Advice on porch door please

[DumbBlonde5]

About 6 years ago we had a small porch put on our house. In order to stay within permitted development we had to have an exterior door between the porch and our house. We put our old front door at the front and a basic exterior between house and porch.

The basic door was ugly and later we changed it to a gorgeous glazed door to let in more light but the glazed door is interior.

We are now selling our house and have been asked to confirm porch falls within permitted development. It did but it doesn't now. Is this a problem? After so many years are we allowed to change door? Is there any way to get round this without holding up sale please?

 

[tony1851]

If your porch, as built, came within the permitted development limits (ie not more than 3m high, not more than 3 sq m in ground area, and not nearer than 2m to the highway) then it will always be permitted development regardless of what you do inside, because that is not a planning matter.

However, in replacing the old (inner) door with one which is not an external-grade door, you have reduced the thermal efficiency of the house, and this contravenes Building Regulations.

But, if anyone asks if it was 'permitted development' (which is only a Planning matter and nothing to do with Building Regulations) you can still truthfully answer 'yes'.

 

[DumbBlonde5]

Thank you. On the property information form we submitted we had to write about any buildings works done. Here we have already put "porch added" and explaned it was a permitted development exempt from planning and buildings regs.

The buyers solictor has written back (with a whole host of other general questions) saying they notice we said porch was exempt and can we prove this by confirming porch is no more than 3m high, 2m from road, single storey, does not exceed 30sq m interior floor area and is separate from house via external door.

We aren't sure how to answer this as all is true except for door part right now.

Also how will the building regs issue affect us or sale please?

 

[tony1851]

Your problem here is that the buyer's solicitor has thrown in Planning issues (ie overall sizes) together with Building Regulations (thermal separation).

If your replacement door is not an external-grade door, then clearly you could not answer the whole of the question truthfully.

But in practice, does it really matter to the buyer? If they asked you for a regularization application to b/c, the inspector would not approve the new door anyway, and could ask you for (expensive) SAP calculations for the house as a whole, and possibly expect you to upgrade some insulation elsewhere to compensate.

Why not just buy some indemnity insurance, rather than loose the sale. Don't let the solicitors put a spoke in the sale just over a door.

 

[DumbBlonde5]

How would indemnity insurance work please? Do we tell them about door and then offer it ourselves? Is it expensive?

 

[tony1851]

How would indemnity insurance work please? Do we tell them about door and then offer it ourselves? Is it expensive?

I don't think it's that expensive (£100 ish ??), but it only applies if building control don't know about the alteration - which is clearly the case in your situation.
The insurance doesn't cover the cost of altering the work to comply with regs, but I think covers any legal costs of defending a prosecution.
The latter is very unlikely - there is a time limit beyond which works become immune from prosecution. It might be 2 years in cases like this, but not entirely sure.
Just offer the buyers a few quid off.

 

[DumbBlonde5]

Thank you so much!! You've been very helpful