Thousands admit to not getting permission for building work

According to a new study released by Co-op Insurance, 57% of UK homeowners say they’ve had extensive work done on their properties and of these, almost a fifth are unsure if they got the correct permissions when doing so.

Of the UK homeowners unsure if they got the correct consent for their building work which included extensions, conservatories, loft conversions and garages:

• 19% said they didn’t know they needed to
• 14% said it didn’t cross their minds
•   9% said they didn’t bother as they thought it would cost them money

Furthermore, with recent Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) data revealing that home buying activity declined in January, it’s evident that homeowners are staying put and investing in expansion of their properties rather than moving out.

However, the Insurance provider’s study reveals a growing trend of homeowners conducting building work without relevant authorisations. Two fifths (43%) are planning on future building work and of these, a fifth (18%) would risk not getting relevant consent.

When delving into the reasons UK homeowners would opt out of getting the relevant permissions for their humble abodes:

• 29% say it’s because they know they’ll get away with it
• 25% would go ahead without permissions as doing so would slow the work down
• 27% said it would increase their costs overall
• 19% don’t see the importance of getting permissions

The study also highlights that women are more likely than men to get the relevant consent for their buildings work with just 7% of women opting out of getting consent verses 9% of men.  Furthermore, a fifth (20%) of UK homeowners said they opted against letting their insurers know about the work they were having done and a further tenth (13%) can’t say for sure either way.

Caroline Hunter, Head of Home Insurance for Co-op Insurance commented: “It’s really important that homeowners get the correct permissions and let their insurers know when extensive building work such as conservatories, extensions and loft conversions are taking place. That way, if anything was to go wrong with the property, either whilst the building work is ongoing or once it’s completed, it will be covered by their insurer.”

HAVE YOU?

source http://blog.evolutionproperties.co.uk/2017/04/08/thousands-admit-to-not-getting-permission-for-building-work/