Selling house but missing planning permission....

foolishqueen

Hello Everyone,

I am currently selling my house which I bought in January this year. We have just rejected an offer £15k below asking as apparently the single story extension to the side of the house which has the kitchen, does not have planning permission (the guy who made the offer found this out as he is quite meticulous my agent says).

Now the person we bought the house from said there were no planning issues in the sellers questionnaire you get. She bought the house in 1991, and as I have the actual deeds, I can see from a copy of the Land Registry entry for 1991 that the extension was there then. This makes it at least 16/17 years old.

What are the issues surrounding restrospective planning permission given the age of the extension? Obviously I am going to have to decalre this which is going to put a lot of people off. Do I have any comeback with anyone - my original solicitor/the seller?

Just a bit confused and concerned about the implications and hoping someone out there has some info.

Thanks.

silvercar

If an extension has been in existance for over 4 years there is no action that a council can take. The council can't make you take the extension down and there is no need to apply for retrospective PP. (In fact some councils won't even consider it). At worst you could need to arrange an indemnity policy if the buyer's solicitor was particularly pedantic. The same applies to building regs consent for properties over 1 year ago, though in this case a buyer should ensure that a surveyor checks the quality of the building work.

Considering the time that has elapsed and the fact you bought the property without any issues, I would not declare this as a potential problem, but speak to your solicitor to be sure.

Curv

We are in the process of selling a house with an extension for which there are no PP docs. However, our local council website has an online record of the date PP was granted (1986, would you believe?!) and the planning app number - this is more than good enough for the sols.

As silvercar says, you shouldn't have any problem with comeback so long after the event, but it's worth checking with your local council to see if they have a record anyway. If they don't, don't fret. If the potential buyer has offered £15K less purely on the basis of the PP situation, pay the couple of hundred quid for the indemnity and go back for your other £15K.

Doozergirl

Do you have a Home Information Pack? Is that where he's seen the planning applications or lack of?

My gut says that he is going to be trying this on a lot throughout the process even if you start applying for unnecessary certificates in return for a better price; if he truly understood what he was looking up, he would know that as long as it is structurally sound, at that age, the lack of paperwork for the extension would not affect the value of a property anyway.

Most solicitors will deal with it by means of an indemnity policy which is likely to be cheaper than going through proper channels. You can obtain certificates from planning and building control but it will cost more and if you speak specifically regarding your proerty, any indemnity policy would be rendered useless (which it is anyway but throwing money at insurance companies seems to make the 'problem' go away).

foolishqueen

The guy has several investment properties and is renound for being quite particular. He has said he has investigated the extension and their is no PP. I can see no reason why he would lie as I could quite easily pay the required fee to the council and find out myself.

I think your point about the indemnity policy and speaking about your property means I can't now get one (I mentioned tabout getting one to the EA and she basically said what you said).

If after 4 years no enforcement action can be taken, would that mean if I applied for retrospective planning permission and it was refused, they couldn't do anything about it anyway?!

Would a lawful development certificate be any use here as I have read up a bit about them?!

Thanks.

Doozergirl

The fact is that your property is not devalued by the lack of PP or building regs because it doesn't matter anymore to the council. They will not take any action. s far as they are concerned, it is there to stay.

Therefore, his assumption that your property is worth less for that reason is incorrect.

Really, it is something that your solicitor can deal with very quickly and at minimal cost.

The certificate of lawful development is overkill. Expense for no reason. I'd rather buy the indemnity policy and be done with it. It is assumed that you don't talk to the council directly about the property - that is really the only evidence that will show up should anyone need to claim against the policy (which they won't)

There is no point in applying for retrospective PP. WHy don't you call the planning and building control departments tomorrow. Don't talk specifically about your house, just ask what *should* be done in the case of a structurally sound extension being without PP or regs and then ask what enforcement action they can take if the appropriate action isn't taken by you

seven-day-weekend

If it is a single storey extension it may have been Permitted Development (i.e. no Planning Permission required).

If it is a semi or detached then you can usually build up to 70 cubic metres without pp, providing it does not come any nearer to a road than the original house. 70m3 is about the size of a double garage. If there are any other extensions on the house then these must be counted within the 70m3.

If the house is a terrace, than it is 50m3.

These rules apply so long as the house is not listed nor in a Conservation area and has not had Permitted Development Rights removed.

Ask at your local Planning Department.

trf1960

Seven-day weekend is spot on. We had a similar case when we remortgaged in 2000. We bought our semi-detached house in 1993 with no problems and yet the solicitor acting for the Bank when we remortgaged asked to see the PP for our kitchen extension. We had no idea what he was talking about as nothing had been requested previously. Basically the previous owners had used a third of the double length garage then extended it by about 20ft into the garden.

Well this solicitor made a real fuss about how they should have had planning permission and that we would have trouble selling etc. and really made us quite nervous. I wouldn't have minded but we were only remortgaging for goodness sake! Fortunately I work for a London solicitors so asked our property lawyers to take a look at my deeds etc. and was told not to worry, the extension had actually been built within the boundary/building line and that the Lender's solicitors were being a pain in the backside. He didn't like being told that either !! :rotfl:

No doubt this issue will come up when we decide to sell but at least I will know what I am dealing with and how to respond if we get a particularly pedantic conveyancer.

usemobile

Hello

I bought a Freehold semi detached house which has two flats like 71A and 71B since 5 years with separate council tax.

But unfortunatly it dont have planning permission for separate flats still councill tax is separatly paid for A and B but council is not aware of this i believe.

This A and B registerd in land registry as well since 5years

Now i want to sell the Flats separatly for lease for 999years and been to estate agent,they told they need planning permission details.

Will this possible to sell ?

Buyer is safe to buy?

Surveyor will make as normal valuation ?

Please provide some guildance to how proceed and will the council agree for retrospective planning permission or lawfull certificate.

Look forward to you

Regards
e888r888@yahoo.co.uk

chappers

if the extension was built to the side there may have been a requirement for planning permission, however in this case it is now totally irrelevant as the council will not take action against this anyway, they will probably put this in writing to you. i would point this out to your purchaser and if he is still not interested just move on and find another buyer.

Richard_Webster

If you have a 16 year old extension it will be immune from any planning enforcement and an indemnity policy really shouldn't be necessary as long as you can show how old it is. Get a neighbour who has lived nearby since before it was built to do a statutory declaration saying it was built 16 years ago. Your buyers can keep that with their deeds and wave it at any future buyer's solicitor who raises the point!