Buying house - who is responsible for checking planning permission/building control?

[shizgigz]

I am currently buying a house - the kitchen is in an extension at the back.
Who’s responsibility is it to check planning permission is in place and it’s been signed of by building control?

This is the first property I have ever purchased solo after coming out of 25 year marriage. Terrified of it getting it wrong!

I have paid for a level 3 RICs survey which will be carried out Friday.

In England and Wales, houses are sold "caveat emptor", buyer be aware.

The vendor cannot lie to you, but it's up to you, or your solicitor, to ask the right questions

It's your responsibility but that's why you engage and pay professionals.

A combination of it potentially being flagged by a surveyor and checked out by the solicitor. Solicitors make enquiries of the vendor as to works done and should read the survey if you pass them a copy.

Ultimately though it's your responsibility so if there is something that you want confirmed make sure YOU ask your legal advisers to confirm it. Then you will get an answer (maybe one you like, maybe one you don't, but it will be an answer)

I bought an extended house and had a survey etc. Solicitor was great askesmlotsnof questions but didn't asknif the kitchen drainage was actually connected to the sewerage system. It's 70s house not a street of 60s houses...not a rural cottage, so no one was thinking a cesspit.

Anyway 3 months after moving in I discover the very jicenpipw coming outnof kitchen wall into a lovely modern looking drain with a fancy grid etc isninfact a plastic pipe not going into the sewage system but just nowhere..under the house into the foundations.
If there was anything good...this was kitchen waste only thankfully. The loos and bathrooms all connected.
£4.5k later we are now fully connected.

I.couldnhave got a drain survey...but where do you stop?

Local Authority searches will show whether there have been planning applications made and the outcome. If they are not appearing there, you need to get your Solicitor to ask specific questions of the vendors.

Your solicitor will gathered the information and it is for you to decide as ultimately its your responsibility..

Thank you. I have had a quick search on the planning portal but couldn’t see anything.
emailed both the solicitor and surveyor to request the information

You are responsible for making your own enquiries, ie working out if it was needed and if it's been done.

There was planning or building regs available for the extension on our property. I phoned and in our case because the extension was over so many years old, whether permissions had been sought or not, they would no longer insist were required. Maybe worth giving the Council a call to see what they can tell you.

"...the kitchen is in an extension at the back."

Depending on how big the extension is it may not have required planning permission.

You mention that it is at the back of the house. If it is a single storey extension then it can extend up to 4m from the back of the house if it's detached or 3m otherwise.

In this situation, the extension falls under permitted development and no planning permission is required (unless you're in a Conservation Area or a National Park etc).
.

"...signed of by building control"

To see a completion certificate you would need to approach the local council in your area or if the building control work was done by an Approved Inspector then you would need to contact that person.

If you have any concerns, you need to raise them with the solicitor and surveyor. They're not mind readers, especially the solicitor who won't have visited the property so won't know about extensions, conversions, etc., as they're just looking at deeds, search results, etc., i.e. paperwork rather than inspecting the property. They won't know to even check building regs or planning permission for a loft conversion if you don't tell them there's a recent loft conversion!

Surveyor may be best to ask, but that depends on the type of survey you've instructed them to do - they're not going to be checking drainage etc on a basic valuation survey!

Ultimately, though, it is "buyer beware" and you shouldn't rely on anyone to pick up things like Building reg and planning permission issues - do your own due diligence even if it's just formally instructing someone else to check it out.

>Terrified of it getting it wrong!

If you want to be absolutely sure that the extension has been done properly and is structurally sound, get a level 3 survey on the house instead of a level 2. Level 3 is recommended over a certain age (90 yrs), if significant internal alterations have occurred (walls being moved, etc), or if the property has been extended. In your 'comments to surveyor' when you instruct them, put in 'please reassure me that the extension is structurally sound.'

This will give you a double layer of protection above whatever Building Control throws up.

Sometimes you can find planning approvals and the like yourself on a County's planning portal. If you're not able to download any paperwork they may let you buy it for £20-ish.

Key information needed is when was it likely that the extension was added? This will determine how important the paperwork side of things are.

Assuming you have a competent surveyor they should be able to estimate approximately when an extension was added. And assuming you have a competent solicitor they should be able to advise you what paperwork (if any) is likely, given the age of the extension.

The local authority planning portal will only have records going back so far. The Local Authority Search Results will have more info about planning/building regs records.

Solicitor should be asking questions for all these documents & checks, but obviously you need to stay on top of it yourself as others have mentioned. Sellers can’t lie on documentation legally, but if something isn’t asked then things can be hidden. Also some online planning portals for varying authorities date back further than others, so it may not be on the online system, but exist. We use to live in one area where online planning details dated back years had been added onto the system, but then moved to another area where only recent planning details from the last few decades were visible. You can always pop into the planning office yourself to check anything too. My husband did that once when we were moving.

Your solicitor should do all the local searches - we hit a problem where an extension was done to our house, the land had not been transferred properly and registered by the land registry - it took an age to sort and cost a few £k - not what we wanted but all sorted in the end

Your solicitor will check what planning permission and building regs consent has been granted, but as they haven’t seen the house won’t necessarily be asking questions unless you flag them up.
You need to go through the survey and check what the surveyor says has been done. Then flag those things up with the solicitor and ask them to specifically check consents for those things. The solicitor should check through the survey but I’m not convinced that they always do.