Hope someone can offer some advice. Buying a house and had the survey back. The house is in great condition and we love it, but someone in the past (pre-current owners) have built a lean-to on the side. It’s built on a retaining wall. It’s been standing for a long time but surveyor is concerned it’ll be prone to movement etc. Doubt it has any proper foundations but inside it’s been done nicely as a utility. The current owners have added a loo. Although to an untrained eye the loo looks very nice, surveyor has said it clearly doesn’t have building reg consent as the pipework is dicey and the lean to as a whole is single skin. There are things we can do to improve it but not sure if it would ever get consent as it’s technically external?
If the seller takes out indemnity insurance, are we covered if anything happens to it (worst case scenario - falls down!!!)? Also at some point we want to take down an internal structural wall and know we’ll need building regs to check it. If they see the lean-to on the retaining wall, and the wc, will they make us remove it all? Potentially devalues the house in terms of space... also are we mad to spend money making it good, when it’s possibly unstable? It’s been up for a good 10+ years though!
Thanks for any advice. we definitely don’t want to pull out of the purchase as the house itself is perfect, just concerned about this dodgy build!!
If the seller takes out indemnity insurance, are we covered if anything happens to it (worst case scenario - falls down!!!)? Also at some point we want to take down an internal structural wall and know we’ll need building regs to check it. If they see the lean-to on the retaining wall, and the wc, will they make us remove it all? Potentially devalues the house in terms of space... also are we mad to spend money making it good, when it’s possibly unstable? It’s been up for a good 10+ years though!
Thanks for any advice. we definitely don’t want to pull out of the purchase as the house itself is perfect, just concerned about this dodgy build!!