Issues With builders and regulations

gezzerboy

I have a problem that I would appreciate some help with.

We are about to exchange contracts in a long chain of 7 people. We had an integral garage conversion done 10 yrs ago for which we sent in the paperwork for change of usage. The conversion was completed , however we have been asked by the buyer of our house for the Council Regs docs. Upon investigation this was never done by our builder who has since left the area. ( I have his details)

Now the issue is the council have come back to look at the conversion and give it sign off but have found problems. Insulation not done to the right levels on both the floor and walls. To put it right its going to cost £3000

So i have a choice, pay the money, get the work done and hope the chain holds together.

Offer a 3k reduction on the house to the buyer ?

Do you think I would be a in position to Sue the original bulder for not completing the job to a standard or according the builder it was my responsibility to get the council back in for sign off.

Your thoughts... Thanks

pmlindyloo

gezzerboy wrote: »

I have a problem that I would appreciate some help with.

We are about to exchange contracts in a long chain of 7 people. We had an integral garage conversion done 10 yrs ago for which we sent in the paperwork for change of usage. The conversion was completed , however we have been asked by the buyer of our house for the Council Regs docs. Upon investigation this was never done by our builder who has since left the area. ( I have his details)

Now the issue is the council have come back to look at the conversion and give it sign off but have found problems. Insulation not done to the right levels on both the floor and walls. To put it right its going to cost £3000

So i have a choice, pay the money, get the work done and hope the chain holds together.

Offer a 3k reduction on the house to the buyer ?

Do you think I would be a in position to Sue the original bulder for not completing the job to a standard or according the builder it was my responsibility to get the council back in for sign off.

Your thoughts... Thanks

This is only my opinion having recently had a part garage conversion and having sold a house where there were no Building Regulations for a granny annex conversion. I stress that I have no legal knowledge about this.

During the recent conversion of the garage the building inspector visited the site at the beginning, during and at the end of the conversion and the building inspector signed it off and sent the certificate. Did any of this happen to you? Did you tell your builder that you had applied for Building Regulations or did you leave everything to him/her? A lot of builders do not 'bother' with Building Regulations as they see this as a hassle. I believe that it is up to the house owner to check that everything is in place.

If you did not apply for Building Regulations then it is possible, when you sell, to provide an indemnity insurance for your buyer to cover them and satisfy their mortgage company/solicitor. However, once the council is involved then you are unable to get Indemnity Insurance.

As I see it and from what you have said, you are so close to exchanging that having the building work done now would hold up the chain and possibly scupper the sale.

If I were you I would offer a reduction of the £3000 and produce paperwork to show the work involved and hope for the best.

Presumably there have been no problems with the conversion? Building Control can be very pernickity which is why some builders do not want to get involved.

As to whether you can sue the builder then I would think so but it would probably be a long drawn out process. I would personally just take the hit.

Good luck!

gezzerboy

Thanks for the feedback. I am thinking the same myself but wanted to get some opinions. I wasnt sure if it was down to the homeowner or not to get the regs signed off and the builder told me everything had been done .... Looks like I will take the hit and hope the buyer is ok with getting the work done.

The conversion gas been perfect with no issues at all. Floor , walls and electrics all sound.

pmlindyloo

Just out of interest, did the building inspector visit during the building work or did you not apply for Building Regulations at all thinking the builder had done it for you?

Guessing it must be the latter otherwise there shouldn't have been any mess ups.

gezzerboy

We applied and completed the documentation to the council advising them of change of usage. They have provided protocopies of the documentation for this. We do seem to remember the council coming out to inspect during the build however the builder cannot remember if they came out at the end and the council have no record of coming out at all. .

A right royal mess.

pmlindyloo

As you say a right royal mess.

We did have to chase our builder to get the final inspection carried out. Seems very strange that the work wasn't up to standard if it was inspected during the building works.

Sorry to go on but at the back of my mind is the thought that maybe present building regulations are different from 10 years ago and, I believe that the council can only inspect at a later stage using the building regulations for the date the building took place. Hope that makes sense!

Any chance that a mistake has been made?

Perhaps someone else on the forum can help or maybe a phone call to Building Regulations to check this out?

Just trying to save you some money!

pmlindyloo

OK Have found this re: Retrospective Building Regulations

''When we receive a valid application and correct fee we will inspect the work on site to determine whether it complies with the Building Regulations that were in force at the time of construction.''


It is from the North Somerset Council website but I am presuming that it applies to all councils. Of cause it could be that the regulations 10 years ago were the same as now but it may be worth a telephone call.

G_M

Whether you can sue the builder will depend entirely on what the contract you had with him says!

Who was responsible for getting Planning Permission? For Buildings Regulations? If he was, then you can sue. If not, you can't.

sonastin

For retrospective regulations to apply, to have to have proof of exactly when the work was carried out, I think. If there is any doubt, they will use the regs in currently force or in force at a time you can prove the work had been done. (i.e. if you say it was done in 2002, but you can't prove it, but you can prove that the conversion was in existence in 2007 then it won't be assessed against the 2002 regs but you might be able to persuade them to assess against the 2007 regs instead of current regs).

Not entirely certain I have understood it correctly but that is what I was led to believe...

pmlindyloo

gezzerboy wrote: »

We applied and completed the documentation to the council advising them of change of usage. They have provided protocopies of the documentation for this. We do seem to remember the council coming out to inspect during the build however the builder cannot remember if they came out at the end and the council have no record of coming out at all. .

A right royal mess.

It appears that the OP does have proof of this so this may be good news.

Hope the OP comes back and updates us on this as it's always useful for other forum users to know the outcome.