Building Regs/No Planning On extension..

chocolately

Thanks planning_officer! You will hopefully be impressed with my resoursefulness after reading your response to my issue with the extension. Having no joy with solicitors on Friday the 13th in the pouring rain I grabbed my vendor and we decided after going through the paperwork that the best course of action was to approach the planning department. As you suggested the window to door was not an issue, the decking however is now about 30mm over the allowed height but has been passed probably due to when it was done. The pole/rope ballastrade however had made the area into an enclosed balcony which is what the initial planning was for. These have now been taken down, the enforcement is cleared and we can move forward. Basically I think what can be learnt from this is that planning officers are not scary although my vendor felt like a small child having her wrists slapped! The chap we spoke to couldn't have been more helpful is coming to a conclusion swiftly. Thanks again

steelercaz13

Hi guys

Arrghhh, help, looks like I just did something really stupid!!

We are looking at buying a Victorian mid-terrace, which has a loft converted into a bedroom and a single-storey flat roof extension at the back of 3.45m x 1.52m for a kitchen. The HIP pack showed there were no plannning / building regs applications or approvals on the house other than for the small storm porch at the front. So...when we mentioned it, the estate agent recommended I contact Building Control, give them the address, and ask what the situation is. Which I did, via emamil, and they confirmed they have no records at all of these extensions. So, I was thinking Indemity Insurance was the way forward...

But now doing the internet research (why oh why did I not do it first?!) I take it I have just screwed us?!!

We don't know yet when the work was done (or even how to find out, as the current buyer bought the house in 2005 but this didn't come up), but at a guess I'd say the extension was done no later than mid80s, no idea on the loft conversion yet. It's not in a Conservation area.

Can you advise where we stand? Can we really now not obtain Indemity Insurance just because I'd emailed a question to Building Control, before we've even put an offer in? Do we have any other course of action open to us? Also, if I've created the problem for us, will it apply to any other potential buyers now also?

My email to Building Control had my name on it, and included the house address of course.

Arrghh, help!!
Many Thanks,
Caroline

Doozergirl

Yes the problem will apply to any buyer. You have created that problem for the vendor - I would be exceptionally angry with the EA if I were the vendor - this is not a buyer's issue to resolve, it belongs to the vendor - the EA has royally screwed things up with that advice. Seriously, that EA needs a proper talking to about jeopardising sales with really bad advice.

In all likelyhood, building control will never come after a homeowner after 12 months unless there is something quite obviously wrong with the quality of the work - ie. it's dangerous and someone has alerted them in the first place. The indemnity insurance is more to keep lenders happy than it is to cover a real risk, especially with older extensions etc. Ultimately if a surveyor is happy with the work then there shouldn't be a problem with providing an indemnity policy.

How old is this extension? The vendor at this point either needs Building Control to write and state that they have no intention of pursuing this (which they may not do) or for the vendor to get it signed off by building control.

Estate Agents are paid to market property, that is it. They are not solicitors, building control officers or planners and should not be offering 'advice' that results in a vendor being put in a very precarious position.

tek-monkey

You can obtain indemnity insurance after talking to the council, you just can't use an off the shelf policy. This happened with my purchase, their sol was so slow chasing things up that the vendor asked the water authority and the council about an extension. Permission had not been given, so we had issues. They had another policy drawn up which protects them even though the council know, and both my solicitor and lender were OK with it. My lender had already stated they would not lend under any condition without a policy they were happy with.

Not sure if it makes a difference, but the extension was built in 1976 and the council had no records that far back. It was also built over a sewer but the water authority only adopted the sewer in 1999, so they also had no records.

poppysarah

Isn't there a bit in the PIQ which asks is work has been done and if you have PP etc?

In the searches there is the planning bit

steelercaz13

poppysarah wrote: »

Isn't there a bit in the PIQ which asks is work has been done and if you have PP etc?

In the searches there is the planning bit

Hi there. What's the PIQ? (Blonde... )

steelercaz13

tek-monkey wrote: »

You can obtain indemnity insurance after talking to the council, you just can't use an off the shelf policy. ..... They had another policy drawn up which protects them even though the council know, and both my solicitor and lender were OK with it. My lender had already stated they would not lend under any condition without a policy they were happy with.

Not sure if it makes a difference, but the extension was built in 1976 and the council had no records that far back. It was also built over a sewer but the water authority only adopted the sewer in 1999, so they also had no records.

Hi there

Thanks for the info! I've looked at some aerial maps of the area, and the extension at the rear is definitely 10yrs+ old. I can't make out 100% that the roof window was there on the 1999 map (think it was, but blurry pic), but it's definitely there on the 2002 image, so at least 5yrs old. (I have no idea how long Velux windows have been around for even??)

RE being able to get a policy even though the council know, can I ask if it greatly increased the cost of the policy do you know? The house is on for £92k...

This really does seem like a crazy system - encouraging us to ignore non Building-Regs standard work, and that anyone asking a question about extensions, etc, even on houses they don't own, can cause sale problems for any homeowner anywhere! Madness... :-(

poppysarah

steelercaz13 wrote: »

Hi there. What's the PIQ? (Blonde... )

It's in the HIP.


property information questionaire in the home information pack

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/propertyinformationquestionnaire
You can sometimes download them off EA websites ... some useful snippets in them sometimes.

steelercaz13

poppysarah wrote: »

It's in the HIP.


property information questionaire in the home information pack

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/propertyinformationquestionnaire
You can sometimes download them off EA websites ... some useful snippets in them sometimes.

Ahhhh..... I do have the HIP, but all that's in there is a bunch of seperate pdfs - Water & Drainage thing + maps, Index of Supplied Documents, Sale Statement, Local Authority searches, title deeds and register - definitely no questionairre. Hmmmm, wonder if they're withholding that bit...!!

tek-monkey

steelercaz13 wrote: »

RE being able to get a policy even though the council know, can I ask if it greatly increased the cost of the policy do you know? The house is on for £92k...

I have no idea I'm afraid, I wasn't paying!

steelercaz13 wrote: »

This really does seem like a crazy system - encouraging us to ignore non Building-Regs standard work, and that anyone asking a question about extensions, etc, even on houses they don't own, can cause sale problems for any homeowner anywhere! Madness... :-(

I agree, its almost blackmail to make you get insurance you may not need, as you're scared to ask if you need it.