If I buy a house without planning permission for the loft conversion am I liable. What do I need to do?

Question

The survey has come back saying that our mortage company ''assumes that all necessary statutory and local authority consent and approvals have been obtained for the conversion of the roof space are into an attic bedroom''. We have had the offer agreed at full price though.

The owner has previously told us he had the architect draw up the plans but due to the design and cost he had his qualified brother carry out the work. Obviously this is just his word.

We want to buy the house but need to know where we would stand if we did - or how would we get it approved and what are the timescales and cost involved?

Ant help in details woudl be GREATLY apprecaited - thank you :-)

Answer 1

Here's the way it works in California:

If you have an improvement to your house that is permitted, the value of the property is reassessed based on the approximated value of the improvement. This increases your property taxes. But, if you go to sell the house, those improvements are included in the appraised value of the house.

If you don't get the required permits, you can sell the house. But, you must disclose that the improvements were not permitted. When an appraiser does an initial investigation into the property, he checks the property description on the tax records. If there is an improvement that was not permitted (room addition, for example), the appraiser should appraise the property as though the addition does not exist.

As a buyer, you have the choice to accept the non-permitted improvement for the negotiated selling price or renegotiate the price because of the non-disclosed, unpermitted improvements.

I bought a house a few years ago that had been converted from a 1 BR 2 BA to a 2 BR 2 BA (rearrangement of walls and stuff). When the title company did the title search, they found all of the permits that had been submitted to the county and could not find anything for the bedroom addition.

I asked the seller if he didn't close out permits so he wouldn't have to pay the supplemental tax for the reassessment. He said he never did pull permits and that you didn't need to in California. I then contacted the real estate agent and said that there was a non-disclosed, unpermitted improvement on the property and that I wanted to renegotiate the selling price.

At first, the agent balked, saying that his client would not agree to a lower price. I replied that, if he doesn't sell it to us at a renegotiated price and attempts to sell it to someone else, he would - by law - have to disclose the fact that the improvements were not permitted. And, he wouldn't get what he was originally asking for, anyway. So, he might as well sell it to me.

The seller still balked, but the agents panicked. I could have reported them to the California Board of Realtors for attempting to sell a property that wasn't fully disclosed (a HUGE no-no in California real estate). So, they basically paid out of their own pockets the $25,000 difference in value that the appraisal came out to because of the non-permitted improvements.

I chose to take the risk on the non-permitted improvements, because I planned on eventually doing a remodel, anyway. At that time, I would take care of all the non-permitted issues. Last year, I completely remodeled the house and everything is correctly permitted now.

Additional info:

One more thing - do not take on the task of having the improvement properly permitted. That involves inspections that could result in having to tear up walls and stuff for the inspector to verify that things were done correctly and to code. I toured an open house on e time where the seller attempted to do that with a studio built in the back yard. Turns out the bathroom in the studio was not permitted. So, the county made him put concrete down the sewer drain for the toilet to ensure that no one would ever use it. Even in the hot market two years ago, it took almost a year to sell that house. I mean, who wants to deal with a bathroom with a toilet filled with concrete?

Answer 2

Council planning offices are usually very helpful and will have a record of what permissions have been sought and granted on a property - it really doesn't hurt to ask them.

If the seller cannot provide evidence that they had planning approval (and you ought to consider building regs approval as well - the angle of the staircase, extra toilets if they are there etc), you can always ask them to buy an indemnity insurance to cover you if it turns out the work is illegal, (do check what it covers and make sure your solicitor is happy with it).

It would also be worth looking in to when the work was done and whether there is any statutory period after which the council cannot do anything (do research this bit because I am not 100%)

Also, if it turns out there is no planning permission and it is within the statutory period where the council can act - the council may still provide retrospective permission - you may need to undergo a building regs inspection too. Find this out & then re-negotiate if needs be.

Finally - don't get clouded at this stage, it may be the perfect house for you but be really dispassionate when doing this research!

All the best

Answer 3

There are some loft conversions which do not need any planning permission, but on the other hand many do. There are quite a few conditions involved in conversions, for example whether it will change the outside appearance of your house or if it exceeds a certain area. I think it would be best for you to ask an architect for advice, or you could always contact your local authority direct for help.

Answer 4

building permit