We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide
Building regs for structural alteration
pingu79
Posts: 66 Forumite
Hi,
hope someone can give some advice.
House we have put offer on has had a chimney breast removed in the downstairs lounge. when we went to do the 2nd viewing, the vendor said "oh not to worry it was a builder they know who did the work and when pushed said oh yes he put some steelwork in there." So while a little concerened not overly.
Since thinking about it, it looks like that rather than run a beam to support the breast onto the nearest loadbearing walls they have just fastened a bracket to the wall (gallows bracket) to the wall to support the chimney breast over.
One of my colleagues has told me that
A. gallows brackets will not pass building regs approval.
B. To solve the problem either means re-building chimney breast or putting new steel beams in that would due to the size of the lounge have to span 21ft.
What probs can you forsee with mortgage and how should I approach vendor if work needs doing bearing in mind it is there fault.
hope someone can give some advice.
House we have put offer on has had a chimney breast removed in the downstairs lounge. when we went to do the 2nd viewing, the vendor said "oh not to worry it was a builder they know who did the work and when pushed said oh yes he put some steelwork in there." So while a little concerened not overly.
Since thinking about it, it looks like that rather than run a beam to support the breast onto the nearest loadbearing walls they have just fastened a bracket to the wall (gallows bracket) to the wall to support the chimney breast over.
One of my colleagues has told me that
A. gallows brackets will not pass building regs approval.
B. To solve the problem either means re-building chimney breast or putting new steel beams in that would due to the size of the lounge have to span 21ft.
What probs can you forsee with mortgage and how should I approach vendor if work needs doing bearing in mind it is there fault.
0
Comments
-
Firstly, remember.
Anyone else interested in said property would hopefully be aware of the situation so would be inclined to make the same demands as you.
You need them to pay for a full structural report and should now revise your offer subject to this and the cost of any remedial works (Plus time and inconvenience) should be subtracted.
They can then take it or leave it."Unhappiness is not knowing what we want, and killing ourselves to get it."Post Count: 4,111 Thanked 3,111 Times in 1,111 Posts (Actual figures as they once were))Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.0 -
This work would have definitely needed B Regs approval so if they can't produce paperwork be very wary. We have a client who is in a similar situation - turns out that chimney breast is not supported i.e. current beam is not sufficient and they have now got the disruption of having to take out newly fitted wardrobes in order to rectify the situation. Please don't just take the word of the vendor - you need paperwork to back it up to prove it has been done properly with the right size steels, etc.0
-
: Thanks,
just a bit annoyed that it looks like we might have to pay for a surveyor/ structural engineer to come and review. When it's the vendor's fault for trying to do work on the cheap.
Spoke to our solictor who explained that we can take out insurance to cover the risk of building control finding out and wanting a set of calculations. But we would need to be happy that it's structurally ok, hence prob need floorboards up to find out what they have done.
Our mortgage is 100%, so the building society is very cautious over anything like this, as we found out from our previous purchase that fell through due to movement issues.0 -
Gallows brackets can be acceptable, depending on the depth of the chimney they need to support.I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0
-
pingu79 wrote:: Thanks,
just a bit annoyed that it looks like we might have to pay for a surveyor/ structural engineer to come and review. When it's the vendor's fault for trying to do work on the cheap.
You need them to pay for a full structural report and should now revise your offer subject to this and the cost of any remedial works (Plus time and inconvenience) should be subtracted.
"Unhappiness is not knowing what we want, and killing ourselves to get it."Post Count: 4,111 Thanked 3,111 Times in 1,111 Posts (Actual figures as they once were))Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 354.4K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.4K Spending & Discounts
- 247.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 604.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.5K Life & Family
- 261.6K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards