Advice on buying a house with no 'building regs'

regency_man

Hi,

I am looking at a property which, some time in the last 20 years, has had a fairly substantial extension put on the back. I can't find any planning permission application for it, but the rest of the houses on the street have similar extensions and it shows up on the official street plans etc. So I'm not too worried on this front.

However, the first buyer pulled out because during the survey it was identified that two doors had been removed from the original wall of the building and replaced with large openings to make the extension 'open-plan'. Apparently there was no Building Regulations inspection or approval undertaken for this. In response the vendor said she was aware of this and had a substantial indemnity policy on the work, which would be transferred with the property.

The first buyer then requested that the vendor get the work approved retrospectively but the vendor refused - citing that they had no desire to spend the money or time to do this when they have been happily living with it for many years. So the sale fell through and it has been offered to me at my slightly lower bid.

Can someone give me some advice on how to proceed with this, what extra actions I might need to take to ensure I'm not left with a problem? Or should I just walk away?

It's a really lovely house...

wabbitpoo

What problem is it that you are worried about? That it may fall down, or that "the council" might come and ask you to take it all down again?

If the former, pay for an expert to have a look. If the latter, don't worry - as some have said, the indemnity policy, while keeping solicitors happy, does nothing to protect anyone from anything after a year has passed since the work, so...

I am no expert, but am in a similar situation and am regretting allowing the solicitor to be worried on my behalf as it is really causing a delay

rpc

Indemnity insurance might help if the council decide to take action.

It won't help if your house falls down while you sleep.

LittleMax

How much lower is your offer, would it have covered the building regs charges? If so I'd be very wary. Certainly you need a good and thorough survey, and that will obviously cost you money which you will then lose if you walk away (hence questioning why a vendor would not apply for the building regs and make for an easier sale?)

regency_man

Well this is the thing! I don't know if I should be worried!

I'm not worried about the house falling down, its been there long enough and it's in good nick. I don't really care about the council stuff because of the indemnity. I guess what I'm worried about is the unknowns with this... is there a chance of any complication as a result of it in terms of:

- Payouts from building insurance if something does happen to the extension in the future - will they refuse to pay out because it didn't have a regs certificate?
- Valuation and getting a mortgage on it - do banks worry about this sort of thing?

The solicitors seem to make a song and dance about it, probably just to put in some more chargable hours - but what are the real impacts?

regency_man

LittleMax wrote: »

How much lower is your offer, would it have covered the building regs charges? If so I'd be very wary. Certainly you need a good and thorough survey, and that will obviously cost you money which you will then lose if you walk away (hence questioning why a vendor would not apply for the building regs and make for an easier sale?)

I don't think it's a case of money for the building regs - its the time (buyer wants to move fast - is only considering no-chain offers) and the disruption, it is immaculately decorated on the interior and I would imagine an inspection would at least want to see what lintel/RSJ was used, whether pad-stones were put in place etc - and that will mean taking off the plaster etc.

LittleMax

regency_man wrote: »

I don't think it's a case of money for the building regs - its the time (buyer wants to move fast - is only considering no-chain offers) and the disruption, it is immaculately decorated on the interior and I would imagine an inspection would at least want to see what lintel/RSJ was used, whether pad-stones were put in place etc - and that will mean taking off the plaster etc.

So that, I think, answers the why they wouldn't do it and would take a lower offer. My other query would be why they didn't apply for the proper building regs at the time, if the work was all carried out correctly and to a high standard, why did they cut this corner?

regency_man

LittleMax wrote: »

So that, I think, answers the why they wouldn't do it and would take a lower offer. My other query would be why they didn't apply for the proper building regs at the time, if the work was all carried out correctly and to a high standard, why did they cut this corner?

It's a good question - I don't know. Trying to get any information out of the vendor is a nightmare, she is a very frail old lady. I'm not even sure whether she was the one who has the extension built.

Foxy-Stoat_3

If you do buy it consider the additional grief, possible reduction in value when/if you sell it in the future....so base your low offer accordingly.

Worse case the council make you to open up the walls/drainage/foundations...very worse case they make you take it down and start again.....all of this would be very unlikely due to the timescales.

If you had to make a major insurance claim in the future, 5 or 6 figures, I would bet my last dollar that without planning permission and building regs the insurers would look to body swerve a claim if the foundations/construction/drainage was brought into question.

No permission and no building regs are pretty big issues that you can do without when your buying the most expensive thing in you life (assuming you don't win the lottery and buy a Veyron!!! ) if it was a small single storey extension where you don't need planning then I wouldn't worry so much.

ReadingTim

With respect to the planning permission, the council has a time limit (up to 10 years, unless it's a listed building) in which it can order the extension to be torn down, but it sounds like this has well and truly passed. Therefore, retrospective planning permission is simply an expensive box ticking exercise which I'd be unwilling to carry out either.

Lack of building regs/inspection etc sounds scary, but the fact that it hasn't fallen down in the last 20 years means it's unlikely to fall down tomorrow, or any day soon.

I suspect that the worse that could happen would be that you'd get someone asking the same questions as you're asking now when you come to sell it (whereupon you can be equally robust with your answers!)

Vintageryan

Have the doors simply been taken out and made good or have the openings been made wider?