Would you buy a house without building regs?

djlevackio

Anyone who searches my recent posts will see where my mind has already gone, but I guess I would like some reassurance that I'm not overreacting to the situation.

So, offered on a house in pretty poor condition. Empty due to marriage breakdown. We were told the vendors had turned down an offer to a cash buyer at what was our theoretical upper limit as they'd have been in neg equity, so ended up offering £5k over what we thought it was worth, £5k under asking.

Survey came back OK, but pointed out the two extensions which we (obviously) knew would have needed building regs (both would be acceptable under permitted development)

There is a loft extension that is clearly old, but a ground floor open-plan extension which the current owners carried out around 2007.

Prior to survey our solicitor had already asked for certificates, they weren't forthcoming so we took it upon ourselves to contact the council. They had on record the loft extension and a conservatory dating from the 1970s and nothing more recent.

This started what has been 2 weeks of back and forth via agent and solicitors of varying degrees of vagueness as to what work has been done and when. It was supposedly done by a family friend, I'm told who is a professional builder but there are no plans or invoices in existence. I'm also told the reason the work was done without regs originally was that the vendor was 5 months pregnant and it would have delayed the completion of the work by two months.

I asked for a sketch of before and after the most recent work, a description of the work, and suggested getting regularisation or a structural engineer's survey....none of these has been forthcoming.

We had a vague description that a 'shed-like' extension was somehow converted into what stands there now.

It turns out the agent's were aware of the issue, and in fact admitted that the previous purchase fell through for the same reason - a separate point which means we will be claiming for our losses.

The agent, vendor, builder and vendor's solicitor have each made out directly or indirectly that everything's fine and we have nothing to worry about, but the structure is so different from how it was originally built and to my untrained eye the whole back of the house is supported by a column that I have no idea what it is built out of! We are also being blamed for compromising any future sale by speaking to the council, thus invalidating any indemnity insurance (don't even get me started on that one!)

There is so much more to this story that I won't bore you with right now, but, with the above information.....would you even consider buying this house?

We have said the only circumstances we would continue with the purchase are:

a-drop price by the replacement cost of the entire extension as determined by an independent builder(s), my estimate £15k-20k

b-Get regularisation from the council.

c-Get a structural engineer to sign off the work.

They have, today, offered to drop the price by £2.5k if we agree to take it 'as seen, knowing what we know'

Thrugelmir

What type of "survey" did you have performed?

djlevackio

Homebuyer, or 'disclaimer' Survey. Basically said investigate the status of the work.

dell12

How much potential is there to haggle? If a sale has already fallen through before you're probably in a strong position to push the price.

If it's been there 4 or 6 years (4 I think, I can't remember?) it's legal now anyway. Get a structural engineer round and if they think it's been well built it wouldn't worry me. Once you've bought, you can always get a building inspector round to sign it off.

tigsly

i'd have said the fact you've contacted teh council - now means they 'know' so no indemnity can be bought

therefore the only options for the vendor - is retrospective planning or dropping the price- to allow you to rebuild?

Thrugelmir

djlevackio wrote: »

Homebuyer, or 'disclaimer' Survey. Basically said investigate the status of the work.

Then I would. As it's a case of buyer beware.

anselld

djlevackio wrote: »

It turns out the agent's were aware of the issue, and in fact admitted that the previous purchase fell through for the same reason - a separate point which means we will be claiming for our losses.

Good luck with that!

silvercar

In this situation a sensible seller would themselves instruct a structural engineer to survey the works and provide written report that they can show to potential buyers. Any reluctance to do so suggests there is something to hide.

DRP

tigsly wrote: »

i'd have said the fact you've contacted teh council - now means they 'know' so no indemnity can be bought

therefore the only options for the vendor - is retrospective planning or dropping the price- to allow you to rebuild?

might the inability to get indemnity insurance jeopardise the mortgage application?

mortgage companies seem to like/require these insurance policies.

tigsly

if the building regs are there they wont need them -but I thought the only way to get an indemnity was if the council was not aware of a breech..


to be honest if i were teh opening poster i'd walk away (as the previous buyer did!)

da_rule

tigsly wrote: »

I thought the only way to get an indemnity was if the council was not aware of a breach

It is.

Is it likely that retrospective building regulation can be obtained?

I know that the council only have 12 months to serve and enforcement notice, but my understanding is that they can now obtain an injunction at any time (although this is rare).