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Original poster

Where to find previous building regs/approval for house alterations?

41 replies

CatAndHisKit · 30/04/2021 02:08

And also how long should it take?
I'm selling and the buyer's solicitor seems either clueless or maybe the process is slow. The loft conversion was done before I bought, and when I was buying I can't remember it being an issue as my solicitor would have flagged it up surely? But otoh the sellers then must have provided them as they did the work. I know it was done absolutely properly as I was careful to ask them / and it's also obvious from the type of people who lived there and by the look of the work.

It seems it's a stumbling block now and agent now pestering my solicitor for possibly getting imdemnity. But I know the buyer's solicitor only started looking into it last week, to get coipes from council. It's supposed to be all recorded at the Council, as I understand.

So how long does it take to apply for copies? Could there be a reason that they are not recorded with council?
If they really can;t locate these, would a mortgage provider accept indemnity - and who pays for it?

OP posts:

Anordinarymum · 30/04/2021 02:15

It's because of fire regs. They should be recorded with the council but if not you can apply for retrospective planning permission which requires a visit from the council to make sure the work is carried out to the correct standards.

Original poster

CatAndHisKit · 30/04/2021 02:24

thanks, Abordinarymum, I know it was done according to fire regs - have fire doors etc - but why is he having trouble getting the copies - does it normally take long to locate/request from the council?

Really would rather not have visits etc as we are all in a rush. The bloody buyer wh's dragged out the whol process, should have done it ages ago but only doing it now as his mortgage provider asked.

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Flippyflops2021 · 30/04/2021 02:29

I found ours online. Instantly available on the councils planning portal... have you looked online?

But before I found them the insurance indemnity for lack of building regs loft bedroom was going to be something like £38

Flippyflops2021 · 30/04/2021 02:31

Meant to say, the solicitor finds quotes for indemnity. You pay for them, they don’t become an active policy until completion day.

Anordinarymum · 30/04/2021 02:32

Sometimes the buyer is stalling for time because they are having trouble getting a mortgage as we found out to our cost.

Original poster

CatAndHisKit · 30/04/2021 02:42

In this case they have got a mortgage, Anordinary but the mortgage surveyor mentioned they should get building regs confirmation. I don't get it why is hteir solicitor unable to do this quickly - it's beenm a few days and they did speak to the agent saying they will be doing it ASAP. I@Anordinarymum
Flippy was that for free? I don't think it's available to see for all on ours, I didn't look as it's buyer's job, and my sols said they should haev a link to these in their searches which they got back a while ago. Good though that imdemnity is cheap - is it acceptable for a mortgage provider though?

OP posts:

Original poster

CatAndHisKit · 30/04/2021 02:43

sorry for typos - off to bed!

OP posts:

Anordinarymum · 30/04/2021 02:54

What annoys me is you have a solicitor whom you pay to do the necessary work still and the buyers have one and it's down to you to sort it. This happened to me. They didn't just stop at the loft conversion, they asked about the roof saying the new tiles were too heavy ( they were not) and the drive which had been paved years before.
They inferred the conservatory was not built to regs and said it occupied more floor space than it should and they asked questions about the bloody drains as well
I had to sort all this out and in the end they were stalling as their mortgage was not in place which is why I asked if your buyer was genuine.
The council came out to my loft conversion and it was fine. I had to pay of course and then their mortgage fell through.
When the people who eventually bought my house bought it, they never asked any of these questions because they wanted the house.
If I could have moved that house to where I live now I would still be in it :)

Changingwiththetimes · 30/04/2021 07:28

It is up to you to supply the documents, and your solicitor to get copies if you don't have any. If the councilman no records then they may still have done it properly, but you will need a regularisation certificate, which requires an inspection (and fee). You can get an indemnity policy, which costs a.round £120, but if someone has already told the council about it you can't- you will have to get regularisation.
This is all pretty standard and not a delaying tactics as it is YOUR responsibility to get this done.

PurBal · 30/04/2021 07:33

Indemnity costs different amounts depending on what your insuring, ours is £275 for lack of planning consent for a parking space.

Onandoff · 30/04/2021 07:37

@Changingwiththetimes

It is up to you to supply the documents, and your solicitor to get copies if you don't have any. If the councilman no records then they may still have done it properly, but you will need a regularisation certificate, which requires an inspection (and fee). You can get an indemnity policy, which costs a.round £120, but if someone has already told the council about it you can't- you will have to get regularisation. This is all pretty standard and not a delaying tactics as it is YOUR responsibility to get this done.

This. It’s your responsibility to provide the relevant documents. If it was done post building regs (mid 80s) buyers will expect it to be signed off by building control. The importance also depends on when it was done as something older that’s still standing is obviously less of a worry. They also need to meet certain standards to be marketed as a bedroom. Unfortunately it’s never ‘obvious from the type of people who lived there or the look of the work’. People or their builders will cut all sorts of corners to save money or time. Lofts can be a worry if not signed off because of fire risk and structural integrity.

Flippyflops2021 · 30/04/2021 07:38

Yes the online portal documents were free and it was instant. Which was lucky for me

The indemnity was fine for our buyer.

Agree is annoying. You pay all this money to solicitors and end up doing some leg work yourself. To be honest I would do anything to Speed it all up.

Kocduw · 30/04/2021 07:48

As Flippyflops2021 says, there should be a search on your local authority website to check if the application was made with a building regs reference. You should becable to get a copy from the LA if the inspected at circa £30 but now it is more common to get inspections from a private Approved Inspector company. If there isnt a record you will have to get an indemnity policy. Good luck

cherrryred · 30/04/2021 12:46

We had this when we sold our flat - it was converted from a house in the mid 1980s and we could easily find the planning permission for conversion on the website but there was nothing about building regulations approval in any of the papers we had.

I spoke to a friend who is a surveyor and she advised that building regs arent really worth anything after the enforcement period is over. She said that I shouldnt actually ask the council to find the building regs approval for our flat as if it couldnt be found it would be recorded as not having approval and so be subject to a new inspection with current building regs. Plus having no approval would mean an indemnity policy couldnt be taken out.

So I had a vague conversation with the council building department about the possibility of retriving approvals etc. I then gave a statement to the buyer's lawyer along the lines of we understand that building regs approval was granted when it was converted but having spoken to the local authority there was no guarantee that the documents would be available in the council's archives and locating them would take a disproportionate amount of time. That seemed to do the trick

arthurdaly · 30/04/2021 19:29

It's a bloody nightmare and minefield! One of our purchases enquiries was that they wanted to see building regulations for cavity wall insulation which was installed back in 2003. It's an ex LA house and they were the owners at the time it was installed.
There was nothing on the council website and was actually pre having to get building regs for cavity wall insulation. So I went back with that response and it went away.
They then queried why we didn't have a fensa certificate for a window my husband installed. I had to go back and explain that you don't need a fensa certificate if you have building regs.....

Original poster

CatAndHisKit · 01/05/2021 02:34

Ok, I've located my purchase papers, and thank God, there is a (very short) page stating tfhat Building control got a pass from the council!

Re conservatory, Anordinarymum how did you deal with those queries? I vaguely remember the previous owner saying they didn't need permission/building regs as no walls were altered and is not dispropertionately big for the house. Did you somehow prove it wasn't too large?

To postres saying it's up to the seller to provide all the docs - even when it was al ldone before you bought the house? And obviously when I bought my solicitor (asa buyer) was checking all these, not the vendor applying to see apprval to the council. So I thought it was now buyer's job too, especially as it's his mortgage provider is asking for these.
They do have mortgage in principle as the bank has sent the surveyor who raised all these.
So would they buyer need to supply this info from the council via their sols, or would they accept a copy from my searches back years ago - from different solicitors that I;m using now?
I could copy and email that page to the agents to pass to them, would that be enough?

Also were the approvals of conservatories with no walls being altered, required pre-2010?

OP posts:

Original poster

CatAndHisKit · 01/05/2021 02:36

Sorry again for the typos!

OP posts:

user1487194234 · 01/05/2021 05:27

It is definitely the sellers job to produce any necessary consents even if the work was done previously as the sellers should have got the consents when they bought
As you did
The sellers’ solicitor will ask the sellers if they have the consents ,if you don’t they will advise on getting copies/indemnity
How could the solicitor be expected to find the consent held by the sellers in their house

ouchmyfeet · 01/05/2021 05:46

This is all pretty standard and not a delaying tactics as it is YOUR responsibility to get this done.

This is what I was going to say. It is extremely irritating how shit the average conveyancing solicitor is though. Can't believe how much we have to pay them and end up doing ourselves

pilates · 01/05/2021 07:02

It is your solicitor who should be getting copies of documents requested by the buyers solicitor and it’s a perfectly reasonable request to expect if you have had work done you get the necessary approval including a completion certificate.

Flippyflops2021 · 01/05/2021 08:30

Yes. As you are selling the house, it’s your responsibility to ‘prove’ everything is legal and done properly. When you bought it, your sellers probably had to answer same questions! Doesn’t matter if the work was done before you bought.

Similarly the house you’re buying (if there is one) the sellers are having to answer all questions about boundary’s, extensions, all sorts of things.

Original poster

CatAndHisKit · 01/05/2021 11:55

I understand that the seller provides all the docs if they did the work - but when I was buying same house, MY solicitor has checked all the entries with the council - hence I found that page from my sols stating the Building control pass as part of searches.
I don't have any original docs in the house as I haven't been passed any originals apart from architect plans for conversio, and thought the buyer wil be checking with the council too - even to avoid people who fake dociments, surely it's best to record everuything with the council!

OP posts:

Original poster

CatAndHisKit · 01/05/2021 12:00

more to the point the buyers sols did sayaweek ago they ll be dealing with it but made no progress - hence I started panicking they can't locate these.

OP posts:

Original poster

CatAndHisKit · 01/05/2021 12:16

To reiterate, I assumed this was part of their searches with local authorities (as my solicitor did when buying) that buyer pays for, and neither solicitors or agent disputed that.
But now I'd like to find out whether I'm right that conservatories don't need planning permission of approval if no walls are altered or taken down? And this is pre-2008

OP posts:

pilates · 01/05/2021 15:53

If your solicitor acted for you when you purchased then maybe he still has a copy of approval on his paper file or on his computer? Failing that, you can get a duplicate copy from the Council for a small amount. Our conservatory (which was erected 20 years ago) didn’t need permission as it came under permitted development but regulations change over the years so not sure what the criteria is now. The local search only reveals details (application numbers and dates) of planning permissions and building regulation approvals not the actual document itself.

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