Dodgy block paving options

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Buying a house and since they owned it (approx') 2 years the current owners have changed the existing drive (paving stones and gravel) and the front garden (difficult to tell what this was as in old photos it had a low wall around it, but prob' also pavers and gravel) making it completely block paved.
They haven't extended the drop kerb so are curently bumping up onto the new parking area and there is no planning permission in place.
They cannot provide any plans, a guarantee or even an invoice but they hav eprovided the name of the company who did the work
The block paving doesn't appear to be porous looking at the gaps between the blocks and there are no visible drains in it.
The new front area slopes slightly towards the house and left to the driveway area.The driveway slopes slightly towards the house and then is relatively flat up the side of the house leading to the garage.
There's a drain on the front corner of the house (semi) which has a guttering down spout going into it and one might be able to say that the area in front of the house has been laid with the idea that runoff would head in that direction.
The blocks are only one brick below the DP course.


This is a bungalow for my elderly parents and we will need to apply for permission to extend the dropped kerb as they have 2 cars and not safe for them to be turning and bumping up or down, plus against regulations.
According to local council's website it's a condition of approval for a drop kerb that if you're making hcanges to or creating a new parking area at the front of the property you have to provide evidence that you have informed planning. I understand that we aren't making changes, but it's obviously somehting that's on their radar when they receive drop kerb applications.



We could get the sellers to speak to the local Council and see if they should have had PP and get it retrospectively, however I assume that this would have to be in place before completion and not sure how long it might delay things. I assume that, bearing in mind it would be almost impossible for the driveway to slope towards the road as the house is below the level of the road and we couldn't have a soakaway close to the house, the council would give planning consent regarding runoff going into the drain on the front corner of the house.It's a priority for us to complete as parents have mobility issues, plus our buyer is already getting impatient but we are also aware of the risk for damp and water collecting on the drive near the front and garage doors.

The other alternative would be to get them to take out an indemnity policy, however we have a few concerns about this. First is that when we apply for the drop kerb we will essentially alerting planning to the block paving (it's obvious that it's been done recently) and this may invalidate the indemnity insurance.

Secondly- if they do insist on any changes to the BP before issuing the drop kerb license and we have to use the indemnity, that will delay the drop kerb.

Thirdly it doesn't solve the issue regarding whether the fall and drainage is correct or solve the issue regarding the height of the blocks in relation to the DPC, so maybe we should also be asking for some money off to put some drainage in too, but not really sure how this could be achieved or the potential cost.
I wasn't sure whether I should post the part about the indemnity policy on the insurance board or the In your home board.
Thanks for any help.

molerat

I certainly don't get much run off from my block paving drive. Most of the water goes down the gaps as designed, one of the reasons for the little lumps on the side faces of the paviors.

whatsthenews

00ec25 wrote: »

do you understand that indemnity policies do not cover the cost of any works, they simply cover the cost if the planning fees and other council charges if the council takes action against you

from what you write the only sensible course of action is complete rebuild, the level above DPC being the obvious single factor for that, leaving aside everything else you have written

Yes we do understand this. Others have said that as long as we discourage water from collecting up against the house the one brick issue , although not meeting the best practice of 2 bricks, shouldn't really be a problem.

There's no lender involved here but thinking about the future and coming to sell it (which may not be too far in the future realistically) I do wonder what a lender would say.
Come hell or high water we're buying this bungalow as it's taken almost a year to find a decent one that didn't need everything doing and have dreadful access or create more problems than it solved. That may sound rather silly but they're like hens teeth , plus the majority of people looking to buy parents current home, which is a 1950's semi in a great location but needing some updating, have been first time buyers and they're a bit of a PITA. Do not want to go back to square one again with their sale. What happened to buying a house and doing work over a period of time and "making do" for a while?

whatsthenews

molerat wrote: »

I certainly don't get much run off from my block paving drive. Most of the water goes down the gaps as designed, one of the reasons for the little lumps on the side faces of the paviors.

Mmm- that sounds like your block paving would be classified as permeable ie the notches on the blocks with a wider gap and/or porous blocks on a different substrate from a non permeable block paved drive I think it might be coarser gravel v sand plus maybe other differences in the sub base too. I don't think this is permeable as it looks like sand between them and the blocks are very close together.