No fensa certificate and can't exchange without it

Catbells

GDB2222 wrote: »

I keep giving the same advice, and I am surprised what stony ground it falls on. The simple advice is to insist the estate agent continues to market the property whilst all these negotiations are going on. Better still have multiple agents, so the other agents will continue to look for buyers fairly enthusiastically. Insist on no 'SSTC' nonsense on Rightmove. Of course, you may lose the odd buyer, but as you have seen going down the route you have you have given your buyers a barrel to hold you over. Now just wait for them to gazunder!

Just start remarketing is my advice.

ANKATDEN ORPHEO PASTURES NEW AND GDB and anyone else:

At the 11th hour JAWS (buyers solicitor) came back and wants a guarantee for the underpinning done 18 YEARS AGO. This in spite of them having 3 surveys (including a full structural survey). Enough is enough. Have instructed my solicitor that if exchange hasn't happened within two days the sale is OFF. I must say I got a kick out of telling him that!!

123robint

Hi CB

I found the right forum threaD AT LAST

Things like Fensa can really trip you up - also building regs as might be applied to any improvements you might have made eg wiring alterations - i could give chapter and verse here if anyone interested, gas appliances, central heating, structural alterations (loft convertions) flat roofing, retaining walls integrety, third party disputes, ongoing litigation,

In short if anything has been changed since the original it must be checked for compliance with Building regs and planning consent.

you might have been ok 5 years ago when all this red tape was new but today solicitors have to be rigourous or they get sued.

its and interesting point here in that if you bought a property say in 2003 and no particular issues were declared even though common sense would have told you that some changes had been made, when you come to sell the property you can honestly declare that you have not carried out any alterations and dont know about any such issues

hence for your example with windows, if the previous owner had changed out the windows in 2003 and you bought after that you could answer that you have not changed the windows and dont know when the previous windows were installed (prior to 2002 no certification is needed)

not to get on my hobby horse but i can give a personal experience with the upvc window sheister companies. Its possible on the internet to buy compliant windows direct from factory and install them your self (assuming the structural integrity of the window opening is not compromised by the replacement) you then get the BCO to come along and inspect your installation and documentation and he should sign them off as compliant to part L - its not rocket science and the cost is about 1/3rd of a national window company (2k instead of 6k). Browns governemt and well know ignoramous prescot completly meessed this up and left homeowners at the mercy of a self regulating legalised extortion racket. Personally I loathe upvc windows having seen what rubbish they are first hand.

If anyone is faced with sash windows and finds that the sash boxes are still in good serviceable condition, then there is no need to rip them out. Its easy to have new hardwood frames made up and you can fit sealed double glazed panes if you wish. This can be done without planning of building regs consent because it constitues a repair, though i advise you write to the BCO and he will issue an official waiver no cost. The resulting window suitably refurbished will look so much better than any upvc nasty and cost 1/10 of such replacement.

hope your completion goes ahead ok

Catbells

123robint wrote: »

Hi CB

I found the right forum threaD AT LAST

Things like Fensa can really trip you up - also building regs as might be applied to any improvements you might have made eg wiring alterations - i could give chapter and verse here if anyone interested, gas appliances, central heating, structural alterations (loft convertions) flat roofing, retaining walls integrety, third party disputes, ongoing litigation,

In short if anything has been changed since the original it must be checked for compliance with Building regs and planning consent.

hope your completion goes ahead ok

Thanks. Feel like heading for the off licence while waiting for the comeback from JAWS (solicitor). But I will remain dignified:D and hold out for what I believe is the right thing to have done - ie called THEIR bluff and said the sale is off if we're not exchanged within 2 days.

The good thing is I have another estate agent calling me every week practically asking how the sale is going. He's got people still interested.

I'll do things differently next time. How many times have you heard that one::mad:

GDB2222

Catbells wrote: »

I appreciate what you are saying but its not as easy as that. After marketing my house since January, and having had 2 other offers fall through I feel that managing this one is like managing a raft on a choppy ocean and you can't just pull out like that. If I did who knows what other problems might occur with some future buyer. Is a case of the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know.

Just to clarify, I was not suggesting that you pulled out of this sale and started remarketing. I was suggesting that you should never have taken the house off the market when you agreed a sale. There's nothing wrong with continuing to market the house whilst the proposed sale is in the hands of the solicitors. Goodness knows how many sales you may have lost whilst these people have messed you around.

Finally, I just wonder whether your 'buyers' are having a problem with finance or something like that, and that's why Jaws has been instructed to play silly b***ers.

I just found this elsewhere (from a solicitor):
"If the buyer's solicitor is dragging his feet that almost always means that
either (a) the buyer is looking at other properties and yours is merely a
fallback if the others fail, or (b) the buyer has got himself into
difficulties raising the finance. Or there is a much less likely
possibility, which is that your solicitor has failed to respond to
correspondence and is covering up his own ineptitude by blaming the other
solicitor.

Often the estate agent is the best person to apply pressure. He wants his
commission and he will nag both the buyer and the buyer's solicitor for you,
if you tell him to. Or he will find out what's really happening and
recommend to you that you put the property back on the market."

GDB2222

123robint wrote: »

If anyone is faced with sash windows and finds that the sash boxes are still in good serviceable condition, then there is no need to rip them out. Its easy to have new hardwood frames made up and you can fit sealed double glazed panes if you wish. This can be done without planning of building regs consent because it constitues a repair, though i advise you write to the BCO and he will issue an official waiver no cost. The resulting window suitably refurbished will look so much better than any upvc nasty and cost 1/10 of such replacement.

We are having trouble with some Victorian sash windows. The problem is probably generic for all sash windows, namely there are gaps (=draughts) along the sides where the windows slide. How did you get round that? In the end, we installed secondary glazing.

GDB2222

Catbells wrote: »

ANKATDEN ORPHEO PASTURES NEW AND GDB and anyone else:

At the 11th hour JAWS (buyers solicitor) came back and wants a guarantee for the underpinning done 18 YEARS AGO. This in spite of them having 3 surveys (including a full structural survey). Enough is enough. Have instructed my solicitor that if exchange hasn't happened within two days the sale is OFF. I must say I got a kick out of telling him that!!

Umm, well done!! I'm really sorry that you are having all this trouble.

Catbells

THINK IT WORKED. Just had email from my solicitor saying we are to complete tomorrow when Jaws gets back to her office. Who knows where she's cruising around at the moment. LOOK OUT!

Think this whole experience is sending me a bit dotty. Thanks all for listening and commenting.

hethmar

I cant understand why this solicitors is assuming the role of surveyor and building society? How could she demand about cladding the beam? How does she know there is a beam? Is she by any chance related to the buyers do you know?

Milliewilly

I had this issue raised by incompetent buyers solicitors. They conveniently ignored the fact that they had a copy of a successor indemnity policy for this issue already sent to them. My Solicitor who is a man of few words (!) sent a rather blunt fax pointing this out.

123robint

GDB2222 wrote: »

We are having trouble with some Victorian sash windows. The problem is probably generic for all sash windows, namely there are gaps (=draughts) along the sides where the windows slide. How did you get round that? In the end, we installed secondary glazing.

Well firstly make sure you sash boxes are square and true, make your new window frames from hardwood, rather than the original pitch pine, obviously clean away any old paint. then - if you cant reuse the old beading get some new hardwood beading and line the edge faing the window fram with draft excluded tape and i fitted my new beading with pan head screws and eyelet washers rather than nail - crude that way you can ensure that you windows are a snug fit without sticking, dont forget the old trick of rubbing a candlestick along the rubbing surfaces

btw this obsession with draft exclusion, you need 2.5 air changes in a living room anyway. use heavy lined curtains to keep the heat in - works wonders - and its nice to look at

all this bs about u values blah blah - complets negelects to address traditional ways of heat retention as above and secondary glazing if on an exposed wall

course all of this assumes a benign location , if you are on a blasted heath or atlantic seafront all bets are off:rotfl: