4 May 2021

Lucy Barber quoted in This Is Money on indemnity insurance

Head of Residential Property, Lucy Barber's comments have been published in This Is Money's article entitled 'The owner of a house we want to buy extended without planning permission: Can we make it above board or is it best avoided?'.

In her comments Lucy answers the question, 'will the extension cause mortgage problems and do I need indemnity insurance?'. She explains that when purchasing a house that has had work done over four years ago, there are usually three options available:

  • To apply for retrospective planning permission
  • To apply for a certificate of lawful use
  • To purchase indemnity insurance.

To apply for a certificate of lawful use, it is important to obtain a statutory declaration from the seller confirming when the works were done and verifying the use of the property from that date. For works done without building regulation approval, it is advisable to take this retrospectively or obtain indemnity insurance.

Lucy highlights that indemnity insurance would cover the costs, or loss to the market value, to the property should the local authority ever seek to take issue with the work being done without planning permission.

The full article can be found here.

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