two rooms knocked through - building indemnity insurance needed?

sarah67_2

Hi there hope someone can help! We are in the process of selling our house and just had rather terrifying phone call from our solicitors regarding council inspectors and indemnity insurance - the dining room and lounge have been knocked into one with an archway linking them - this was done well before we bought the house 4 years ago - and it has been bought up in the survey our purchaser has had done - we have no idea if building regulations were adhered to as it was never raised as an issue when we bought the house.
Basically - will we be ok if we get buildings indemnity insurance to cover this work or do we need to get a builder in to put in an RSJ if necessary?
The phone call kind of took away the joy at having our offer accepted on a place!
Many thanks x

Cissi

Breathe, I'm sure it will be fine! Exactly the same thing happened to us when we sold our last house. Building indemnity insurance was advised by the buyer's solicitor; they wanted us to pay for it, but we said no as our solicitor didn't deem that it was necessary since the rooms had been knocked through a long time before we moved in. In the end, the buyers paid for it themselves. It's a different market today though so it may be worth paying it to keep them happy - I think it was "only" a couple of hundred £?

Geenie

sarah67 wrote: »

Hi there hope someone can help! We are in the process of selling our house and just had rather terrifying phone call from our solicitors regarding council inspectors and indemnity insurance - the dining room and lounge have been knocked into one with an archway linking them - this was done well before we bought the house 4 years ago - and it has been bought up in the survey our purchaser has had done - we have no idea if building regulations were adhered to as it was never raised as an issue when we bought the house.
Basically - will we be ok if we get buildings indemnity insurance to cover this work or do we need to get a builder in to put in an RSJ if necessary?
The phone call kind of took away the joy at having our offer accepted on a place!
Many thanks x

Gordon Bennett...who ever he is?! This faffing around now with indemnity stuff is getting mad! When OH and I bought our first 70's built house in the late 80's, we knocked through and had an arch between dining room and lounge. It was fairly simple apart from the dust, we didn't kill anyone, and the buyers a few years later were more then happy. This recent stuff sounds like Solicitors on the ...............

Good luck OP

cherry76

I am going through the same thing with removal of chimney breast. I am a cash buyer, therefore cannot ask for an indemnity insurance. My survey also picks on the through lounge as he could not examine the work due to plastering etc but he said there was no sign of stress etc. I am making a fuss about the chimney breast and I do not want to start with the through lounge as well. The works were done ages ago. I am now worried in case I have problems when I sell.

Richard_Webster

Basically people have problems with this kind of thing because mortgage lenders live in an ivory tower world of unreality. The indemnity policies are only really obtained because the lenders are too stupid to use their common sense and give solicitors some common sense guidelines.

If a solicitor were to write to a lender saying that a wall was knocked down some years ago and the surveyor has not reported any signs of an actual problem and were they happy to proceed, they would probably ask their surveyor who would be frightened of being sued and would advise that a regularisation certificate be sought (if that is possible in the particualr case) and the Buildign Inspector would come out and want to remove plaster to looka t the RSJ or lintle to see if is the right size and properly beeded in. Seller not happy bunny at this!

So for speed we arrange thse Building Regulation indemnity policies - typically they cost £50-£75 for an avergae property.

It is all so silly because nobody seems to care about works of original construction done 100+ years ago that wouldn't pass now. My daughter has a terrace in Sheffield with a steep set of stairs to an attic bedroom that has prbably been there since the hosue was built - there must be thousands like that - and they wouldn't comply if soemone did that now.

Believe me it isn't my idea to make a huge fuss about all this, but I have to because:

1. lenders seem to require it - they could cut the cost of covneyancing a bit if they gave us some sensible guiidelines about some of these technical points.

2. A few neurotic clients worry about these things.

Geenie

Thanks for that input Richard. I know solicitors get it in the neck for a lot of things, so fair dues for putting me straight on this. As you point out, older properties get away with murder so to speak, and our previous property got Grade 2 listed for having things built in the 1600s and onwards, that wouldn't get past any of these indemnity things now, going by what comes up on here!! Still, I suppose if they have lasted 300 + years, you can't really complain about the builder. It is all so daft at times for sure.

ab7167

tough call really - I wouldn't buy a house without knowing that everything had at least been done to the Building Regulations at the time - but then I am a Structural Engineer and possibly slightly biased on the subject of structural adequacy!

Now, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I would check the wording of the indemnity insurance - I understand that normally they only cover the costs that would be associated with the Council pursuing the lack of consent. NOT the costs of putting right the work if it is subsequently found to be defective - which, really, is the important bit! To the best of my knowledge, the time limitation for the Council to pursue you over missing Building Regulations consent is 12 months only - so if the work was done over 12 months ago, they cannot pursue you anyway. Therefore no need for the indemnity policy?

This is NOT an expert opinion, merely based on personal experience and that of friends of mine, but please please check exactly what it is you are indemnifying yourself against - as it may not be structural failure of the house.

jessbob

''Now, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I would check the wording of the indemnity insurance - I understand that normally they only cover the costs that would be associated with the Council pursuing the lack of consent. NOT the costs of putting right the work if it is subsequently found to be defective - which, really, is the important bit! To the best of my knowledge, the time limitation for the Council to pursue you over missing Building Regulations consent is 12 months only - so if the work was done over 12 months ago, they cannot pursue you anyway. Therefore no need for the indemnity policy? ''


Whilst the council cannot insist on building regs once the works have been carried out over 12 months ago, if the works have left the property 'dangerous' then they can take action through the Courts.

you are right in that the indemnity insurance does not cover the cost of putting any works right. It usually covers any loss in value of the property though. You do need to check the conditions on the insurance