No building regs on house we are selling

Erica_Norman

Id appreciate some advice from anyone in the know.

After waiting 10 months to find a buyer for the house we originally bought ourselves, we have discovered to our horror just 2 weeks from completion that the 2 storey extension on our house(built in 2001, not by us) a building control officer to come out and sign it off and when he came out, he pointed out quite a few building regs breaches, inc the roof, which doesnt comply with building regs because the wrong rafters have been used.
Understandably we are devastated, our house sale will now not take place and we have incurred expenses we cannot now pay and are facing a bill running into thousands to rectify the work as the council have now threatened to prosecute us.:(

poppysarah

I'd speak to the solicitor who let you buy it without knowing.
(Or another one first for a free half hour of what to do)

Erica_Norman

Thanks
unfortunately the previous solicitors we dealt with have refused to correspond with us so we are going to serve court proceedings on them..sadly doesnt sort out the current situation:(

U've_been_framed

The responsibility for your extension not meeting the regs should lie with
1 The actual builder
2 The council for failing to ensure that it complied with the regs.

eco-friendly_2

Contact a few reputable builders in your area for their opinions on the BCO report.

John_Pierpoint

First step is to find out just how serious the fault is. If the roof has not fallen in on you in the last 8 years, there cannot be that much wrong with it.
Perhaps you could explain the problem? Perhaps a link to the drawings involved? - you might be a victim of a jobsworth at the council, who is trying to impose current standards on something passed 10 years ago.
You need to take a good look at the original permission.
In my view the Council has been negligent for not checking that the extension had been completed correctly, I bet they were quick enough at putting up the council tax at the time?
Can I feel a complaint to the local authorities ombudsman coming on?

How has this come to light ? The buyers must have had an amazingly diligent conveyancer to check that building regs. were correctly signed off 8 years ago?!?

Poppy9

How long ago did you buy the house? Why wasn't this picked up by your solicitor at the time you bought it?

ab7167

Just a couple of points

1./ I believe the time limit for enforcement on non-compliant building regs is either 1 or 2 years - certainly not 8! so I can't understand on what grounds they are prosecuting you. And you must ask the BCO on what grounds the rafters are non-compliant - is it type of wood, installation method or are they actually too small to do the job being asked of them?

2./ Can you locate the original architect - they may still have records, including any calculations done by a structural engineer to justify the roof timbers. Please remember that BCO's are rarely qualified sturctural engineers and there may be things that s/he has not understood or appreciated about the building. You may be able to go back to the original designers if you can locate them, as I think liability can extend to 12 years.

3./ I understand that additional cost is not high on your agenda at the moment, but would it be worth getting a structural engineer in to check the building?

4./ Please insist that the BCO gives you a detailed and comprehensive list of all items that are non-compliant. This will give you a better idea of what exactly is worng and enable you to get quotes, or reduce the price of the house accordingly. This should probably be your first step.

Please PM me if you want any more information, I don't log on every day but I will try to help if I can.

Alex

Erica_Norman

Thank you everyone.

There was no original architect it seems that the homeowner designed and project manged the extension himself.

The council have now told us they wont prosecute as we didnt build it,,thank goodness

The list of problems is extensive, the main problem being the rafters, which dont comply with building regs..weve been advised to employ our own architect?

m_13

Your legal team when you purchased should have picked all of this up. In particular they should have obtained completion certificates and copies of the planning consent. Are there any NHBC Solo (NHBC for self build), Zurich or Project Builder warranties on the build? This should have been checked too. Cover is for 10 years so the house should still be covered.

Do you have any legal cover on your home contents insurance? They may be able to help. However, if it's tied in with your buildings cover then you may have issues as they have been covering something of non-standard construction.

Other possibilities are if your work has an Employee Assistance Programme. We do and they offer telephone and face-to-face cover on a variety of topics. I've spoken to their legal team before and been happy with the advice given.

Richard_Webster

Didn't you present solicitor tell you NOT to contact the Council about the point? If you had not done so, you could have offered a Building Regulation Indemnity Policy to your buyer but this will not now be available.

The Council's only remedy now is to apply tot he County Court for an injunction to have the work reinstate it to its previous state. This would take up a lot of Council staff time and run a legal bill with the by-product of gaining them some bad publicity in the local press.

What they are more likely to do is simply place an entry on any future local searches that the works carried out do not comply and that will be enough to discourage other buyers from proceeding.