Break-In via Conservatory Roof

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Dave Fawthrop The above was posted to usenet newsgroup uk.d-i-y not diybanter. The information contained in this post is copyright the poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by

If your conservatory is exempt from building regs - which most are - there

In article , snipped-for-privacy@googlemail.com thought we might be interested in the following...

What law, if any, is being broken if there isn't this arrangement?

My wife's nephew and partner have recently bought and renovated a house where the conservatory is an extension to the lounge, merely now having part of the original wall as a divider.

They had a surveyor look at the property - a mid terrace house - prior to purchasing.

In addition, the conservatory is physically joined to next doors' conservatory, both sharing a rain channel, albeit along the top of the brick wall that divides them. Apparently, the previous owners were very good mates!

None, these idiotic rules are in place to stop people doing what they want, they often fail...see below.

And he couldn't care less!

They are often used as a means of putting up extensions without permission....a conservatory goes up, complete with idiotic doors betwixt house and it, 3 months down the line doors get removed, 6 months down the line, polycarbonate roof gets replaced with timber and tiles and hey-presto, it's an extension without building control, local council etc being involved....the drawbcks often only surface when the house is being sold and no plans are found, then it either gets taken down, or the appropriate amount of cash required to get it up to scratch is knocked off the asking price by the buyer's solicitor.

In article , snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com thought we might be interested in the following...

There is no 'extension' planned, and the rear lounge wall was knocked down at the same time as the addition of the conservatory. We know this because the conservatory was constructed about the same time the guy decided to sell. There was no glass in the conservatory when they went to view the place, and protective tape still covered the uPVC!

Odd I know, but that is how it was, and I recall them 'boasting' how they were getting a new conservatory with the house.

My query was relating to the comment made which stated doors *must* be present - I was wondering if any law had been broken as such. Is it because this conservatory is no longer really a conservatory, but an extension, albeit a uPVC one, or is this a very grey area?

If it's seperated by *lockable* house doors, then it's an outbuilding, like a greenhouse or shed...people often leave part of the wall up on each side and 'intend' to put double lockable doors on it, but never get around to it, or remove them as soon as any official has seen it completed...it is a pale grey area and most la's look the other way TBH, but as I've already said, people can get caught out - if the previous owner tiled his roof and used it as an unnoficial extension, he may have had to put it back as a conservatory in order to sell it, IE knock it down and start again.

I quote from the Building Control section of my local authority's website:

Conservatories A conservatory is exempt from building regulations (but not necessarily planning permission) as long as it is;

• Less than 30 square metres
• At ground level in a domestic property
• At least 50% of new walls are of a transparent or translucent material.
• At least 75% of the roof is of a transparent or translucent material.
• It must be separated from the habitable parts of the dwelling by external quality windows / doors.
• Any glazing below 1500mm in height in doors or within 300mm of a door must be toughened / laminated glass or polycarbonate.
• Any glazing below 800mm in height must be toughened / laminated glass or polycarbonate.
• Any heating in the conservatory has it's own separate heating controls and can be completely switched off / isolated when not required.

Take particular note of the 5th bullet point!