Solicitors house purchase enquiries

[pineapple]

Just a step away from contract exchange and my purchasers' solicitor is requiring to see evidence that work done to my house meets with building regs and/or planning permission.
This includes the porch which was here before I moved in 10 years ago. I have no idea when it was built and as far as I understand. it is below the size which requires planning permission..
A small patio at the rear
7 foot of garden wall approx 4 foot high dividing my house from the property next door
Roofing - tiles turned on roof, pointing of ridge tiles, new membrane (or whatever you call) it under tiles
New bath/shower over, washbasin and toilet in same area as previous bathroom.

To my knowledge none of the above needed planning permission and as for building regs I assumed, maybe wrongly, that the bona fide licensed contractors complied with any regs.
What should I have in place ta?

 

[footprints]

I would think if it was all done before you moved in "Dunno it was there before I bought is the response!" let 'em pick the bones out of that!

I had an EPC for the house I just sold that was about 4 years old (they last 10 years) the buyers solicitor was pushing for a new one, about £90 if I had to get one. All the agents I had got to value said it was fine, my own solicitor and the guy that did EPC's for the agent said the same.

The only other person apart from the buyers solicitor that wanted to sell me one was the buyers surveyor when he came to do the survey, who was after "Double Bubble" for his time there!

Solicitor dropped it, all went through no problem.

On the the other hand if you have done any work that would be a different story.

 

[pineapple]

Everything except the porch has been done since I moved in so where do I stand with these other things?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

None of the works you have described would have required either PP or BR approval. The porch having been built so long can now be considered legal with regards to PP even if were built illegally in the first place, same with regards to BR's.

 

[footprints]

Not sure about the wall, certainly they might ask if this was agreed with your neighbor and if the boundary has been changed.

My guess and that's all it is, is that a back garden wall will be less likely to cause a problem than a front garden one as many houses have caveats in the deeds restricting fences etc on front gardens, in some cases the frontage has to be left clear of them.

I can't see a straight replacement bathroom would cause problems, and as to the roof I would supply a copy of the receipt and any guarantee you were given.

Hopefully yoou are not in a conservation area or grade 2 listed!

 

[pineapple]

Thank you all. No I am not listed or in a conservation area and the wall was agreed with the neighbour and not aware of a boundary change.

 

[tony1851]

Yet another example of the ignorance and stupidity of conveyancing solicitors.
All they do is put the frighteners on buyers - and charge for the pleasure.
As above, none of the stuff is relevant to Building Regs; send the buyers solicitor a letter suggesting he/she learns the rules.

 

[pineapple]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond on New Years Eve. It was actually quite worrying to receive a whole extra bunch of questions on New years Eve prior to Exchange next week (maybe)
I hope you all have a great New Year!