To consider pulling out of a house purchase...

[SoftlyCatchyMonkey1]

Our solicitors have only just told us that the vendors have not got building regulations approval for the conservatory extension they built. We've just been finalising all the paperwork before exchanging and have discovered this. They offered indemnity insurance which I'm not comfortable with.

I'm really upset. I love that house but i feel that we can't take the risk in buying something that may be a risk and may not be compliant, so we'll have problems selling it on. The conservatory is the real selling point of the house.

You're unlikely to have problems selling it on, indemnity insurance is very common, and the policy you've been offered will stay with the house so when you come to sell it will roll on to the new buyers. You may have to top up the policy in years to come if you sell for a massively higher amount, but I wouldn't let this issue turn you away from the house if you love it.

How big is the conservatory?! I thought they didn’t need building regs because they’re temporary structures. For the same reason you have to have a proper door between the conservatory and the house.

Why aren’t you happy with indemnity insurance?

Is it really common? I'm a FTB so this is all new to me.
Surely it'll put buyers off when we come to sell? It's putting me off!

No it’s fairly common and doesn’t put people off at all in my experience- I wouldn’t pull out over that

Really common. We have needed an indemnity for something or another with the last few houses we have bought, never had a problem selling.

The conservatory runs the whole width of the back of the house, so it's an extension of the dining room and kitchen creating an open seating area. It's not a separate room.

Ok this is making me feel a bit better

Also, presumably if the conservatory is the big selling point, then your solicitors will have enquired of theirs as to why they couldn't/didn't get sign off from the local authority? If there's no sinister issue then it may be possible for the LA to be approached for the completion certificate to be issued, instead of indemnity insurance.

If it's a big 'issue', then this may be the solution and should be something the solicitors discuss between them. The seller then books the building regs people to come out. In my area they come out the next day if required.
But this is something that must be discussed via the solicitors.

We recently sold a 3 bed semi with large ground floor extension which had an indemnity policy for it with no issues.

My understanding is it is pretty common.

Can it get building regulations approval now?

Our sellers didn't have approval for conservatory and wouldn't offer indemnity insurance. We went ahead anyway. Never been an issue

We’ve had to take out indemnity insurance on our property. It’s 200 years old and previous owners have never needed to do this before. I think it’s a new thing so get used to it.

I'm gonna speak to the solicitors about it tomorrow. It's clear from the paperwork however that if we let the LA know regarding lack of building regs, then the insurance becomes void.

Indemnity insurance is normally to protect against enforcement action. It's a bit of a waste of time/ money (but the vendor's presumably? ) . There won't be enforcement action if the conservatory had been there more than 2 years anyway.
So, two things to worry about are - is it structurally ok? And is it thermally ok?
It's probably the insulation and heating that means it wasn't signed off. It needs a separating door to prevent heat loss from the main house. Structurally, if it hasn't fallen down, and doesn't look likely to, it's probably ok.

Same with us, it's a bit of a non issue. Can see why you got scared though. Buying your first house is such a worry!

I've never purchased a house without an indemnity policy for something or other. It's incredibly normal.

The reason I say that all this must go via the solicitors is that neither you nor the seller must independently call the council as this would invalidate any future indemnity insurance. Then, if there is any odd reason why they can't sign it off, the seller will be unable to offer insurance either as the act of informing the council invalidates the insurance.

Hope that makes sense.

Ah, I see you realise that, good.

Our house has a big conservatory, no approval and came up on the survey as a bit rubbish too. Didn't put us off at all and we love it!

@mysoggybottom
Indeed...I've been filled with anxiety ever since we put the offer in!!!

We also didn't get building regs for our conservatory extension and will get an indemnity insurance policy is we sell. For us we reused an existing conservatory base which would now not meet the heat insulation standard required for regs but it just wasn't worth the extra money and mess to replace a perfectly good base. The structural work is of course up to the required standard and safe. Hth.

This is all very encouraging
Thanks everyone

Well of course it will - the insurance covers the council finding out and taking some kind of action. I bought and sold a house with a loft conversion with no building regs, no problem at all. The buyer did ask for a policy but we said no as the conversion was so old it was past enforcement anyway.

What did the survey say about the extension? How old is it?

We have indemnity on something in our house. it slowed down the purchase because they didn't already have it and our solicitor insisted on it. We had to present the paperwork recently to remortgage so glad our solicitor had our backs. As long as you have the indemnity insurance I think it"s fine but you should ask your solicitor to talk it through with you and out your mind at ease.