Home insurance if there's an unregulated extension

ericbateson

Hi all
I'm in the middle of buying a house. The surveyor has come back to say the kitchen extension had no planning permission and wouldn't meet the regs (lack of insulation).
However, the extension was done a fair while ago (perhaps 15 years?) so my main issue is insurance. Will the lack of regulation invalidate any home insurance policy? I asked DirectLine and they said they wouldn't insure a home which didn't have the right planning permission. I can't seem to find any other details online from other providers and their call centres are, as ever, understaffed.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
Eric

greatcrested

Never heard of claims being rejected. Or of insurers checking on historic planning consents. I would not worry.

But ask on the insurance board here?

And just because it would meet today's Building Regs standards does not mean it did not 15+ years ago.

My house certainly does not meet any of the current standards, but in 1851 when it was built it was fully compliant.

MysteryMe

Did the extension actually need planning permission? It may have come within permitted development.

eddddy

There shouldn't be any problem with insurance.

If it was an issue, the insurer's would have a question on their proposal form about planning and/or building regs - and/or an exclusion in their policy wording.

But... buildings insurance never covers problems resulting from bad workmanship or bad materials (irrelevant of whether planning or building regs exist). You'd get a survey to investigate that.

ericbateson

eddddy said:

But... buildings insurance never covers problems resulting from bad workmanship or bad materials (irrelevant of whether planning or building regs exist). You'd get a survey to investigate that.

Yes, our first survey recommended investigating the lintel above the door but didn't raise any other structural concerns (though it wasn't the fullest type of survey). 

Jeepers_Creepers

"DirectLine and they said they wouldn't insure a home which didn't have the right planning permission." Blimey.

As far as I can recall, I have never ever ever been asked by any insurance company whether any part of any of my property hasn't had PP or been signed orf. 

davidmcn

Jeepers_Creepers said:

"DirectLine and they said they wouldn't insure a home which didn't have the right planning permission." Blimey.

Absolute nonsense. This is what happens if you allow call centre droids to deviate off-script. Bet they don't even know what planning permission is.

It seems to be a common urban myth that "you won't be able to get insurance" for alterations if they don't have the right paperwork, but nobody has ever been able to find evidence to back it up. As above though, standard buildings insurance isn't going to sort any defects which there might be.

ericbateson

I  suppose my problem is: if there was a fire and part of the building was unregulated, would the insurers still pay out? Or would they just say to me that since the extension doesn't meet building regs, they won't give anything?

davidmcn

ericbateson said:

I  suppose my problem is: if there was a fire and part of the building was unregulated, would the insurers still pay out? Or would they just say to me that since the extension doesn't meet building regs, they won't give anything?

They won't care. It's not relevant.

macman

ericbateson said:

I  suppose my problem is: if there was a fire and part of the building was unregulated, would the insurers still pay out? Or would they just say to me that since the extension doesn't meet building regs, they won't give anything?

You didn't say it doesn't meet building regs, you said the insulation doesn't meet current building regs. It may well have met them at the time of construction, and there is no requirement to update them subsequently. If there was, half the housing stock of the UK would be uninsurable.

greatcrested

macman said:

ericbateson said:

I  suppose my problem is: if there was a fire and part of the building was unregulated, would the insurers still pay out? Or would they just say to me that since the extension doesn't meet building regs, they won't give anything?

You didn't say it doesn't meet building regs, you said the insulation doesn't meet current building regs. It may well have met them at the time of construction, and there is no requirement to update them subsequently. If there was, half 90% of the housing stock of the UK would be uninsurable.

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