Establishing House Boundary

Doug99 said:

So the policy is ok if the first approach to the council is 'after' the policy was purchased?

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No, any approach to council, before or after, seems to invalidate the policy.

denso13 said:

No, any approach to council, before or after, seems to invalidate the policy.

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So in what event could the new house owner ever use the policy if they are not able to confirm with the council the legality of any previous house improvements?

Doug99 said:

So in what event could the new house owner ever use the policy

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The point is the policy is comfort that if the council do take enforcement action your costs are covered. Once you have the policy, and before, you forget about talking to the council, you don't need to.

Although in posts 33 and 37 it seems someone has already approached the council therefore it isn't possible to take out a policy anyway. Well you could but if the insurance company find out contact has been made, which would be fairly simple, the policy will be void.

Doug99 said:

So in what event could the new house owner ever use the policy if they are not able to confirm with the council the legality of any previous house improvements?

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To make it clear:
The standard searches that any good solicitor will do prior to a house purchase include council searches.
This includes any planning matter as well as building control work.
The council receives this sort of requests everyday and won't investigate anything.
In fact, this queries are so common that nowadays most councils have their online database where with any address you can do your search.
The indemnity insurance will be usually stipulated once the buyer's solicitor finds that for example a rear extension was never approved by BC and/or didn't have planning permission which should have had.
Once this indemnity insurance is in place, it will remain in place until:
The council is approached by the owner and starts investigating something or
More work is done on the covered part of the building, for example a new roof is installed on an extension.
Hope this clears things up.

In my scenario the buyer has already identified the lack of Building Control Certification and has approached the local council and vendor to sort it out before exchange of contracts. So an Indemnity Insurance provider would not sign up to a policy. I think I've got it now.

The vendor needs to get on with it and sort out the certs.