Sold our house but our extension hasnt been signed off yet!

Nickeenoo

Hi again,

Well we sold our house super fast and we are due to complete on 21/12/09!!!!

We started our extension 2 yrs ago and had regular checks from the building inspector. They wrote to us earlier this year to book an appt for them to come and check the final bits had be done, but because we hadnt finished some minor works, hubby decided he would wait till everything was finished before making the appt.

3 wks before we move and we now need the works signed off and I have just phoned the building inspector to make an appt for him to come and sign off the extension only to be told by a VERY unhelpful and stroppy guy that they probably wont sign it off now as its been 2 yrs. I explained our situation and his response was "you will find it hard to sell a house that hasnt had its extemsion signed off" - well of course I know that but he was in no way interested in helping me. He told me to phone and speak to someone else next week but there's no guarantees that we'll get their help either.

Please help. Is there anything we can do?

Many thanks for reading if you got this far!

thriftyamy

that's awful! is there anyway you can get hold of the actual guy who's been round to inspect so far? perhaps he'll be more sympathetic

DVardysShadow

Have you paid up front for building control? If you have, then this response is complainable.

Doozergirl

No, no, no.

You have only just finished the work. You tell them that. They can't withold a certificate because you started two years ago. It takes some people a lot longer than that to finish a job!

What a jobsworth :wall:

tarajayne

We were in this exact situation, we sold quickly but our extension had been started 3yrs before. The inspector came out and had an issue with a window that we had to replace super quick. He came back and signed it off the day before completion, was very close. I would suggest you ring back and insist on someone else as it sounds as if you had bad luck on who answered last time.

poppysarah

Did you get this person's name?

Asking their name and how they spell it as you write it down is a good way of focussing some council staffs minds.

Doozergirl

poppysarah wrote: »

Did you get this person's name?

Asking their name and how they spell it as you write it down is a good way of focussing some council staffs minds.

:rotfl:best advice you've ever given!

Nickeenoo

Thank you so much for the reponses. I wish I had got the guy's name as he was so unhelpful and left me feeling so low!

Yes we paid all the fees upfront. My father in law has said they will probably charge us those fees again to come and us sign us off - which I think is ridiculous.

Why do people treat us nice people like that????

Thanks again guys.

G_M

If you've "sold our house super fast and we are due to complete on 21/12/09!!!!" what does the contract say about this? Does the contract say the sale is conditional on Building Regs sign-off? If not, it becomes the buyers' problem.

Nickeenoo

We havent signed a contract yet. We've had to fill out a sale questionnaire which asks about building works and completion certificates and we had to put in there that we havent got a completion certificate.

Feeling a bit nervous about everything now.

G_M

Ah! So you haven't "sold our house super fast !" It's not sold!

How can you possibly have a completion date if you have not yet Exchanged!?

Don't get hung up on one guy's rudeness, focus on what you need. Write to the council asking for the Inspection. Follow up with phone calls.