Garage conversion and building regs

meezu

Hello
the house we are buying has had a garage converted into a playroom, utility and computer room. The vendors did not get building reg approval which has been raised by our solicitor. The conversion was only finished late 2008 and they have refused to seek build reg approval and claim they will take out an indemnity out on it. Should we be worried?

G_M

My guess is they know it does not meet building regs standards.

Does that thought make you happy?

Hailstorm

Hi,

What did your survey say about the garage conversion? If it didn't have building regulations consent then it is possible it wasn't done to building regulation standards. If this is the case your surveyor should have picked up on it. If your surveyor has not mentioned it then it probably means the work was to standard but the vendor's didn't think of getting consent.

If consent was not granted then it is possible (though very unlikely) the council can demand the garage is restored to how it was previously. I believe though that once the work has been in place for 12 months, they can only do so if there is a safety concern. Should this happen then the indemnity insurance will pay for the work to be carried out.

You should also note that if the council is notified you will not be able to get indemnity insurance so trying to get retrospective insurance can create problems of its own.

If it were me, if the survey didn't raise any concerns about the conversion then I would be happy with indemnity insurance but I would be demanding that the vendor pays for it. If the survey did mention a possible problem with the conversion I would be investigating this further.

RX-78

Just thinking ahead, if you did buy the house, would this not put off the potential buyers when you come to sell this house in the future?

G_M

A surveyor may not pick up problems if he hasn't been made aware that there are no building regs. a) he's not a structural engineer and b) lots of issues may be hidden. depth of foundations, thickness of insularion in walls etc.

These may be less important in a garage conversion than in, say, a loft conversion, but the point is indemnity insurance will cover you for costs associated with the council enforcing building regs, but not for structural problems. If the building fell down due to cowboy building work, insurnace would not pay.

timmyt

indemnity insurance is th way forward to allow a safe exchnage.

ask your surveyor if the absence of BR would cause him any concern from a safety point of view.

is there a covenant in the deeds restricting you from doing this - as that is an equal concern.

steve1971

Hello

I am a Building Control Officer and would be very worried about the situation.

The current owners can seek a 'Regularisation', this is a retrospective building regulations application and for a job this size it would be a relatively cheap and simple process, but it appears as if they have refused to follow this route. There is probably a very good reason for this!

In my experience I have never inspected a job, built without a valid application that complied, it is always possible to make the work comply but this is inevitibly at a cost.

The main problems you are likely to find will be damp, inadequate ventilation, insufficient insulation, DIY electrics and possibly the layout may not provide the occupants with a safe 'Means of Escape' in the case of a fire.

Indemnity insurance will only give you protection against the Council taking action but the problems you may find will not be covered. The Council will be very unlikely to take action over a minor situation such as this and would be legally barred from doing so anyway if the work had been completed more than 12 months ago, if it was, then indemnity insurance would be a complete waste of money.

...However, this can put you on a very strong negotiating foot if you are so minded. If I was in your position I would have the property valued as if the garage conversion had not taken place and adjust my offer accordingly, or walk on.

regards

Steve

David_Aldred

Thanks to steve1971 for his comments and to which I totally agree with. Experience of inspecting many so called improvements that were done outside of Local Authority Approval such as this and loft conversions have only ever shown non compliance and dodges from people who wanted to save money. The Building Regulations are there for a reason. You might wish to consider not only valuing as if the garage conversion had not taken place but also to include for the cost of putting it back to a garage as a worst case scenario until proved otherwise. Kindest regards, David Aldred Independent damp and timber surveyor

chappers

steve1971 wrote: »

and would be legally barred from doing so anyway if the work had been completed more than 12 months ago,

I agree with everything else you have said, but could you point me to the legislation that prevents enforcement of building regs more than 12 months from completion of any un-notified works.

<sebb>

Before you think about agreeing to any sort of indemnity insurance, make sure you thoroughly research what that insurance actually means. Or sit down with your solicitor and find out what is covered, and more importanly what isnt covered.

There was a recent thread on here about someone who got indemnity insurance for a loft conversion because their solicitor told them it was fine, but they didnt understand what it actually meant. They later tried to get another window put in the loft so called in the council to check it was fine, who immediately told them the loft conversion was unsafe. The fact that they called in the council mean the policy was invalid because they'd alerted the council themselves. And they where then responsible for the costs of making the loft conversion comply.

I'd just be very wary of anyone who refuses to get building regulations signed off before buying a house - there's always a reason for this - because they are afraid of being forced to meet the cost of putting it right.

shane42

dodgy job
ask about the EIC on the electrics