Building Regs Missing

tristinh

Our vendor claims to have lost the building regs certificate for the extension that was built. Our mortgage company aren't bothered as it more than 10 years old (1999), but I would like it for completeness if I can. Is it possible to get copies? If so where from?

Gromitt

Depends where you live (or rather, where the house in question is), have you tried contacting your local building control department?

Yorkie1

In reality, given the asserted age of the extension, the main issue of council enforcement is no longer a live issue.

As your mortgage company is not fussed, that removes another potential complication.

But you will face the same issue as and when you come to sell.

Assuming England / Wales and you want to resolve this one way or the other (as opposed to let it go) ... I would put the sellers on the spot. Either they are telling the truth, in which case they will be able to get copies of the regs documentation without difficulty I should have thought, or they are lying and did not in fact get B Regs approval / sign off. In this latter case they will have to resort to offering an indemnity policy.

If you contact the council without knowing the situation then you prevent an indemnity policy ever being issued.

G_M

Yorkie1 wrote: »

If you contact the council without knowing the situation then you prevent an indemnity policy ever being issued.

What purpose would an indemnity policy serve? It only protects against council enforcement and after 10 years there is absolutely zero risk of that happening.

If you insist on the vendor providing this (now totally unecessary) certificate you are just wasting time and causing pointless bureaucracy not to mention putting their backs up.

If you really want one either
1) ask the Building Control Office if one was issued and if so for a copy or
2) once you've bought the property ask for an inspection, bring the extension up to standard (today's standard not that of 10 year's ago) and get a certificate issued.

edit:
Remedies Where Work Has Been Carried Out Without Building Regulations Approval


Time Limit on Enforcement Action

The local authority is only entitled to serve a Section 36 Notice (see above) within 12 months of the offending work being carried out. After that time they may still apply to the court for an injunction which if granted would prevent the property from being used. So far this legislation has never been tested, that is to say that no local authority has has actually applied for an injunction, which demonstrates that it is somewhat unlikely that action will be taken after 12 months has expired. If an application for an injunction was made, the court would have to consider whether it would be in the public interest to grant it. Presumably therefore an injunction would not be granted unless the breach of building regulations represented a danger to public safety. It seems unlikely that the court would grant an injunction in the case of a small extension or conservatory, or for replacement glazing, however it is possible that the construction of a building, particulary an apartment block, may represent a danger. It should be noted that a injunction can be granted whether or not building regulations approval was obtained for the work. Despite the fact that there is no time limit on the local authority's right to apply for an injunction, it is generally accepted that if 10 years or more have passed since the work was carried out then there is no serious risk of action fro breach of building regulations being taken.

timmyt

tristinh wrote: »

Our vendor claims to have lost the building regs certificate for the extension that was built. Our mortgage company aren't bothered as it more than 10 years old (1999), but I would like it for completeness if I can. Is it possible to get copies? If so where from?

the local search will show if one exists, and if it does then the council can supply a copy.

if you cannot prove one exists means that it goes to the build quality of the work, your surveyor should be able to say how good it 'appears' to be, but without intrusive investigation they wont guarantee it.

so, you either take a view on how it 'appears' to look to your surveyor, or you get the Council in to check it out...but they to will not usually warrant anything, just they wont take action.

the typical way forward is the former, but backed with indemnity insurance. the indemnity is pointless as the Council will not take action (how would they ever know) but it is taken because it will be expected on a resale. that is all.

there is no 12 months rule if there is a danger to health and safety, so dont use time limits to readily. but if there is no obvious disrepair (hence why your surveyor comes back into the equation) then you should be fine on that ground

blame the conveyancing factory outfits for the rise in indemnity insurance, but that is a whole other post of mine.

Yorkie1

G_M wrote: »

What purpose would an indemnity policy serve? It only protects against council enforcement and after 10 years there is absolutely zero risk of that happening.

If you insist on the vendor providing this (now totally unecessary) certificate you are just wasting time and causing pointless bureaucracy not to mention putting their backs up.

If you really want one either
1) ask the Building Control Office if one was issued and if so for a copy or
2) once you've bought the property ask for an inspection, bring the extension up to standard (today's standard not that of 10 year's ago) and get a certificate issued.

I did recognise in my post that council enforcement would not in reality occur. But there are repeated posts on here from sellers whose buyers are demanding such a policy despite that fact. This tendency seems to be increasing. I was merely pointing out that, come resale, the OP would quite possibly be faced with the same dilemma but be completely unable to resolve it if he went to the council now without the full facts.

Richard_Webster

The local search should show that a Building Regulation Completion Certificate exists.

If it is shown on the search you can get a copy from the Council's building Control Department.

If it is not shown this could be because they have a policy of only showing such matters less than 10 yaers old or because it doesn't exist.

If you contact the Council to ask about it then you run the risk of not being able to get n indemnity policy in the future. However if a few years pass and, as is likely, nothing happens, then probably an insurer will be prepared to cover you if you need such a policy to pacify your buyers.

tristinh

Thanks everyone. Our solicitor said there is an 'up to 10 years' disclosure policy, hence it isn't showing up! Our surveyor (full buildings survey) mentioned nothing about the garages apart from aknowledging their existance and estimated build date.

Our Solicitor is just continuing to push it! Might just tell her we are content to continue without it as it seems a small risk.