Lack of conservation area and building consents

vnc

Hi everyone,

I’m in the process of buying a Victorian converted flat in London. From the conveyancing report, I learnt that the property I’m going to buy, which is in a conservation area, is lacking of any conservation area and/or building regulation consents for the work done on their roof.

My solicitor has asked for an indemnity insurance cover at the expense of the seller. However I feel that this is not addressing the problem at all, but more of a “quick” workaround trick.

I’m worried that I may have difficulties in selling this flat in the future. In particular this flat is in a conservation area. It would be great if there is some statistic of house sell that falls through due to existence of indemnity insurance (lack of conservation area/building regulation consents), but don’t think there is such a thing.

Has anyone experienced this kind of issue before? I would like to hear your opinions.

Thanks so much.

Cheers,
Dim

Doozergirl

Does the roof look different to other roofs?

What work was done to the roof? And when?

vnc

Thanks for replying. I believe the roof was replaced, and it doesn!!!8217;t look much different, apart from looking newer. However, the chimney stack looks different. The chimney stack of surrounding properties are in bricks, but the one of the property I!!!8217;m going to buy is painted in solid.

The work was done around 3-4 years ago.

Cheers,
Dim

vnc

By the way, the shape of the chimney stack also looks different.

Dim

davidmcn

Local authority planning and building control departments have barely enough resources to do the bare minimum involved in their work, never mind carry out proactive enforcement of works done years ago. So it's very unlikely that enforcement would be carried out (that's why the indemnity insurance is so cheap).

Insurance is generally accepted in the marketplace - mortgage lenders (not the type to take unnecessary risks) are happy with insurance as a solution. Some buyers might not be happy - but some buyers are going to be fussy about all sorts of things which you can't account for.

The only real disadvantage of insurance is that it doesn't compensate you for the hassle factor of having to carry out remedial work, only the financial costs.

Also, asking the sellers to get retrospective consent could involve months of delay while they try to get an answer out of the council (and if necessary do any extra building work). They might prefer to sell to a less demanding buyer instead.

sal_III

davidmcn wrote: »

Also, asking the sellers to get retrospective consent could involve months of delay while they try to get an answer out of the council (and if necessary do any extra building work). They might prefer to sell to a less demanding buyer instead.

Furthermore, AFAIK the indemnity policy is invalid if the council has been made aware of the case