Any conveyancing solicitors about? Please!

[roarrfeckingroar]

I'm buying a house and it turns out there's no building regulation permission for an extension that was built 8 years ago. The seller is taking out indemnity insurance.

Is this common?
Would I be an idiot to proceed?
Will I be able to sell the property on in the future?

Thank you - I just want additional opinions from my solicitor.

Hi OP, we're in the same situation although extensions 15 and 20 years old.
Our solicitor said indemnity policies aren't worth the paper they are written on really, as they just cover you in the event that the council will make a random inspection (not likely several years later) and ask you to pull it down.
The bigger issue with lack of building certification, is that your insurance would be unlikely to pay out if there was ever a problem with the extension...eg subsidence, so you need to weigh up the risk.
We're a bit stuck on what to do ourselves so looking forward to seeing the advice you receive on here

Have you had a structural survey? The building regs is the sign off, but the key issue is whether it is structurally sound.

Yes you need a Structural Engineer to check it out. I would also want it signed off by Building Regs. Don’t proceed without these.

It’s very common and not really an issue if the extension has Ben standing a long time. If only be concerned if it was built in the last 5 or so years.

We had the same, but with our own house when we were selling. We contacted the local council and they came out and signed it off.