Planning permission on new house

BruTamUK_2

Hi,
We are currently in the process of buying a house and there are a couple of concerns that have come up.
The house is a 3 bed detached, built in 1988.
The house has had new upvc windows and doors, probably fitted in the mid 90's, a new upvc porch fitted to the front, fitted in the last 5 years, a blocked paved driveway, fitted in the last 5 years, and an air conditionng system fitted internally, not sure when though.
(We know a couple of the neighbours who knew the previous owners and confirmed the dates for us.)
We've received the questionaire that the seller has to fill in and he has answered some of the questions wrong.
Where it asks about work that has been done he has ticked no to everything, when it is obvious that its had work carried out since new. He has also ticked to say no planning permission was required.
He does know the work has been done as we spoke about it when we viewed the property, but he seemed a little clueless about when it was actually done. He's only lived there for a year.
Where do we stand in approaching him about the work?
Should he be responsible for supplying planning permission/building regs for the work?
Should the air con have an installation certificate no matter how old it is?
I would think he has none of this and probably didn't question it when he purchased the property last year. Like I said, he did seem pretty clueless!
Is there some sort of insurance policy we can have incase there is any comback in the future?
No hips pack has been done on the house to pick up all this as its been on the market for 9 months.
If he becomes stubborn about any of it we are quite willing to walk away and purchase another property.
Should we really be worrying about any of it?
We don't want to be caught out in the future.
Thanks,
Bruce.

Doozergirl

I don't see what you're worrying about. You don't need planning permission or building regs for new windows before 2002 or for a uPVC porch I don't think as it sounds much along the lines of a conservatory, of which the majority don't need building regs approval - only for glass fitting after April 2002.

Air con, depends again on when it was installed. It's only something like two years ago that all new work had to be carried out by a 'competant' person.

There are indemnity policies you can buy regarding building regs but they are a) fairly useless as BC would have to obtain a court order to get anything redone. Worth it for some windows and a porch? b) it doesn't even sound like the work needed building regs approval anyway.

You won't be buying any houses if you get this het up about something so insignificant.

A HIP would not help you with any of this either.

phead

BruTamUK wrote: »

Should we really be worrying about any of it?

No, most of those do not requires planning permission or building regs. The only one to question further is the porch, if it really is new (and not a replacement) then planning may apply, though after this length of time I doubt anyone will care. Go look up the rules to see if planning is required based on size.

If your paying a premium for the air con then some kind of maintenance certificate would be handy, as those system go wrong all the time.

Doozergirl

Unless permitted developement rights had been removed for some reason - (ie. listed building, conservation area - which I very much doubt with uPVC!) or it had already been considerably extended, then no planning permission would be required for a porch.

Permitted development allows you to extend by up to 15% (within certain limitations) without PP.

chappers

The only thing I can add is planning may have been necesary to fit uPVC if the house is in a conservation area, otherwise all of the works appear to be outside of any mandatory permissions or certification.

BruTamUK_2

Thanks for the replys.
If all what you say is true, then I wont take it any further.
I was just worried incase there could be any comeback from the local council I the future.
My only concern with the air con system was the fact that electrical cable is visible in the bedroom. It looks like the cable is in the cavity, but it comes out of the wall and over the skirting board before going under the carpet and into the floor. Should I at least have this checked out by an electrician before I enchange contracts?
Thanks again,
Bruce.

Doozergirl

There's a small amount of cable running over the skirting board? It's not an electrical issue - if the cable is intact! It's just unsightly. You could remove the skirting and put new over it. There will be plenty of room behind the skirting for the cable.

Have you had a survey yet?

BruTamUK_2

yes. got the survey back last week.
nothing was picked up. it was only a basic survey, and did suggest a full electrical and services inspection. but i think thats normal anyway?

dubsey

Whether or not you need planning permission for some things is easy. Ring the local council for the area the house is in and ask if you were to build xyz would you need it. We need permission and building regs here for a porch because it extends past the building line (that's what the council told us), but on our last house we didn't.