Age and type of house
A planning decision for the barn conversion is in the pack. Why does that decision not describe the condition of the roof on the day of the survey?
A planning decision does not describe the roof on the day of the survey because it is a permission, not an inspection. It records what the council decided about the conversion, often with conditions, at the date of that decision. It does not look at tiles, felt, timbers or leaks on the day the surveyor attended. The survey's roof note, including anything not seen, is the condition record. The decision in the pack cannot stand in for it.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Planning papers answer a land-use question: whether the barn could be converted, and on what terms. They can be years older than the sale. A roof can be recovered, neglected or opened up after the decision was issued. None of that history is a visual survey. Approved Document A, where building regulations are engaged, is structure guidance for work. It is not a diary of this roof's condition, and the home survey has not issued a building-regulations certificate by reading the planning file.
Ask your solicitor to read the decision for conditions that still bind, and keep that legal reading separate from the roof. Use the survey for what the covering and the structure looked like within the limits of the visit. If the decision required details of the roof and those details are missing, that is a paper chase for the solicitor, not a reason to pretend the surveyor saw them. The two documents do different jobs.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Are you keeping the planning decision out of the roof-condition comments?
- What of the roof covering did you actually see on the day?
- Which parts of the roof were not inspected, whatever the permission says?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the planning decision as permission, not as roof condition.
- Use the survey for the state of the roof on the day.
- Ask the solicitor which planning conditions still need papers.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the decision approved the conversion, is the roof accepted?
No. Approval means the principle of the conversion was allowed. It does not describe tiles, structure or leaks on the survey day. The survey's own limits still apply to the roof. The decision allowed a conversion. It did not inspect today's roof.
Can an old building-control completion replace the survey?
No. A completion certificate, if one exists, is a building-control document from its own date. It is not a description of the roof the surveyor saw, and this inspection has not issued one. A completion paper from another date is not this roof inspection.