 wrote: »

If the lender wasnt happy with the insurance is there anything else that can be done??

Somebody gets insurance that the lender is happy with. It can (almost certainly) be insured against one way or another.

debred86

Doozergirl wrote: »

Sun room?

Conservatory type room separated by doors or fully integrated into the house?

its seperated by doors

n217970

debred86 wrote: »

its seperated by doors

Possibly exempt from building regs then, main requirements being under 30 square metres, seperated from the original building by external grade doors and any heating is from a source independant from the original building. E.g fan heater.

A lot of people mistakely think only conservatories can be exempt but in reality it is any extension that meets above requirements e.g porch/sunroom etc.