One for the experts...

nick78447

Just over a month ago we had an offer accepted on a house. There's no chain.

Surveys were done by the mortgage company and by a friend of mine - the only issue raised (by both surveyors) was the lack of building regs for the loft conversion. We informed the seller (through the agent) that we'd like these to be obtained.

All seemed to be proceeding okay until my solicitor told me last week that he's still had no contact whatsoever from the seller's sol (this despite having sent out numerous letters). When i spoke to the agent, she got back to me to say the seller had had second thoughts about this sol and would be instructing a new one.

This is three weeks after the offer was made.

Obviously this infuriated us, but we were assured that a new sol was being sorted that day (last Friday) and that a guy from the council was coming round that day (last Friday) presumably to look at granting building regs.

A week on, and my sol still hasn't received contract deeds from the seller's new sol. The only contact has been to ask if we'd be happy to proceed with indemnity insurance provided by the seller.

Given this is being asked AFTER a man from the council has supposedly been round, this makes us raise our eyebrows. We still haven't been told of the outcome of that meeting, other than the fact that it "went well". Well if it went well, why are we being asked about indemnity insurance?

On a side issue, it's my understanding that once you've got the council involved, any indemnity insurance becomes invalid anyway.

Obviously we're starting to get rather cold feet about this whole thing. The fact is that a month down the line, our solicitor has yet to receive the draft contract.

Any thoughts/opinions are most appreciated. I know it's complicated, but I already feel better for having got this all down...

silvercar

we had similar, the sellers found a cheaper solicitor and all proceeded.

for indemnity insurance, the council may be inspecting an extension and the insurance relate to something different. Wait and see on this one.

krispy444

If I was you i would get in touch with the Agents who can talk to the vendors and their solicitors and try and find out what is happening. Get them to push for them to send a contract package to your solicitors. As far as the Indemnity Insurance is concerned if they have contacted the Council about it they will not be able to obtain indemnity insurance. So check this out properly before you accept the indemnity, you could get their solicitors or the vendors to confirm in writing that they have not contacted the council. Good luck

nick78447

Thanks for the replies.

Krispy, we've no intention of accepting the indemnity policy - and that was before he supposedly had the council round.

What I just don't get is if he has had the council round there shouldn't be a problem. All work up in the attic seemed fine, it's really just about getting a piece of paper. We don't want to buy a 4 bed house that we can only sell on as a 3 bed.

But if I was the seller and all had gone well, I'd be desperate to convey that to my buyer and move things along. The fact is we're in the same place we were over a month ago and it's only a matter of time before our buyers start asking questions of me.

What we're trying to do now is not transfer our frustration and anger onto the house - if you see what I mean. When things like this happen (i.e. the vendor starts acting like a deceitful fool) it's easy to feel less drawn towards a place.

Doozergirl

When was the loft converted? Was it the present owners that did it?

If the conversion is brand new and Building Control had not been contacted at all through the process, the upshot will be that a completion certificate cannot be granted without access to things that can't presently be seen because they are hidden by finishing touches - things like the joists and insulation, so your vendors would need to start ripping things up.

If the conversion is older, even just a few years, then it is unlikely that the conversion complies to current regs eg. new window regs were introduced in 2002. It doesn't mean that what is there is no good, it just means it doesn't comply to the latest standard and therefore Building Control cannot issue a certificate - they can't backdate.

If you speak to the same building control officer that visited the house, they will be able to confirm whether they plan to persue the owners to make the conversion comply with building regs. If they do not, then the indemnity would be pointless. What would be helpful is perhaps if you had a letter from them stating that, for when you come to sell.

You don't NEED building regs sign off to have a fourth bedroom. You need it to be structurally sound. EAs may cover their backsides because they don't want to breach the misdescriptions act. They'd be breaching it if the original joists had not been replaced with stronger ones to hold the weight of a proper room.

What you need to know is that a surveyor believes your conversion to be structurally sound and that building Control will not now persue you, now that they have seen the house.