We never got building regs. What can they do?

[BuildingRegsAreScary]

We had an extension built about 15 months ago. Tbh it wasn't much more than a posh lean-to - made of uPVC with corrugated plastic roof, but has electricity etc. It's used as a utility room for washing machine, tumble dryer and storage. At the same time we also had a downstairs loo put in in the under stairs cupboard.

The extension was too small to be subject to planning permission (we checked with the council) so we got it built by a local builder, but we never got anyone from the council involved to sign off on building regs.

Anyway, we're starting to think about selling the house. What problems could this cause us? I know when we bought a previous home, we bought an indemnity policy against a set of stairs which would probably not pass building regs. Could we just buy an indemnity policy? Or do we need to get the council round to give us approval?

Yes, you can buy an indemnity policy but, if it is just a lean-to type thing that had an existing door into it, they might be able to give retrospective building regs certification. Not sure that you would need regs approval for the loo.

There have been a lot of threads about this sort of thing in the past few days.

The council will give you retrospective approval. I would do it sooner rather than later if I were you. We had this when we sold our last house, the builder had told us we didn't need planning permission but he never mentioned building regs and we had never heard of them, however the buyer's surveyor picked up on it and we had to have it done.

Are you sure it would need building regs? A conservatory (posh lean-to ) that is separated from the house via an external door and which doesn't share a heating system - I am pretty sure doesn't need building regs. Would yours meet this?

Not sure on the loo.

Can the builder advsie whether you need building regs and for what? If you approach the council and are refused you may not be able to get a policy.

Depends on how much she trusts her builder Liz. We thought ours was being really straight with us, but he lied through his teeth.

You can get round it by an indemnity as long as the council have no idea its there.Or you could say you don't know how old it is A surveyor will check out its structure etc If its just a utility room though I wouldn't worry!