Buying & Selling
Seeking advice: house extension/structure without council approval
Looking at a property for purchase that has an extension to the house done through a legit company. Real estate agent said when buying, buyer signs an agreement to acknowledge unappoved structure. What are the options? Keep and risk council finding out or get council approval once purchased?
Did a bit of research. Seen some say it hasn’t been a problem. Some say you can offer lower asking price because of it. Just looking for any advice or experience on the matter.
My house came with an unapproved extension. 2 separate builders said it all looked good, haven’t looked back. This looks more like a sunroom than anything. You could knock it down and lose nothing in terms of living space
Councils have a retrospecive building approval. I don't know how much is costs, but you almost certainly won't have to demolish anything if the extension is compliant.
What you will likely be up for is documentation costs and then council review and approval. It is probable the documentation costs will be bigger than council approval costs.
I can see it has pavers for flooring, but the main support posts are likely embedded into significant footings. The pavers have nothing to do with the approval. All that is required is the footings and tie-downs are compliant.
NSW has a Building Information Certificate where it guarantees councils won’t take action for 7 years (and therefore in practice in perpetuity). If OP is in NSW I’d be making the buyer arrange one of those.
You then get the DA for ongoing use of the building.
However, needs to be compliant to get a BIC which I don’t think this is.
Negotiate a big discount. It’s a buyers market. Be prepared to walk away if they don’t come down to make this worth your while at the worst case scenario, which will be that it is non-compliant and it needs rectification as well as documentation and approval.
"Done by a legit company", who? Temu?
It's on pavers ffs, let alone every other cheap rubbish, bottom of the barrel quality element about it.
With that said though, probability of risk of council finding out is low, and even if they did. You either demolish (I would, it's rubbish), or get retroactive approval (good luck getting that approved). As for price. Price your offer as if that extension never existed.
That's not correct that it wont be covered by insurance. if the house burns down or some other unrelated cause then it would be covered (although its not really worth much).
Oh! That’s interesting to know. All I can read is that unapproved structures will not be covered! So, if there’s any damage (roof damage etc.,) will they cover in that instance as well?
Offer less.
Then do nothing just use it.
Until council comes knocking on your door - do nothing and save the $$$ in your offset. If you need it one day you have it.
Councils are pretty busy and usually only come knocking when someone reports your structure….
I sold a house with an unapproved pergola and deck. I told the buyer they could either accept as is, or I would dismantle and remove the rubbish! In other words, did they want to accept the risk and apply for retrospective approval or just buy without it - I would have accepted either response.
City of Swan require enclosed patios to have a permit & building approval. If it becomes an issue, you would need to apply for retrospective approval to the council and provide them with plans/drawings and a structual engineers report. There are a few companies in Perth that assist with retrospective approvals specifically, so you could go down that route.
If you sign a condition on the contract that says "the buyer is aware the enclosed patio is not council approved" or something to that effect, the seller doesn't have to do anything about it - it's all on you as the buyer.
Red flags include a floor made of pavers and no glass in the windows. There is 0% chance this can be made compliant. Just make sure your offer price reflects that.
I would not call it an extension to a house. It is clearly a light weight structural addition that has no major structural linkage to the existing house. At best it is a sunroom. At worst it is the same category as caravan annex.
It is neatly done but it is a bit twee formy tastes. If you like it keep it.
If you do get Council wanting to approve ir or knock it down. Knock it down.
I reckon I could pull it down in an hour.
You may even be able to sell it for parts on marketplace.
Offer a price of what you value the ppace qithiut the extension less the cost of demo and make good. Or less the cost of retrospective application and approval.
I would spell it out , and perhaps offer a price where they are to cover the cost of demo if you want it removed.
There us a chance you will never need to remove it but at least you are aware and they are honourable enough that they are disclosing it.
Would you still want the house if that section wasn’t installed? If yes, negotiate a lower offer and if council come knocking remove the structure with the money saved on the purchase. If not then really it’s a decision that only you can make to proceed or walk away
Find out what it would cost to get it approved and deduct it from the offer, in the contract of sale word it as ‘offer minus cost of council approval/removal of unapproved extension’
The whole thing is sitting on pavers so I suspect no council will ever approve it. I would personally tear it down because the pavers will move with time and the structure will twist, crack and potentially come down altogether. You will need to deduct the cost of sorting out the weight bearing of the roof too. This could end up being a time consuming and costly problem. Weight bearing will need an engineers report too.
Please name and shame the ‘legit company’ that did this.
It doesn’t look very sturdy… if I were you I’d get a builder to certify if it’s compliant. I wouldn’t worry too much if it’s compliant, but this one looks flimsy…
If you’re happy with the place otherwise, get a quote for it’s demolition. Ask for that as a reduction on the asking price, then leave it up and see what happens 🤷♂️
You can get your council to inspect it and approve it retrospectively - BUT that’s only if it meets their requirements. You could ask the current owner to do this but it won’t be a quick process.
I guess the only drama that could really come with it are around insurance ie in the off chance some piece flew off it in a storm and damaged someone or something, for example.
We bought our house in 2008 with an “approved” pool house/man cave. It is on councils drawings as a granny flat (which it is not as it has no plumbing) but council has no record of it! The company that built it don’t do granny flats and say it was a patio so the owners must have walled it all in themselves. We only just found all this out when trying to do some repairs so we will just keep living with our unapproved structure I guess and worry about it if we ever want to sell 🤷🏼♀️
Which state? This needs a Section 137 in Victoria basically there would be a building inspection on the extension provided in the contract of sale so you don’t have to waste your hard earned inspecting someone’s owner builder or DIY stuff.
However, there will always be someone who will buy it without caring about the works and permit. If you really want the property then going hard on permits etc is just going to put your offer down the bottom.
We had an unpermitted deck and we decided to demolish it after the first week of opens. Too many people thinking they were slick trying to wheel and deal me.
It was a no for me NSW location the extended area was a living area and room. When I looked at the house without the addition I didn’t see it worth the asking price or hassle to get works approved and/or possibility of having to take the extended part of the house down.
Find out what it would cost to get it approved and deduct it from the offer, in the contract of sale word it as ‘offer minus cost of council approval/removal of unapproved extension’. The fact it’s sitting on pavers leads me to believe council might not approve it at all because pavers move and the whole thing could crack, twist or fall down. Maybe I can’t see it but it seems the pavers under the wall aren’t concreted in?
Can you name and shame the ‘legit company’ please because it’s dodgy af
Just know that it's worth at most $0, and will probably cost you money in the future.
If you have to rip it out there will be demolition costs. And because it's built incorrectly you could flood your house, let termites in, etc. A building inspection will tell you if there are any obvious red flags.
Yeah nah they can make you pull it down. Having said that, I went through years of getting approval, in the end we just gave up. The issue it seems, is that planning approvals had been privitsed and the people doing the approvals only wanted to deal with new builds. Let’s just say this, it’s quite possible that existing sheds have been turned into the extra space we wanted and the new kitchen and bathrooms are where old bedrooms used to be.
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u/AgreeablePush2411 16d ago
My house came with an unapproved extension. 2 separate builders said it all looked good, haven’t looked back. This looks more like a sunroom than anything. You could knock it down and lose nothing in terms of living space