help! anyone with conveyancing knowledge

nualawade

Hi all, just wondered if anyone could give me any advice. We are currently selling our house, and we have hit a blip. We had an extension built in early 2002, we obtained building regs and planning permission from the council, they also inspected the work half way through, and all was ok.

We have now had a request from our buyers solicitors a completion certificatefor this work, which we do not have. I spoke to the council, and they said that although they inspected the work half way through, it was our responsibility to get them back upon completion and then they would have provided a certificate. We did not know this, as we would have followed this procedure. Now more than 3 years has passed it is too late to issue one.

What a nightmare, our solicitor has said it is possible to purchase an indemnity insurance to cover for lack of completion certificate, BUT he warned that not all solicitors will accept this, and for some only the completion cerificate will suffice.If that is the case we are stuffed.

Any advice or experience on this matter would be really welcome.


Thanks, N.

silvercar

our sellers had the same thing. extension built two years ago, interrim inspections done but no final certificate. They had to apply for a final certificate and the extension had to meet current regulations rather than those in force when the work was done. It meant they had to put an extra support in the roof and install a fire door betweent he integral garage and the house. Delayed exchange by about two weeks while they got the work done.

you can apply for one now, but you will have to meet current regulations.

nualawade

Thanks for your reply silver car, do you know if all councils can do this, as my council have said that because it has been more than three years, there is nothing I can do. They say they would have sent 3 letters at the time stressing the importance of a completion certificate, I know that they did not, as we are very on the ball with things like this and would not have ignored them.

N.

silvercar

As far as I know, you apply for a building regs certificate and they come and inspect, generally within 48 hours.

They may be saying they can't do anything now because the regulation on the bits they have approved have changed. For example if they approved your roof insulation three years ago and now the regs require more insulation they don't feel able to issue a final certificate based on the old interrim certificate. This shouldn't be a reason why they cannot come and inspect and then give you a letter detailing changes required to meet final approval. You could then show this to your buyers.

I think you need to speak to them again. The risk is that by tipping them off that you haven't got a full certificate you won't be able to take out indemnity insurance.

nualawade

Thanks again, can I just ask why tipping the council off that there is no certificate risk the indemnity insurance?

N.

lush_walrus

Silvercar is correct that the Building Regs Part L inparticular will have changed in the time between you initially starting work and now. But, Building Regs are for new builds only and once the application is lodged the structure is required to comply to the regs at the time of application, ie if you apply for building regs on 16th June 02 and Part L changed on the 17th June 02, then you would have to comply with the regs prior to the change, if you see what I mean.

Ok, next point is when you apply for regs, you submit a fee for the surveyors to carry out inspections, and although it is your responsibility to let them know the works are complete, you have still paid for something that you havent got ie: the final inspection.

So, you have a case for still having one done. For all they know the work could have completed last month, last week, or last year but you have a right to have the final inspection carried out (unless they have something in the small print stating otherwise) and the inspection would be on the regs at the time of application so it makes absolutely no difference that the regs have changed. So, basically I would keep trying them to see if you can get some joy from them. When you call ask for a district surveyor (if you know the name of the orignal inspector then ask for them), which will not be the person who answers the phone. If they won't help, then try to get up the ranks and put your case to them. They are normally quite helpful people.


One thing to know is that all Building Regs departments now act independant of the local authority and they all opperate as separate businesses, are free to charge different fees etc so they are trying to make profit as a whole.

There are also a bunch of companies out there that a lot of local authorities use and approve of to pass plans, I cant think of any names off the top of my head, but if you do a search you may find some. One of these might be able to help you and come and inspect for you and put in writing that the works carried out were to Building Regs at the time of construction, or something to that effect, which should be adequat to get your sale going. At worst, you may be able to get something in writing, other than a certificate to help your case.

Keep trying and good luck, be nice to them as you do still have to get to their better nature, but they are free'r than most in local government at varying the rules.

nualawade

Thx lush walrus for your reply, I am just a little concerned at silver cars point that you can risk getting an indemnity for the lack of certificate if you make it known. Do you know anything about this, and why this is so.

N.

silvercar

An indemnity covers you for an event that might occur eg in this case the council finding out you have not done something correctly and issueing an enforcement notice on you. You can't insure against an event you KNOW will happen, so by notifying the council that there is a problem you can't then take out an indemnity against the council finding out.