Selling my House

[juliamccarth]

My buyers solicitor has asked for copy of planning permission and building regulations approval for work carried out on my property - works done before I moved in 15 years ago. None are available, therfore they require indemnity insurance cover - to be provided at my cost - is this necessary and should I be paying for this?

[almcd007]

I would enquire with the solicitors who you bought the house with as they would have had to have copies for that transaction. Those copies should still be on file unless they have destroyed the file. The Land Registry might have copies too. Your buyers solicitors are covering their clients back and yes you should do all you can to ensure the sale goes through smoothly and if you cannot provide copies then an indemnity is the best way forward.

You might want to post this in Law or the subsection of Law - Civil. As this is in adverts and you may get a more comprehensive answer there.

[themas]

As the work was carried out more than 4 years ago the council cannot do anything about it from a planning point of view, even if no planning permission was obtained. It is possible to apply to the council for a certificate of lawful development. Building regulations are different, & could be a problem.

However, in most cases this type of indemnity insurance is inexpensive and the quickest way of resolving the problem.