Indemnity insurance on new house?

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Hi everyone :) New to mumsnet, looking for some general advice on buying a house with a loft conversion, and whether indemnity insurance will be a good option for me.

So I'm a first time buyer, and I've got an offer in on a house I really like. It had been tenanted before the sale, and I visited it twice before putting an offer in, both times in bad weather. Both times, the house seemed warm and safe, and the people living there seemed fine and didn't report anything of concern. However, now an issue has arisen due to the house's loft conversion. My solicitor suspects it was put in without planning permission, and straight away, has been doom and gloom about it. He's sent a request to the vendor's solicitor for more information, but everything is taking a very long time, mainly because the two sides can't seem to get their e-mails going to the correct person (I've had to act as a go-between more than once.)

Now, as I said, my solicitor has been very pessimistic about the loft conversion's legality, and is pushing to get retrospective planning permission, with the advice that I should pull out should the seller be reluctant to go through with it. However, from what I've read of loft conversions, and what I've seen from the house, the conversion does seem safe (it's been in use as a living area for 12 years.) I'd like to get a builder in to check it out, and let me know if it does not come up to standards, before I decide to do anything else. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a builder in before the contract exchange, though.

What I would like to know is, if the seller does not apply for retrospective planning permission and if I am not able to get the builder in, would I be able to get indemnity insurance to cover any issues that may arise with the loft? I've been a bit put off by my solicitor's immediate negativity on the matter, and I was at first resigned to let the sale go if I was unable to get the planning permission, but now I've had time to think and research myself, I'm wondering what other options I have available to me.

Thank you for any advice, sorry for my naivete!

A builder won't be able to tell you about planning permission. Do you mean building regs? Even then I still wouldn't use a builder for this. Use a building surveyor.

Often loft conversions do not require planning permission, and in any event after 12 years I believe no enforcement action can be taken by the council for lack of planning permission.

Of far greater importance is whether the conversion has building control approval. This will have meant the local authority sent an inspector round to the property whilst the work was being carried out to confirm that it was being done to the appropriate standards of the time. At the conclusion of the work they should issue a building regulations completion certificate. Do you know if one exists?

You need a structural engineer to check the loft conversion is sound, not a builder. It's more of a problem if it doesn't meet building regs than if it doesn't have planning permission. The latter you can apply for retrospectively and chances are it'll be fine, but if it needs work to bring it up to build regs that could be really costly and indemnity insurance may not be enough to cover your back.

If the vendor won't let your structural engineer have a look before exchange, definitely don't proceed!

Listen to your solicitor he will be acting in your best interests

Most loft conversions are done under permitted development rather than planning permission but they do need to be done in conjunction with and signed off by building control who will ensure that the work is carried out safely , correctly and to a standard , they also will usually need structural drawings and calculations from a structural engineer who will work along side both builders and building control , a loft can rarely just be used as a living space without first strengthening some of the timbers and moving / removing others

An indemnity insurance is usually an easy cheap way out of a situation but in reality is not worth the paper it is written on.

Retrospective planning and building control is the way forwards , if it's up to standard it will be fine but if it's not then putting things right after work is finished can be messy , expensive and time consuming , let the vendor deal with that as it's his problem

Getting a house is very exciting and I wish you the very best , sometimes emotions can take over , just remember although you love this one there are loads out there for sale without as much complication

Planning permission unlikely to be relevant. Building regs is relevant so request evidence that is in place, if not ask buyers to obtain regularisation certificate (i,e, retrospective approval) - which might take time.

If they are not prepared to do this, seek a reduction in price as if the conversion did not exist or walk away.

I have just sold a house that had a loft conversion without buildings regs or planning permission. It had been done prior to me buying the property (11 years ago) and at the time I was given an indemnity policy plus it was not able to marketed as a third bedroom but as a 'loft room'. When we sold it we topped up the indemnity policy to the new house value. It was not an issue at all. Had we attempted to get retrospective building regs approval we would have failed as the regulations change so often and are very different to when the conversion was done.

My house has a loft conversion with no building regs - was not an issue for us.

Before we bought it, we had a builder come round to check it was structurally sound and properly reinforced (it was) and the only reason it didn't have building regs was due to the height (or something similar) and lack of a fixed staircase. I don't use the room anyway.

IME indemnity Insurance is second best
On a resale a purchaser May very well not accept it
So bear that in mind
Make sure it is structurally sound by getting it checked out by structural engineer
If you are happy then you will need to check your lender is ok to go ahead on basis of indemnity insurance
If that's ok then your risk is on resale
In a difficult market buyers could be put off
If you think you are in it for the long hall then might be ok
Remember at the moment it's the sellers problem,once you buy it could be yours

Your solicitor should ask your vendor to pay for and provide indemnity insurance and when you sell at a later date you provide the same to your buyers. We have done this.

That insurance is not worth having. It doesn't actually fix any of the problems, so you'll still have some that doesn't meet regs.
It just pays back any devaluation of the house due to enforcement action, which basically won't happen. So as far as the insurance company is concerned it's free money. Mortgage companies like it because someone else pays for it, and maintaining the value of the house is literally the only thing that they care about. If you're living in a death trap that's not their issue.
The solicitor is duty bound to protect your and the mortgage companies interests respectively, but mortgage companies are more rational than people.