Wall removed with no building regulations

bluestarlight

This happened to us. We made the seller get the council in to issue building regs retrospectively. Cost them about £300, was done in a week, all sorted.

emma_spaghetti

bluestarlight wrote: »

This happened to us. We made the seller get the council in to issue building regs retrospectively. Cost them about £300, was done in a week, all sorted.

This is what I would like to do, but the solicitor and estate agent are urging me not to tell the Council as it will make the indemnity insurance policy invalid (Which they've asked the seller to cough up for). They have recommended I get a builder in to give their view on the work that's been done, and carry on with signing the contract and sending it back to them.... unsurprisingly!

What is the big deal with telling the Council anyway, if we are sure the work carried out has been done soundly? Can we not just do as you did and get the building regulation issued retrospectively?

DannyboyMidlands

Why are you sure that the work has been done soundly? The lack of Building Regs doesn't back this up.

If I were buying it I'd want a structural engineer to investigate and give their opinion. I'd happily pay for it myself. It should only cost a few hundred quid.

rpc

emma_spaghetti wrote: »

They have recommended I get a builder in to give their view on the work that's been done, and carry on with signing the contract and sending it back to them.... unsurprisingly!

Stuff getting a builder in. They can get in a structural engineer of your choice in at their cost (although you may wish to pay yourself if they are difficult).

An indemity policy will not protect you if the back of the house collapses.

bclark

notanewuser wrote: »

Typical Victorian terrace, right? The wall that's been removed is the original back wall of the house, so yes, it's holding the house up!! You need to get that properly checked out.

How do you get into the dining room though? There's no door marked!!

I am not sure thats true actually, it looks like the back portion would have been original as thats where the bathroom would always have been.

bclark

DannyboyMidlands wrote: »

Why are you sure that the work has been done soundly? The lack of Building Regs doesn't back this up.

If I were buying it I'd want a structural engineer to investigate and give their opinion. I'd happily pay for it myself. It should only cost a few hundred quid.

It doesn't mean it doesn't either. For almost all works like this in a domestic house the buildings control officer never sets foot in the house to check on it. As I said earlier in the thread we did it and they never came near the house and just took our cheque and gave us our certificate. Our builder says thats not unusal at all.

Having the building regs certificate does not necessarily mean that the workmanship was any good, it just means that you have said the right thing on a form and paid the relevant fee.

Fire_Fox

bclark wrote: »

It doesn't mean it doesn't either. For almost all works like this in a domestic house the buildings control officer never sets foot in the house to check on it. As I said earlier in the thread we did it and they never came near the house and just took our cheque and gave us our certificate. Our builder says thats not unusal at all.

Having the building regs certificate does not necessarily mean that the workmanship was any good, it just means that you have said the right thing on a form and paid the relevant fee.

You appear to have taken half a sentence of Dannyboy's post in isolation and ascribed your own meaning. Nobody has suggested a certificate or lack thereof is a guarantee of anything, simply that the OP should not be "sure the work has been done soundly".

bclark wrote: »

I am not sure thats true actually, it looks like the back portion would have been original as thats where the bathroom would always have been.

If it was the outside toilet it would still have been separated from the house by a wall, the door would have been in the back yard/ garden. A stud wall would not have kept any heat in. It might have been the scullery but again would not have been open as it is now.

kandg

Hi

We have just had the exact same job done in our Victorian end terrace. Our first builder ( who we let go before work commenced) never mentioned building regs at all to us. The second builder told us we would def need building regs. We paid about £200 for structural engineer to do the calcs and then the council £180 to come out, check cals and once the work had been done sign it off. Apparently you can get it signed off but they will need to knock all the plaster off to see the steel that was put in and to check the clas were right. Thats what we were told anyway!
It wouldnt put me off buying but I am sure if you rung the planning dept of the council theyll tell you what steps you can take, they must come up with this issue a lot
Good luck

emma_spaghetti

Hi all,

Thanks for your response. The estate agent is being difficult and saying they can't see the seller wanting us to have a structural engineer over to chip away to expose the joist (or whatever lies beneath), nor wanting to pay for it. Here is an extract from the email our estate agents have literally just sent me:

I will forward your email to the vendors so they understand your thoughts.

I am quite confident of what their response will be so its just whether or not they are prepared to lose the sale. With 16 years estate agency experience, I have to say it is rare that there is sufficient paper work to cover these issues, particularly when they have been done over so many years, hence why they have the indemnity insurance to resolve them. I do not think the vendor will be prepared to pay for something that was not an issue when he bought the property.

Is an alternative option to have a builder over to assess the work, convifm (hopefully) it's all legit, then take out Indemnity Insurance to cover us if the Council were to intervene?

emma_spaghetti

bluestarlight wrote: »

This happened to us. We made the seller get the council in to issue building regs retrospectively. Cost them about £300, was done in a week, all sorted.

Did you need to get a structural engineer to provide necessary calculations to prove the work was carried out correctly too?