House Buying _ rear extension without building regulations

PT75

Hi all,

We are trying to buy our first home, have a mortage offer, solicitor sent us the replies for the searches. The property has a rear extension, which may be didnot require planning permission but it does seem to have building regulations either. the property was built in 1976, not sure when the extension was added. Our solicitor says he contacted the sellers solicitor 3 days back for this, no reply yet:(

I'm really worried, we were hoping to exchange contracts this week. is it a legal problem to have an extension without building reg?
We earlier had a home buyers survey for this property, the surveyor said the extension seems stucturally ok. they had removed the rear wall and put in a beam.

Any suggestion please?

cayennepepper

What about the foundations? No surveyor will be able to check them unless you dig a hole in the ground. Good thing is, the extension was done a long time ago so you can assume it's sound You can ask your Vendor to pay for an indemnity insurance to cover the lack of building regs.

Doozergirl

You (or the vendor) can purchase an indemnity policy to cover you in the event of enforcement action by Building Control. The likelihood of enforcement ever happening is close to zero, but it will satisfy your mortgage lender.

What an indemnity policy will not cover you for is structural defects. In this case, you need to be sure that the extension is fit for purpose. If you are satisfied that your homebuyers survey covers it, then you can go ahead with the indemnity policy and buy, otherwise you could engage a surveyor or structural engineer to look at it again for you before exchange.

Part of whether you are happy will depend on the extension's age. The longer it has been there, the easier it is to see that it has been built correctly and isn't suffering the test of time.

If you purchase an indemnity policy, you must not contact the council and alert them to the extension. If you don't choose the indemnity route, the vendors can ask the LA for a regularisation certificate but this will delay your exchange, possibly by weeks, and your vendors may not be willing. It might be worth checking the public access planning system for your local authority and running a check to see if the Building Control application is online.

PT75

Thanks for your replies.

I'm afraid the vendors may not be willing to get a regularisation certificate. Would it possible for us to get a regularisation certificate after we buy the property?

Foxy-Stoat_3

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/howtogetapproval/howtogetapproval/bcpresiteapproval/regularisation

For information on regularisation certs.

Richard_Webster

Find out how old the extension is and get it in context.

If the hose had been built in 1850 and an extension added in 1880, you wouldn't be able to check building regulations and it likely that it would not comply in lots of ways with modern standards. How many people worry about that kind of thing when buying an old house?

If your surveyor is happy with it and it is more than 15-20 years old the Council would really silly taking enforcement action. Probably no worth getting a regularisation certificate and an indemnity policy in one sense is not much practical use because it only protects against the Council taking action. The reason for having such a policy is to keep your mortgage lender happy, because they seem to think they are worth having!

PT75

Thanks everybody.
I'm trying to confirm from the vendors when the extension was added. The house itself was built in the 70's. No problem with the lender, we have a mortgage offer.

I'm trying to understand if there are any legal implications in buying a house which has an extension that do not have building regulations.What kind of enforcement can be taken by the council?

Thanks

Foxy-Stoat_3

Worst case they make you pull it down....even worse it falls down because the builder didnt build it properly.

If you chose to do nothing and buy it you will have issues when/if you cone to sell it with the next buyers.

jbainbridge

I'm not sure but if the extension has been there more than a year (though think 4 years is also significant) there is nothing the council can actually do. However, it there are safety issues they can take action at anytime.

We had a similar issue buying our first house. The vendor hadn't obtained the completion certificate for their extension. Our surveyor said it was fine and the council (as above) couldn't take action so we bought it!

Foxy-Stoat_3

Without building regs how is the OP going to know how deep the foundations are, if it was insulated properly, has the electrics been done safely?

Its a gamble a first time buyer shouldn't take...chances are its fine but there's a chance it isn't and may cost them 4 or 5 figures to put right.

What does the solicitor advise, your paying their fees for exactly this kind of thing. I would follow their advice of a paid proffessional than of other peoles opinions.

Buzby

If the vendors were stupid (or arrogant) enough to add an extension without proper authority, this places an incredible burden on the new purchaser.

In any case, the addition of what is an illegal structure should not be quantified within the purchase price. If they are not prepared to pay to regularise it before sale, then it should be ignored by reducing the offer price - on the basis that if the Council seeks removal, you lose it AND will have to pay for its destruction.

I've walked away from 3 properties where the owners thought it didn't matter. One of them had to be replaced at the new owners expense, so bad things do happen.

If it's not for you, it's not for you. You just don't need the additional hassle unless it is financially worthwhile for you to do so.