Planning permission

[Booldawg]

I am currently in the stages of buying a house that has a single floor sun room/conservatory type extension that is a concrete wall construction with a flat roof.

It would appear that planning permission was never obtained for it. As it has been up for about 20 years no-one seems to know if permission was ever required.

Is there some law that states if an extension has been built for a certain amount of years and never contested then the council cant make you take it down?

[Octavius]

It depends on the size of the conservatory whether pp was needed at all. Check with your local authority website for the parameters, or see here

So far as the extension is concerned you should not have any problems if the work was carried out more than 12 years ago. However, because of a recent change in the law, it may be that the solicitors acting for a you will be concerned about the lack of building regulation consent.

If this occurs then you can arrange for the local buildings inspector to re-inspect with a view to giving retrospective consent or for a modest premium you can request the seller obtain's a 'lack of building regulation consent indemnity policy'.

[Booldawg]

Thanks for such a concise answer, they have offered the indemnity policy, but I still wasnt sure where I stood with regarding the legal issue. Apparently the insurance is invalid if we contact the local council regarding the pp !

[buildersmate]

There are two issues here - Planning Permission and Building Regulations approval. They are not linked.

You will not require PP now for the reason given in the answer above.

Building Regulations approval shows that the house was put together to minimum standards. In the case of conservatories or sun-rooms they are regarded as non-habitable rooms and thus do not require Building Regs approval unless larger than 30 square metres in area and providing the doors that originally separated the original house to the outside have been left in place. If either of these situations has occurred, Building Regulations approval should have been sought at the time, and the indemnity policy should be sought from the vendor.

[stanleyman]

As I recall if the a building was built and occupied for over four years then no enforcement action could be taken, however, if the the local planning department knew then they could be difficult and make you prove this so it is usually best to let sleeping dogs lie and get your proof ready just in case you ever need it. It is not against the law to have no planning permission but you run the risk of someone reporting you.

[Octavius]

Yes as I said, the solicitors will be concerned with Building Regs Approval.

If I were you I might consider it prudent to get a survey carried out on the extension to see whether amny works might be required. For instance, if it wasn't built properly (according to regs) it may have underlying problems which could affect the fabric of the main building, such as dampness (no DPC), incorrect foundations etc etc. It is really up to you, but remember it is a large investment.