Outbuildings and conservatories
A garden office looks recently built and no paperwork is in the pack. What planning or building-regulations search has the survey not carried out?
The survey has not carried out a planning search or a building-regulations search for the garden office. It looks recently built, and no paperwork is in the pack, which is a gap in the papers you were given. Looking at a new-looking building is not a search of the council record. The survey can describe the office it could see. It has not decided that permission exists, and it has not decided that the office is unauthorised.
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 permission and building-regulations approval are council matters, recorded in applications and completion routes, not in the colour of the cladding. A home survey does not open that record and does not issue a certificate. Approved Document questions about structure, if they arise later, belong with building control and a designer, not with a guess from the outside. The visit has not produced the missing papers, and silence in the pack is not a finding that the office complies.
Ask the solicitor to search planning and building-regulations records for the garden office, and to say what is missing if nothing comes back. Do not ask the survey to certify the office. If you need the structure described beyond what was seen, that is a further instruction. Tell the lender only what the papers actually show once the search is done, not what a recent appearance suggested.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you leave planning and building-regulations searches unmade?
- Was the pack empty of paperwork for the garden office?
- Have you avoided calling the office either approved or unauthorised?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the solicitor to search planning and building-regulations records.
- Do not treat a new-looking office as evidence of permission.
- Keep the survey description separate from the missing 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 office matches the house, has permission been granted?
Matching materials show a finish, not a permission. The survey has not searched the council record, and no paperwork was in the pack. A tidy office can still lack the approvals the solicitor needs to see. Appearance is not the council record.
Does the survey certify the office structure?
No. The survey describes what it could see. It has not carried out a building-regulations search and it does not issue a certificate. Structural approval, if any exists, is in the papers that were not in the pack. The survey has not created those papers.