Building regs for conservatory roof

[C6YXZ]

5 years ago we replaced the UPVC roof on our conservatory with tiles. The builder said we didn’t need planning permission or building regs. Fast forward 5 years and we’re trying to sell the house. Turns out you do need building regs for a change of roof - highlighted by the buyers solicitor. You can get a regularisation certificate to retrospectively sign it off but what does that entail? Will we have to strip back plaster and tiles? I’m so upset by this - we followed the builder’s advice in good faith and now I feel like our house sale is going to fall through.

I think you can take out an indemnity policy for about £250 for this. It would be worth checking if you really need it though. We are in the process of selling our house and our buyer’s solicitor has requested building regs for our greenhouse, drive and for putting a stud wall in the internal garage. We have checked and didn’t require planning permission for any of these. We told the solicitor and they seem satisfied

Building Regs and PP are entirely different though. You can need one without the other, or both.

It was permitted development so no planning required. A change of roof needs sign off from building regs - presumably because they need to know it’s not going to stove anyone’s head in. Indemnity is a possibility but I’m trying to get myself in the buyers shoes - no idea how likely they are to just walk away. The uncertainty is the worst, esp when the OH is all zen and “what will happen will happen”.

I think there could be an issue, as UVPC is relatively light whilst tiles are not. If it were me I would contact a RICS building surveyor, who may be able to calculate what the conservatory could take and possibly calculate the sort of weight it is currently supporting. With this information the Building Regulation people may sign it off .

An indemnity clause is relatively cheap and will satisfy solicitors.

Just wondered how you got on as am now in a similar position. 😭

You can get a regularisation certificate from the local authority building control. If you can go back to the company that fitted the roof and see if they can give you any details of how the roof was constructed, amount of insulation etc, and if possible some photos of the works, there may not be any need to do any invasive works. A site inspection will be dome by an inspector who will flag up if there are any areas of non compliance and will give you a list of any additional works that might need doing.