Building regs

[Hepkei]

I have had a conservatory built that has had planning permission approved. I now have a letter from the council to say there is no thermal barrier between house and conservatory. I have left open plan opennings between the rooms into the conservatory. What are the implications of ignoring the regs? I have no intention of selling the house.

 

[OwainDIYer]

The implications are that the council may serve a notice on you requiring you to install a thermal barrier (door) or demolish the conservatory (unlikely).

Your heating bills will be ginormous as well, and the conservatory will probably be running with condensation.

 

[Richard C]

You’ve breached the Building Regs for a conservatory & it’s now regarded an extension which must comply with far more stringent B Regs. Many do it & get away with it but you’ve been rumbled by LABC so you need to reinstate the thermal barrier (at least for long enough to satisfy them) or you most will likely be served with an enforcement notice which, if you ignore, could involve a fine as well as the costs of reinstating the thermal barrier. But, as already stated, you should reconsider the wisdom of what your proposing as a Cons is about as heat efficient as your average garden shed & your heating bills will go through the roof (lieterally) if you take barrier down again; that’s the reason for the regs!

I know you say you don’t plan on selling but even if you can fob off LABC & keep what you have, it will come back & bite you on the asre when you come to sell.

 

[^woody^]

The council will either do nothing, send a few more "advisory" letters hoping to jolly you along to rectify the issue and then go quiet, or will latch on like a rampant puppy on your leg which you can't shake off.

The issue would be is it worth them spending lots of money on trying to get you to fit some doors, or not