Indemnity insurance is a low-cost, fast way to protect a buyer and seller financially against the risk of enforcement action over an unauthorised conservatory — but it doesn’t grant planning permission, confirm the work is safe, or fix anything.

What the insurance actually covers

A lack of planning permission or building regulations indemnity policy covers legal costs and financial losses that could arise if a local authority ever took enforcement action, or a third party challenged the property, over building work carried out without the correct paperwork — such as a conservatory built years ago without a planning application, or without the building control sign-off that confirms it meets building regulations. For sellers and buyers, this addresses a genuinely practical problem: chasing down decades-old paperwork, or applying retrospectively for the missing consents, can be slow, uncertain, and sometimes simply impossible if the original builder or documentation can no longer be traced.

What it deliberately doesn’t cover

It’s important to be clear about the limits of this kind of policy. It does not grant planning permission or building regulations sign-off retrospectively, and it does not confirm that the conservatory is structurally safe or built to a proper standard — it’s a financial protection against the cost of an enforcement dispute, not a technical or legal endorsement of the work itself. It also doesn’t cover the cost of repairing or replacing anything found to be defective; if the conservatory itself needs remedial work for reasons unconnected to the missing paperwork, that’s a separate cost entirely, outside what the policy is designed to address.

Why conveyancing solicitors often suggest it

During a sale, a buyer’s solicitor will typically ask questions about any extensions or significant alterations, including whether planning permission and building regulations approval exist for a conservatory. Where the paperwork is missing and the underlying work genuinely doesn’t need reversing, indemnity insurance is often the quickest practical way to satisfy the buyer’s lender and solicitor and allow the sale to proceed, compared with attempting a retrospective planning application or a Lawful Development Certificate application, either of which can take weeks and isn’t guaranteed to succeed. Policies are typically arranged quickly, often within 24 to 48 hours, and premiums are commonly modest relative to the value of the property and transaction they’re protecting.

The longer enforcement window now in place

It’s worth understanding that the risk this insurance protects against has actually grown in recent years. Changes brought in under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 extended the period during which a local planning authority in England can take enforcement action over a breach of planning control to ten years from 25 April 2024, up from the previous four-year rule that applied to most operational development like an extension or conservatory. Building regulations enforcement was separately extended to ten years from 1 October 2023 as well. In practical terms, this means unauthorised work has to stand for considerably longer before it becomes safely immune from enforcement, which makes indemnity insurance more, rather than less, relevant for older unauthorised conservatories that haven’t yet cleared the relevant time period.

What can invalidate a policy

• Telling the local authority, or otherwise drawing attention to the issue, before the policy is in place — once a council is alerted, the risk the policy is meant to cover has effectively already crystallised.
• Applying for retrospective planning permission or a Lawful Development Certificate after taking out the policy, since this can itself trigger the exact scrutiny the policy was meant to avoid.
• Not disclosing the issue accurately when arranging the policy in the first place — like any insurance, an indemnity policy relies on accurate information being given to the insurer at the outset.

FAQs

Is indemnity insurance the same as getting retrospective planning permission?

No — it’s an alternative route that provides financial protection without resolving the underlying planning status. Retrospective planning permission or a Lawful Development Certificate actually changes the legal status of the work; indemnity insurance simply protects against the financial risk of it remaining unresolved.

Who normally pays for the indemnity policy, buyer or seller?

This varies by transaction and is often something negotiated as part of the sale, though it’s commonly the seller who arranges and pays for it, since the missing paperwork relates to work carried out during their ownership.

Does buying indemnity insurance mean I can never apply for retrospective planning permission later?

You technically could, but doing so after the policy is in place risks invalidating it, since applying draws direct attention to the very issue the policy was meant to protect against. This is a genuine trade-off worth thinking through before choosing this route.

Sources

This guide draws on the following primary sources, current as of 16 September 2026:

• HomeOwners Alliance: What is indemnity insurance?
• legislation.gov.uk: Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023

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Compare Conservatories is an independent guide. We may earn a fee from some links; this never affects what we write. This article is general information, not legal advice on any specific property — always confirm with your solicitor.