Can't get buildings insurance anywhere!

foxwales

At the stage now where im ready to buy my first home and have everything in place to sign the contract.

Slight problem is that nobody will insure the property I want to buy.

The vendor made some internal structural changes to the property over two years ago but didn't apply for building regulations approval, so no certificates.

Based on this, no insurance will touch the property unless certificates are in place.

I have contacted the local authority and they said there is not much point in them getting involved as the changes were made over two years ago.

Vendor is unwilling to get the certificates and has asked me to foot the bill, which I am not happy with as she should have got them herself and theres no way she can now sell the property to anyone if no insurer will touch it.

I was recommended to call the vendors insurer to see if they would insure the house for me, but they said no it's too much of a risk and the vendors property insurance is invalid and not worth anything.

Is there any hope?

imoneyop

You say that you have everything in place, does that include the mortgage? or are you a cash buyer. If you are buying with a mortgage then you won't get it unless you have buildings insurance in place.

As you said yourself, the building is pretty much unsaleable as no one would be able to mortgage it without the cert.

I definitely wouldn't consider paying for the certs yourself. You could end up paying for them and then the vendor could pull out of the deal and put the property back on the market with the certs in place!

Have you had a survey done? I'd be worried about what has been done to the property - is is structurally safe?

danm

can you ask the lender if they will put it on their block policy for you

foxwales

Yep I have a mortgage and am aware of the problems I am due to face.

Had a Homebuyers report done and there isn't anything structurally wrong with the property, just the fact that it's lacking in certs.

barnaby-bear

foxwales wrote: »

Yep I have a mortgage and am aware of the problems I am due to face.

Had a Homebuyers report done and there isn't anything structurally wrong with the property, just the fact that it's lacking in certs.

Homebuyers report is *not* a structural survey.
The mortgage company won't touch it because it's unsalable without regs.
Are you mad considering this, if she wants to sell she should have building regs and why didn't she??

Tiger_greeneyes

Even though a homebuyers survey isn't technically a building (structural) survey, it will have been carried out by a qualified surveyor who would have looked at the structure of the property as a whole and would have reported on any structural issues if they'd been found. I wouldn't worry that you haven't had a building survey done, you wouldn't have been offered a mortgage if there was any kind of structural problem.

silvercar

I think there must be some confusion in your story. A lot of homes have had work done without building regs approval. Either the seller takes out an indemnity policy or the alterations were made too long ago to make that a necessity. If the surveyor has said that the building is structural sound I don't see why insurers will have a problem.

When you use an online scraper or a broker for buildings insurance the only questions you are liekly to be asked are if you know of any problems with the structure ie you know there are defects.

I've lived in a house where certain extensions didn't have building regs, I was insured at one time or another by Halifax, Norwich Union and Directline.

Check what your survey report says about the alterations and decide if you want the house.

If you are seriously stuck for insuranc, ask the vendors who their current insurer is, and ask that company to continue cover for you.

foxwales

Have done all the above, if you speak to any insurer's underwriting department they will tell you that they will not insure the property unless building reg certs are in place.

Your right though, I could have got an insurance policy quite easily without disclosing the fact that no building regs were in place and by answering just the questions the insurers ask me, but then I would be insured with a policy that is worth nothing, just like my vendor is now.

Im sure if you have a property which needed building regs and you don't have certificates and you speak to your insurers, I think you will find that they will cancel your policy.

weeg

A building surveyor is NOT qualified to tell you whether or not the building is structurally sound.

Sure, (s)he will have seen a lot more buildings than you, and have a reasonable idea aboutt them, but they are not a structural engineer, and cannot give you an answer.

I sure as hell wouldn't move into a building that had had work done without someone competent designing the alteration, and me having the paperwork, including proof of their PI to prove it. And I say this from the perspective of someone who is qualified to do a structural inspection.

I builders are not engineers, and cannot be relied on to know that something is OK. Not their fault, not their job.

You should seriously consider walking away. Lack of insurance is a symptom of a bigger problem.

silvercar

weeg wrote: »

I sure as hell wouldn't move into a building that had had work done without someone competent designing the alteration, and me having the paperwork, including proof of their PI to prove it. And I say this from the perspective of someone who is qualified to do a structural inspection.

Of course not having a building certificate doesn't mean that the alteration wouldn't have met the building regs in place at the time, just that the work wasn't inspected. There are many reasons that works are not inspected; time, money and not wanting to alert the council to other works in the property being the main 3.

Having had the alterations designed by someone competent is not actually a guarantee of the quality of the work.

No building insurance will cover you for inadequacy in the works in any case.

Back to OPs problem, having seemingly made your decision to declare this lack of certificates to insurers I think you have no option but to insist the sellers sort out the certificates. Asking your seller to arrange an indemnity policy is probably not good enough at this stage. It seems as if the refusal, or impossibility, of the seller arranging the building regs certificate will mean you will pull out and have lost whatever money you have already spent on the purchase.

Bear in mind that most people would happily have asked the seller to arrange an indemnity policy in your case, a fact born out by the fact that it is standard legal work to arrange these where BR or PP is missing.

pingu79

Its a horrible situation when your so far into the process. So many people don't bother getting the certificates for the work.

The house we are in the process of buying doesn't have building regs for the removal of a chimney breast in the living room. I think they are sorting out an indemnity policy for it. OH is a structural engineer and thinks the work is ok after talking to the building co that did it, but probably wouldn't pass todays building regs and is unlikely they got party wall permission so if next door decide to remove theirs too, then would cause some structural probs. Luckily we've decided to just rebuild the breast as would quite like a wood burner anyway.