No building regs on house !!!

f1widow

Help - we are tenants and have just found out that building regs have not been completed on house we live in - due to sign a new 6 month tenancy on friday and pay rent - what do we do ???????

Shelter say that they have never been asked this question but felt we had no redress as lanlord had provided house as part of tenancy agreement ???

Any thoughts gratefully received

Richard_Webster

Perhaps you need to find out out what it is that hasn't been done.

Remember that an awful lot of older houses have features in them that would not pass modern building Regs but are perfectly legal, so you have to see it in that context.

f1widow

thanks for reply - perhaps should have explained - property is converted and building regs were approved some years ago but builder/landlord has never reported completion - council say a reminder was sent in May - and they tell me that completion by them needs to take place no less than 5 days before occupation - we have lived in property for 6 months !!!

I cant speak to correct officer until Monday - rent/new tenancy agreement due Friday

Doozergirl

The fact that they are waiting on completion rather than an initial inspection isn't bad to me. We've lived in houses before applying for our completion certificate. If there is anything still to do it's probably snagging.

Fact is if they didn't want to comply with regs, they'd not have applied for the approval in the first place.

PasturesNew

Personally I'd not worry about it. It's not like you bought it - it's probably OK - and people have lived in houses for hundreds of years without building regs.

f1widow

ive yet to find out what the items say - but was very much concerned that the completion certificate from the council has never been done and as I said they stated that a completion cert has to be obtained no less than 5 days before any occupation (we are the first tenants) since renovation - property was not originally a house - we would not have dreamed investigating its just some repairs are awaited(since moving in!!!) - crack appeared in wall etc and one thing led to another and i ended up speaking to Building department at council - looked it up on their website (Building Regs Application) and then went back and asked them what this meant and thats when I was told that the completion was never done ie the council have never inspected to make sure items have been complied with.

By the way I had to push him for 4 months before getting EPC and Gas Check done (after we were told they were done initially then moving in to find they were not!!!) I just wondered if to get round finishing off the regs he took property off sale and decided to rent it out and hoped he would get away with it ??????

f1widow

Sorry need to add something else - if inspector does come and builder not finished etc -we are the ones that have to put up with builders in property (time keeping etc is not their speciality!) - we pay rent - I dont see why my peace and quiet and time should be affected

Doozergirl

f1widow wrote: »

I was told that the completion was never done ie the council have never inspected to make sure items have been complied with.

That is a mis-statement. Not having a completion certificate does not mean that the building has never been inspected.

Why were you phoning them anyway? If you ask them they will tell you something doesn't have a completion cert; however the house does not fall down if they haven't had sign off within five days of someone moving in. New buildings do get cracks, whether it be plaster shrinkage or settlement onto new foundations but it isn't exactly the remit of building control.

I really do not believe that any developer would apply for approval and then not comply with regs. That's like telling your mum and dad that you're about to do something naughty when they're not watching. Except you've just told them, so they are.

Fair enough your landlord doesn't sound like the most organised or professional of landlords but I don't see it as being your issue. What exactly is it that you think doesn't comply? Bilding Control don't come out and inspect the final property without visiting beforehand - building control are interested in ugly joists, rockwool insualtion, holes in the ground, breathable roofing felt, blue coloured damp proofing membrane etc - all the things that you don't see as a tenant and they would never be able to inspect if they only came out at the end.

Building control you will see at the beginning of a development more than at the end. If you think the house is falling down, move out. Not having building control completion sign off is a long long way from being built dangerously. It's a conversion anyway, it's old - it's been there long enough not to fall down.

If you said that no regs were applied for then I would be worried. Completion, far less so.