Extension Building regs missing Now Falling down!

CustomJ

Ok, So We bought this house back in 2017. The previous owners added an extension to the back of the house. (used to be a smaller brick bottomed outhouse there before)
All looked lovely when we moved in, but as the extension was small and probably under the size needed for PP, there was none, we have a Lack of Planning/Building regs indemnity for it. 
Fast forward to now, and the floor has sagged and so I had a builder write me up a report. 14 pages later, it's quite clear it wasn't built to building regs then and definitely not to current regs. Damp has gotten into the wooden structure and its basically falling down. 

What next? House insurance company don't want to know. Will my indemnity help me in this situation at all? It looks like it would cost a good £25k to demolish and rebuild it, as there is no saving it. 

Help!

CustomJ

Oh and to add to all that, it seems to have been built onto our neighbours side of the party wall, not our own. 

Slithery

CustomJ said:

Will my indemnity help me in this situation at all?

Nope. Indemnity insurance only covers the costs of the council if they take legal action against the lack of PP/BR.

CustomJ said:

What next?

You have 2 options. Either do nothing or pay for the repairs needed to the property that you own.

user1977

You do exactly the same as you would if any other part of the house was needing repairs - you get some quotes and have it repaired. Nothing to do with any sort of insurance, if it's just knackered.

ProDave

What did the survey say when you bought it?

canaldumidi

Household Insurance covers things like fire, storm damage, theft, accident (car driving into the wall) etc. It won't cover normal maintenance and repair from deterioration or previous poor workmanship.

Indemnity insurance covers the costs of enforcement by the council for lack of Building Regulations. As the council can only enforce within 12 months, it's pretty pointless! And in this case, your problem is not enforcement action anyway.

Your options are therefore

* live with the problem as it is

* demolish the extension and do without

* demolish the extension and re-build

* repair the extension.

peterhjohnson

I would get another couple of builders to quote for a fix.

davilown

Did you get a structural survey before purchasing? Caveat emptor springs to mind I’m afraid. You bought it, it’s now broken so you’ll have to pay to fix it.
Do, however, get at least one more professional opinion from a structural surveyor and not a builder. At least then you’ll know what is actually going on.