indemnity insurance????

[tiggs123]

hi i am in the process of selling my house and have had an enquiry raised by the buyers solicitors about building regulation approval for the wall between the lounge and diner which has been knocked through. it was already knocked through when we purchased the property and we cannot find any paperwork for this being done. they have said if we cannot provide evidence of the approval we will have to purchase indemnity insurance? id like to know what it is? how much it costs, should we have to pay it? and how long it takes? many thanks

[Richie1976]

I bought a house last September which had the same issue. It's a little silly, but without the correct paperwork there is no proof that that wall wasn't a supporting wall. Daft I know because the house is still standing.

I asked for the sellers to pay, which surprising they agreed to very quick and then I found out why!! It cost about �50.

Personally if I was in your situation I would suggest paying half first, see if your buyers will pay the other half.

[pickle]

A similar thing happened to me last year. We were selling our house and had to purchase Indemnity insurance as we hadn't had planning permission or building regulations for converting the garage into a room. This was done at least 10 years before we sold, by a previous owner. Working in the business we knew that neither was actually required either but writing to the Council to confirm would have delayed the sale (which was already dragging on) by at least 6 weeks. Of course, we were only asked nearly at point of completion, not at the beginning, so in the end we paid. Roughly �100 i think. We were NOT happy.