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Whether contained in the Home Information Pack or whether undertaken independently, the Local Land Charge Search will reveal any planning permissions granted in relation to the property.
If the permissions are dated within the last four years, then the terms of them are still enforceable by the Council if a breach has taken place; however, if a period of four years has elapsed, then breach of planning permission is no longer enforceable. This is because after this period of time, any action by the Council is statute barred.
So, if you’re selling a property and you’re asked to pay for copy planning permissions to be obtained, they only need to be provided if they’re dated less than four years ago.
The time period does not apply in relation to building regulation approvals and completion certificates however. Due to the findings of a case called Cottingham v Attey Bower & Jones (2000), solicitors should always ask for and obtain copies of the building regulation approvals and completion certificates (if cc’s were granted by that Council at that time). Breaches of building regulations can be enforced via an injunction under Section 36(6) of the Building Act 1984 and therefore, the Council can take action at any time, (although usually a period in excess of ten years expired is seen as satisfactory by mortgage lenders if no action has been taken) where works were undertaken from 1985 onwards in breach of the regulations. Prior to that, such breaches cannot be enforced.
If the building regulation approvals cannot be provided by you, then they should be obtained through the local Council. Depending on the age of the documents, you might be able to get copies via the Planning Portal, which now enables people to access planning permissions and building regulation approvals relating to any property, online. You can’t always get them if they’re older documents though.
Please note that a building regulation approval is issued at the start of the building works when plans etc have been checked. A completion certificate is a more recent document, that is issued by the building control officer once the work has been completed satisfactorily following his inspection.
If the documents cannot be provided, then indemnity insurance should be obtained by the buyer’s conveyancing solicitor to protect both the buyer and if relevant, the mortgage lender. You will be asked to pay for this if you cannot provide the documents to prove that the permissions or approvals haven’t been breached.
2 Responses to “Selling a house – Do you need to provide copy planning permissions or building regulation approvals?”
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September 29th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Hello, we have received an offer on our house and all our conveyancing is going ahead. About 8 years ago we added a small extension to the property. It was a self build (by my retired builder Dad) and although we got ‘advice’ from the council about the size not needed permission, we have no planning permission or building regulation approval. Basically we just built it and trust that it is safe cos it was by a builder.
Does our solicitor need to be aware of this? Will the house sale still be able to go ahead and will it cost us anything?
Hope you can help.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
You should make sure that you tell your solicitor about this – he needs to know so that he can give you legal advice tailored to your particular circumstance. If the Council told you that you didn’t need planning permission or building regulation approval, this was probably because the extension constituted “permitted development”, which doesn’t need the usual permissions. The house sale can still go ahead but you might just need to have your solicitor write to the Council with information about the size and construction of the extension and ask that they confirm in writing that planning permission/building regulation approval was not required. This is not likely to cost anything – I suppose some Councils may make a small charge for producing the letter but it is unlikely to be anything significant.
Your conveyancing solicitor is paid to work for you and to provide you with legal advice – don’t keep anything from your solicitor in terms of your transaction because this will prevent them from properly advising you.
Hope this helps!
Gemma