Permission to add to a building

[nowaymauel]

I had a conservatory built which I acertained did not require planning permission from the local council. 9 years later I want to sell and having read the house deeds I now find there is a requirement to get permission from the original landowner. There has been no comment made so far. Would an indemnity policy cover me to sell the house on? Can I be forced by the original landowner to demolish it? Is there any way I can have this silly covenant revoked? I own the house and land its on, freehold.

[spudqueen]

The last house we owned was built in the 1920s and had had a small extension built on before we bought it. Our solicitor found nothing wrong but when we came to sell it on the solicitor of the people who were buying off us found a requirement in the deeds that all alterations were to be approved by the builder. We did point out that there was very little chance of him still being alive but this did not wash so we had to take out a policy before we could sell the house. Daft but true.

[buildersmate]

It happens on more modern estate developments too. A builder developer of a largish estate will put a convenant on that lasts say 5 years to stop owners modifying the houses without its permission before it has sold out the rest of the estate. The original owner won't want it demolished but may want a smallish fee for agreeing the permission retrospectively. If you can find the owner - if you can't an indemnity policy will do the trick. Either of the above solutions is likely to be cheaper than trying get the convenant removed.
If you took the external doors away from where you built the conservatory, I hope you got Building Regs approval? - otherwise you may have another issue to resolve.