Help! Buying with extension no planning permission

sofia67

Hi

hope you can help. I’ve got no one else to turn to. 

I’m looking at buying a turn of the century semi. It’s all structurally fine. But the basement has been converted to a bedroom and shower room and there’s a small extension. Neither have planning permission or building regs and there are no plans so I can’t see how/if the basement was tanked. 

It’s now an issue as the survey found high levels of damp in various areas. Would probably involve ripping out the shower downstairs to find out what’s going on.  And the damp proof course is ineffective where it can be seen (it’s at the wrong height) and can’t be seen on the front of the building as it’s been painted. 

ALSO the extension goes over a water pipe. And there’s no build over agreement with Thames water. They have a lapsed indemnity but I’m guessing that’s pretty useless if Thames decide they want access to their pipe?

Please can someone help me make sense of this! The damp surveyor is quoting £5/6k to sort out the damp but that’s not covering the other issues. 

Thanks a lot

FlorayG

Unless you are a builder yourself I would walk away from that
Some friends of mine tried to sell their house with a minor planning infringement ( a doorway they hadn't applied for planning for) and quickly had to take it off the market and apply for retrospective planning, which luckily they got, once searches started to bring this up
Anyone who wants to buy that house will find out the same as you have. It could be many thousands of pounds to correct the problem and then you STILL don't have PP so it will come up again if ever you want to sell it

FreeBear

sofia67 said: The damp surveyor is quoting £5/6k to sort out the damp but that’s not covering the other issues.

If this "surveyor" is working for the same company that is quoting for the work, then he is just a salesman. Consequently, any advice or recommendations need to be taken with a very large dose of salt. Often, these people do not have any formal training as a surveyor, just some dubious short course run by the PCA.

Without Building Regs sign-off, I would be wary of purchasing. And without documentation, you have no idea if the job has been done properly. Wouldn't be at all surprised if there are no guarantees for the work either. Could be a real money pit !

sofia67

Thank you!

yes I’m so concerned that there’s nothing at all. No planning permission, no building regs, no warranties…

amazingly the vendor didn’t do this work. It was like this when they bought it. So my solicitor has advised it’s out of time for planning permission issues. However everything else is still an issue

the dpc being built incorrectly and not bothering to worry about building over a drain concerns me. If those corners are cut what else is?

funnily enough the report has come through and although he verbally quoted 5-6k it’s now come out at nearer 17k!

in an ideal world I’d knock the extension down and do it again anyway but that’s a long way off. And we need to be able to live there for a while. 

I wouldn’t be using them anyway. The report has taken over 2.5 weeks of me chasing them daily after being originally told it would be here 3 days after the inspection. 

It’s such a headache… I’m single though and can’t really afford much on the market. 

DullGreyGuy

How old is the extension? What's your solicitor suggesting? That the seller buys you a new indemnity policy?

sofia67

DullGreyGuy said:

How old is the extension? What's your solicitor suggesting? That the seller buys you a new indemnity policy?

The vendor doesn’t know… but she bought the house 8 years ago so before then. 

Yes solicitor is suggesting they get an indemnity policy 

I’ve also suggested she apply for retrograde build over agreement from Thames 

lincroft1710

I'd look for somewhere else to buy

FreeBear

sofia67 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

How old is the extension? What's your solicitor suggesting? That the seller buys you a new indemnity policy?

The vendor doesn’t know… but she bought the house 8 years ago so before then. 

Yes solicitor is suggesting they get an indemnity policy 

I’ve also suggested she apply for retrograde build over agreement from Thames 

A build over agreement may not have been necessary when the extension was built. Very much depends on the rules that were in force at the time and when TW adopted the drain.

sofia67

FreeBear said:

sofia67 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

How old is the extension? What's your solicitor suggesting? That the seller buys you a new indemnity policy?

The vendor doesn’t know… but she bought the house 8 years ago so before then. 

Yes solicitor is suggesting they get an indemnity policy 

I’ve also suggested she apply for retrograde build over agreement from Thames 

A build over agreement may not have been necessary when the extension was built. Very much depends on the rules that were in force at the time and when TW adopted the drain.

No I agree. But the whole thing would be clearer if we had planning permission and building regs etc. at least then we’d know the work had been carried out to standard. 

I’ve sunk a lot of money and time into this. And I’m just shattered.