No building regs or planning permission for house we're about to buy

Tomis000

Ok, so as the title suggests, me and my wife are about to buy a house that we've just found out has no planning permission or building regs for a two story extension and the removal of a internal wall to open up the living/dining area of a terraced house - as discovered via the solicitor's searches.

I've had a look on some threads here, but still don't know how to proceed. Ideally, I feel like we need protection from a) the house falling down due to lack of correct supports and b) the council making us change it back to original or meeting current building regs.

I feel our options are:
a) Decline to go further with the buy
b) Proceed with an indemnity policy (protection from council) - who pays for this and how much is it likely to be?
c) Request the sellers obtain a regularisation certificate from the council to get a retrospective



We've had a home buyer's report who found no structural concerns and estimates the extension was done in 1975. Although, obviously the surveyor hasn't checked supports and beams due to the nature of the survey.

My main concern is where the living/dining area is opened up the ceiling is completely flat, with no evidence of a supporting beam. Could this be hidden, or has it definitely not got one? Will we have problems trying to sell this in a few years if we buy?

Which option do you think is the most sensible? Or are there any other options that we're not considering?

Thank you in advance

theartfullodger

Don't buy until they get all the approvals: End of.

(Unless it's at least £237.6k less than normal market value..)

Tomis000

How can I make them do that? Surely they can just say no, they're selling as is, and we'll be forced to pull out?

pmlindyloo

This crops up all the time.

Indemnity policies are really not worth the paper they are written on but are demanded by mortgage lenders/solicitors. They only protect from council enforcement not for the cost of any structual defects. The likelihood of the council taking action if it was done in 1975 is practically nil. It is explained very well here by one of our regulars, Richard.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=715485

The most important thing is the safety of the property. The only way you will know is by getting a structual engineer to have a look. (If it was bulit in 1975 there may be little risk but you have already expressed a concern)

Only you can decide how to proceed. When/if you sell this will crop up again.

bclark

pmlindyloo wrote: »

This crops up all the time.

Indemnity policies are really not worth the paper they are written on but are demanded by mortgage lenders/solicitors. They only protect from council enforcement not for the cost of any structual defects. The likelihood of the council taking action if it was done in 1975 is practically nil. It is explained very well here by one of our regulars, Richard.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=715485

The most important thing is the safety of the property. The only way you will know is by getting a structual engineer to have a look. (If it was bulit in 1975 there may be little risk but you have already expressed a concern)

Only you can decide how to proceed. When/if you sell this will crop up again.

I disagree that they aren't worth the paper they are printed on. They cover you for exactly what they are meant to cover you for which is any enforcement action by the council. In many cases that is the biggest concern as the work has been done perfectly well and there is no structural issue.

If the work was done in 1975 then it sounds like structurally the building is ok but you may want to get a more detailed inspection done as the homebuyers report wouldn't have gone into too much detail on that. In partiular you may want to check out the issue with the wall being taken out, there may be no lintel because it wasn't a load bearing wall.

lincroft1710

Tomis000 wrote: »

How can I make them do that? Surely they can just say no, they're selling as is, and we'll be forced to pull out?

And then when they find another buyer the same problem will rear its ugly little head and the vendors will be back to square one.

Tomis000

I'm really torn on what to do. This is the first house we've ever bought and we're far from minted so we don't want to risk our money or the ability to sell in the future. As I am a first time buyer, I wasn't sure whether this was a big flag for experienced buyers to just drop it and find something else.

I see what you're saying that there's minimal risk as it's been standing for such a long time. I'm an official worry-wart, but because of the nature of my lack of experience I can't decide whether it's me being overly cautious or whether my fear is justified.

Tomis000

I may see if someone can go and have a look at the internal wall, as that is my biggest concern. I only have the current owner's word and the surveyor's estimate that it was built in '75, although I did go on google earth and see that it was definitely there in 1999 via the historic images link.

mrsmchapman

What as your solicitor suggested?

Tomis000

We're meeting her to talk in detail tomorrow, but in the email she says ideally we'd like them to meet current building regs but she highlights that this is a very long and costly process for the sellers and they would likely say no.

mrsmchapman

How about obtaining a certificate of regularisation? We had to do this for our double garage (little different I know) it cost us £300 to obtain this and of course we bore the cost of which I would expect your seller to do. Also you could have a full structural survey, and either pay for this yourselves, go halves or request the full amount from the sellers. If you pull out they are only going to have the problem again with the next buyer, so would be in their best interest for a sale.

We're the sellers the people to build the extension?

I was also told that if something was over 20 years old it would be similar to the case of Hepworth v Pickles.