Building Regs question.....help needed

silvercar

ab7167 wrote:

If the certificate is NOT a part P one, or the installer was not registered with the council, then the vendor will need to get the installation checked and a Part P certificate issued, which I guess is the £175 you have been quoted. That is, if you/your solicitor is adamant that this must be done. I would be reluctant not to do it, to be honest, or you will run into exactly the same issue when you try to sell! May be worth offering to go halves, if you REALLY want this house?

When you come to sell it will be water under the bridge, particularly as you will be able to answer the question, " have you made changes...." with a "no" to these lights.

I think we've all gone a bit mad if a solicitor can suggest not buying a property because someone has put in some lights!

G_M

Go to the Planning Dept! (Building Control usually are part of Planning - your LA may be structured differently though).

They will
a) give you the definitive answer you need but more importantly
b) you can tell the (mad) solicitors what they've said.

chappers

Provided the works were carried out by a part P registered electrician then that is all that is needed, however the part P electrician should have lodged the certificate with BC as the works are in a special area and therefore notifiable.

ab7167

I don't think the solicitors are mad, I think they are talking at cross purposes - one is offering a certificate (presumeably the Part P one), and the other is saying "no, we need building regulations" without realising that this is exactly what they have already been offered.

Unless the certificate is NOT a part P one, in which case it is entirely the seller's choice whether to proceed or not, but could also depend on the mortgage company accepting work that has not been carried out in accordance with current regs (or may have been, but no proof that it has).

Personally, I wouldn't necessarily be worried about the lights, more so about the cooker, but I would definitely not want to be worried about the potential hassle down the line if/when I wanted to sell this popped up again.

I appreciate that not everyone feels this way. I do deal with BRegs in my professional life, therefore am a bit of a pedant for sticking to the rules, to be honest!

You will get a definitive answer from your local BRegs department, if they ever call you back :-)

MissMotivation

UPDATE

Spoke to someone from Building Regs dept this morning who confirmed what everyone here has said, that as long as the certificate was done by a Part P registered Electrician then that is, in fact, Building Regs.

Soooo....spoke to Buyers Sol who is as stubborn as hell and refused to believe what I told her and is advising her Buyer to hold out for "proper" Building Regs, *confused*

Rang buyer and told him to speak to the guy in Building Regs who will tell him what he told me.

Vendors Solicitor, it appears, was correct.

Buyers Solcitor is crazy, and, totally anal :rotfl:

Richard_Webster

Sorry, I've only just seen this thread - but I agree with the general conclusion that a certificate from a qualified electrician is what is required, because that in itself certifies compliance with the Building Regulations.

Always be careful contacting Councils because if you can't get the certificate from the electrician (or he doesn't meet the qualification requirements) then if you tell the Council where the property is you have just disqualified yourself from obtaining a Building Regulation Indemnity policy (for what they are worth - there are loads of threads on that issue!)

princessamy86

Urgh missm, sounds like fun! Good luck!

Vincenzo

An electrican registered with NICEIC will be able to certify their own work as compliant with building regulations and will provide you with a certificate on completion of the works. Anyone else can carry out elecrtical work provided they achieve building regs approval.

Have a look here...

http://www.niceic.com/en/householder/section.asp?SECTION=10

I expect the vendors cannot satisfy either of the above requirements, hence the stalemate. I would suggest calling NICEIC to see if records can be traced to the work and if not whether one of their members can inspect the work and certify it (I am not sure on this point). Otherwise retrospective building regs consent would appear the only option if this enquiry must be satisfied.

MissMotivation

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Sorry, I've only just seen this thread - but I agree with the general conclusion that a certificate from a qualified electrician is what is required, because that in itself certifies compliance with the Building Regulations.

Always be careful contacting Councils because if you can't get the certificate from the electrician (or he doesn't meet the qualification requirements) then if you tell the Council where the property is you have just disqualified yourself from obtaining a Building Regulation Indemnity policy (for what they are worth - there are loads of threads on that issue!)

Thanks for the advice. The Buyers Solicitor won't do an Indemnity policy anyway, but it's worth knowing for the future.

chappers

The buyers solicitor is crazy and could be jeopardising the sale over a few lights, getting a part p registered electrician, to at worst, refit the lights (probably not necessary)and issue the relevant certificate would probably cost less than an indemnity policy anyway.
For electrics done under part p the electrician should have lodged the certificate with BC, but even if they had BC would not issue any form of completion certificate to the home owner anyway, a copy of the certificate would be given to the homeowner in place of this.
If your vendor has the correct certificate then this is all they can get anyway .

It sounds like all parties involved need to talk sense into this solicitor.