Garage at the rear of "dream house" has no planning permission.

Hi,

Myself and My wife have found our dream home and have had a bid accepted but the auctioneer has told us today that the garage at the rear of the house has no planning permission.

It is fairly big and is to the rear and side of the house so would definitely need permission. I've been told though that a mortgage lender wont issue a cheque until retrospective planning permission is granted. Is there a way around this without applying for retention which will take up tp 8 weeks. We are in temporary dwellings since selling our own house three weeks ago and dont want to wait that long.

I dont really care if it has to be knocked down in the future. This house is in the middle of nowhere so the chances of an objection are really minimal.

Thanks

Brian

Re: Planning Permission

what is the size - reason is that it may not meed planning permission. have engineer measure internal floor area.

if the garage has an internal floor area of less than 25 square metres it would be exempt from planning permission. Maybe you could get it written in the contract that you will buy subject to the retention permission being granted and that might satisfy the mortgage company.

I'll second jfk's post

See full test here

[extract]
Generally, you will not need planning permission for:
* Building a garage at the back or side of a house so long as it does not extend out in front of the building line of the house and does not exceed four metres in height (if it has a tiled/slated pitched roof) or three metres (if it has any other roof type). This building will be exempt from planning permission once the floor area is limited to 25 square metres.

I'd be pretty confident it DOES need PP as the auctioneer is probably well versed in the regulations. Funny how the auctioneer seems to have only "discovered" the lack of PP after your bid was accepted. I think under these circumstances, I'd tell them to stuff it or else reduce the bid. Be firm.

If your LTV is sufficently low, get the property revalued without including the garage, your lender may release the funds on this basis. Also instruct your solicitor to undertake to apply for the planning and forward this to your lender. Good Luck

When was the garage built? If it more that 6 (or 8?) years old then there should be no problem. That is the 'statute of limitations' on buildings with no planning. We had a similar problem with a house we bought which had a conservatory on the side of the house that had no planning. However, it was more than 6 (or 8 I can't rememebr which) years old so the bank was ok with issuing the mortgage.

"Also instruct your solicitor to undertake to apply for the planning and forward this to your lender. "

I assume you mean instruct the solicitor to tell the lender that the borrower will undertake to apply for planning permission. The solicitor will not give that kind of undertaking.

"If it more that 6 (or 8?) years old then there should be no problem. That is the 'statute of limitations' on buildings with no planning. We had a similar problem with a house we bought which had a conservatory on the side of the house that had no planning. However, it was more than 6 (or 8 I can't rememebr which) years old so the bank was ok with issuing the mortgage."

This is not great advice. After X years, the local authority can no longer compel someone to pull down an unauthorised development BUT this never makes the development either exempt or legal. It is still an unauthorised development and technically in an insurance claim it is not covered.

To do things right, there should be a signed contract with a clause requiring the vendor to get retention, an application for retention, at the expense of the vendors and the sale should not close until that is done. That is the right way to do things. Anything else ( negotiate loan cheque on terms from lender, close, retain monies and apply for retention) is fraught with potential problems.

If it is the dream home far better to get it right now even if it does mean a few months delay.

mf