Whether you’re buying a house with lots of potential that you want to make the most of, or have decided against moving in favour of extending your existing home, there is a lot to consider when building an extension.  Solicitor Demelza Dunstan highlights the legal pitfalls to avoid when extending your property.

Building an extension is exciting but it is important to approach the project in a level headed way, to avoid running into stressful situations during the process, or in the future.

Once you’ve made the decision to go for an extension, it’s easy to get caught up in the fun part of it, thinking about all the benefits your new extension will bring. Perhaps that extra bedroom or study, a new kitchen, a granny annex, or finally space for all the stuff you’ve accumulated since the kids arrived.  However, there are some (admittedly less exciting), but nevertheless important aspects to consider first, to ensure that your dream extension doesn’t hit the buffers at a later date, as not dealing with certain matters now, could adversely affect a future sale (or mortgage) and come at a high cost to remedy .

7 fundamentals when building an extension

1. Ensure that you have the correct planning permission

Perhaps an obvious one but still, you’d be surprised how many people get it wrong.  Some extensions do not require planning, but this is not one to guess at. Your architect or a planning consultant should be able to assist you with this process. If you are considering buying a property with a view to extending, it is worth doing some detective work of your own and looking up the planning history of the property on the council website and carrying out a local authority search as part of the conveyancing.  You will see whether any prior planning applications have been granted. Or, perhaps more importantly, refused.

2. Check whether your property is listed or in a conservation or planning designation area

If you are building an extension to a property which is listed, or in a conservation area or an area in which there is a planning designation such as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or World Heritage Site,  additional restrictions are likely to apply and your development plans will need to be sensitive to these to preserve the protected features.  Your local council’s conservation officer will be able to explain whether consent is required for what you are proposing.

3. Look for any restrictive covenants to the property

A restrictive covenant is a restriction which burdens the property for the benefit of a  third party and are typically registered against the title of a property. A restrictive covenant will prevent certain actions or activities being carried out at the Property and it might curtail alterations and may even specify which materials can be used as part of your build or the height of the building. It is quite common in certain residential areas, which were previously owned by the aristocracy, as part of their large estates, for there to be blanket restrictive covenants, such as only permitting one dwelling on the plot or restricting development to preserve a view. If you build a self contained accommodation unit in the garden, or convert the garage, you might find that the old estate has the means of enforcing the covenant to extract money out of you. This can be a serious shock after you have built the new dwelling.  Restrictive covenants are contained in your Title Deeds and will be on the HM Land Registry title.  A solicitor can help you with understanding these if you aren’t sure.

4. Be clear about your budget and establish the ceiling price of your property

It is worth looking at what other similar properties in your area have sold for recently and compare this to the amount you are looking at spending on building an extension so that you make an informed decision on whether you will recoup your outlay should you plan to sell in the future.

5. Boundaries and Party Walls

This is one of the biggest pitfalls that you can encounter. You cannot build up to your boundary or interfere with or build on a party wall, definition link, without evoking the Party Wall Act. This piece of legislation is designed to facilitate cooperation between neighbours, to allow building right up to a boundary (but not beyond, see 6 below!) It has spawned a whole industry of its own, but you should seek the advice of a Party Walls Act Surveyor, who is expert in dealing with this knotty problem and obtaining the correct permissions. If you build right up to the boundary make sure that you can maintain any structure that you build.

6. Find out if the land you intend to build on is actually yours

Last but definitely not least, check your title deeds to make sure that the land you intend to build on is actually yours.  Not doing this can result in untold grief at a later date, if it turns out that you are not the owner of the land you have built on. It might sound daft, especially if you have lived in your property for a number of years, but it is not unknown for people to discover when it is too late, and the property is built that part of it is encroaching on land owned by a neighbour.  Checking your title deeds is the most important thing to do before you do anything else.  You can either check your physical documents, or you can go to the Land Registry website and check them there. However it is not always that simple, given that the Land Registry is governed by what is known as the General Boundary rule. If in any doubt about where the boundary on or near which you are building, then you should seen advice to determine its most likely location.

7. Neighbours!

You should always be very careful how you conduct your relations with your neighbours. Human nature is very territorial and the best behaved neighbours can turn nasty if development of your property offends them. Sensible and careful preparation of your project are the best counters for unneighbourly behaviour. If your relations with your neighbours is cordial, it may well be sensible to have a good chat with them first, before you commence, and take any sensible objections they may have on board. Having supportive neighbours, who haven’t received any surprises may ensure the smooth passage of your build.

Get in touch

If you would like to speak to us about anything mentioned in this blog, our friendly and experienced team would be pleased to hear from you.  You can call us on 01872 241408 or email info@penderlaw.co.uk

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