Buying a house w/o Building Regs cert. for Extension.

blueruby_2

Hi,

Need a bit of advice pls. We are in the process of buying our first home. Its a 1960s built property, had extensions done in 1975 & 1985. We had a Buildings Survey done & it says absolutely no problems with the construction. Seller has provided the Building regs for the extension done in 1975 but is not able to find it for the one done in 1985. Lender's surveyor had put in a note on the basic survey, asking to ensure that the extensions comply with building regs. Our solicitor says it should not matter & we can proceed with the exchange as its a long time ago the extensions were done. Is this ok? Will the lender insist on seeing the building reg. certificates & say no to providing the mortgage because of this ? Would there be any issues later on, like when we come to sell the house? Will the council have a copy of the Building Regs for the property & will it be possible for us to obtain tht? What is the best way forward?

pmlindyloo

It is quite possible/likely that the lender will require an indemnity policy because of the lack of building regs certificate.

Do a search on here for lots of threads from people who have had exactly the same problem as you.

Without going into the ins and outs of it all (read up on it if you want!)...

If the lender requires an indemnity policy just take one out - seems useless to argue the necessity of this.

Do not contact the council to see if they can find the building regs certificate because 1) they probably won't have records that go back that far and 2) and this is very important - if you contact the council it makes the indemnity policy invalid.

The main thing is that there is nothing wrong with the structure of the extension - so if you are certain that your survey covered this properly then there should be no reason not to proceed with the purchase using an indemnity policy if asked for by the lender.

blueruby_2

Thanks for your reply. When i spoke to my solicitor she said an indemnity policy is not required. Should I take her word on that or insist a policy be taken out to be on the safe side? Do we request the vendors to get one done or should we be doing it? How do we obtain one, is it thru our solicitors? Could someone let me know pls.

gazareth

blueruby wrote: »

Seller has provided the Building regs for the extension done in 1975

We are buying a house with an extension built some time in the 1980s. Our building survey commented that building regs certificates didn't even exist at that time. What has your seller actually produced?

blueruby_2

The original docs are with our conveyancer & we have only seen a copy tht was uploaded to the portal. It looks like an official document, dated 1975 & reads thus.
Dear Sir(s),
PUBLIC HEALTH ACTS 1936 AND 1961 AND BUILDING REGULATIONS

Plans of playroom at 99, ABC road, xyz town.
I hereby give you notice that in pursuance of the Public Health Acts 1936 and 1961 and the Building Regulations the City Council has PASSED the particulars and plans submitted by you on behalf of Mr & Mrs Abcd.

Our conveyancer told us that this would suffice for Building Regs certificate. I have no idea if its correct or not.

There is also a receipt from the Planning dept of the city council dated 1985 where it states the following
Received from Mr.Abcd
The sum of Twenty nine pounds
For Planning and/or Building Regulation fees
Re location 999, abc road, xyz town.
(signed by someone) For The City Council.

I don't know if the actual Building Regulation certificate for the house we are buying has been produced or not but we can be sure that thr was some form of BRegs in the 1980s from the council's receipt.
Hope what i have written makes sense..... sorry if i have confused you (& myself).