No planning for attic conversion

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texet

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Hi all just looking for anyone with experience of buying a house where it’s seems the attic conversion has no planning permission, from a previous engineers report it meets building regulations. It’s has velux windows to the front and rear.

Where will we be when it comes to getting the mortgage? Everything has been approved just this popped up when we got the contracts from solictor , we are getting our own engineer to visit next week. Banks are coming to Value it also next week.

TIA
 
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Hi texet

I could be wrong but I think you need planning permission if you install front facing velux windows when building a attic conservation

Thanks
 
Thanks all , the house is in the countryside with no houses around it.

So this probably means the sale won’t go through if there’s planning issues?

Disaster
 
If you need a mortgage then you probably won't get one if there is a planning issue. Unless you decide you're buying a house that doesn't have a conversion, merely an attic rather than a room. For a cash buyer of course this is not an issue.
 
texet said:
So this probably means the sale won’t go through if there’s planning issues?
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You'll need to talk to your solicitor and get their advice.
As there's a mortgage, the solicitor has to obtain good title for the bank, si tget need to address planning issues.
Typically, the seller would have to apply for retention planning. That takes about 16 weeks.
 
I am no expert on this but purchased a house a few years back with upstairs coverted to 2 rooms and a large living area it was advertised as storage. so it was a 4 bedroom bungalow with storge up stairs and velux windows ti the back thats what i bought and thats what i have. I wouldn't worry about velux windows to front of house in the country nobody is going to take any notice of them.
 
galwaypat said:
I wouldn't worry about velux windows to front of house in the country nobody is going to take any notice of them.
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You mightn’t worry about it, but the fact is it should have had planning permission, because of the front-facing window. This can't be ignored if there's a mortgage involved. The correct way to resolve this is either to remove the front-facing window or to apply for retention permission. If this is given all is well, but if it is refused (after appeal) you'd have to remove the window. If the house is a stand-alone one in the countryside, there’s a fair chance retention permission would be given, but it’s not a certainty.
 
Bronte said:
If you need a mortgage then you probably won't get one if there is a planning issue. Unless you decide you're buying a house that doesn't have a conversion, merely an attic rather than a room. For a cash buyer of course this is not an issue.
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The issue isn't whether it's called an attic or room, the issue is the front-facing window. Cash buyers can of course purchase anything regardless of whatever planning or other issues are present, but it would certainly be an issue for them if and when they decide to sell.

Given the absolute worst case scenario of having to remove the front-facing window is hardly catastrophic, a mortgage provider may take the view that it wouldn’t prevent the sale going through, though my guess is they'd insist on it being sorted out first.
 
Its not a big job to remove velux windows if needs be and i don't think they are going to be an issue unless you want to make an issue out of them.
 
Thanks all for the replies was just looking for some hope of getting the mortgage for it. We’ve the solicitor on it and engineer is calling this week so I guess we’ll know soon enough.

We’d be happy to get rid of the velux windows because we don’t want the attic rooms but it looks like that mightn’t resolve the issue , will update as to what the outcome is in.
 
Depending on when the front facing Windows were installed, you may be able to use the 7 year rule, simple explanation in this blog. [broken link removed]

We had a similar issue and our solicitor relied on this to ensure good title and get the mortgage.
 
bcol1 said:
Depending on when the front facing Windows were installed, you may be able to use the 7 year rule, simple explanation in this blog. [broken link removed]

We had a similar issue and our solicitor relied on this to ensure good title and get the mortgage.
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Oh really , that would be great but won’t be banking on it just in case
 
texet said:
Oh really , that would be great but won’t be banking on it just in case
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Did you read the link? It specifically calls out that unauthorised development, even that which has survived the enforcement period can still cause problems when seeking a mortgage as clean title cannot be obtained. Some banks may well overlook this if they are happy with the valuation report.
 
RedOnion said:
I think the reality is,
Some banks may well overlook this if they don't know about it.
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Most likely alright. They'll protect their interests, and how closely they look at details such as this may well be determined by the figure their valuer comes up with and the variation between that and the asking price.
 
Leo said:
Did you read the link? It specifically calls out that unauthorised development, even that which has survived the enforcement period can still cause problems when seeking a mortgage as clean title cannot be obtained. Some banks may well overlook this if they are happy with the valuation report.
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Hi yes I did and I understand that it’s still a planning issue but that in some cases it’s overlooked as in bcol1 case

If it wasn’t going to delay the mortgage application I would be happy to apply for retention . I’m not getting my hopes up in any case anyways.
 
For any one that may have the query in the future , the mortgage went through with no issues :)
 
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