Help pls - removal of load bearing wall - no building regs

travel_freak

Hello,

I'm in the process of buying a house and the survey report has said that a load bearing wall was removed with no evidence of "support" (presumably an RSJ). There's no building regs certificate for this and the Sellers say this work must have been done prior to their ownership and they know nothing about it.

What should I do? I'd like to insist that the sellers ask Building Control Dept to inspect the work and if it's okay to grant a certificate of compliance to say the work is safe and complies with building regs. Is this reasonable and how long is it likely to take as all parties wish to proceed quickly.

I don't see what alternative I have as I don't want to risk buying a potentially unsafe place, not noly because of the phyiscal risks but also the effect on re-sale value.

I've heard about indemnity insurance but not sure that's the answer here.

Please has anyone been in this situation and, if so, what did you do?

There will be a mortgage too so the lender would have to be happy with whatever is decided.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,

lynzpower

have you had a structural survey completed? What did it say?

Doozergirl

Indemnity Insurance is fine if the load above is properly supported and your surveyor is happy. All you need to know is that it is safe. However, your surveyor is saying there is no evidence, in which case you need a structural engineer to look at it. Call your surveyor to clarify what he thinks you should do.

Building Control would want part of the wall chipping away to see the RSJ plus they'd want the structural engineer's drawings. I don't think they are the route to take first-off.

It's not really a big enough thing to affect resale value btw. it either needs sorting, or someone to tell you it's safe.

weeg

You need a structural engineer to sign this off. They'll have to open up the plaster to see what if any support is there, and then OK this, or replace it with something suitable.

You should then get building control to witness this, and give you the paperwork you need.

I'd be impressed if this cost much less than £1000.

On the plus side, it proably is OK, or there may be huge knock on effects visible by now.

(btw, I say the above as a structural engineer)

travel_freak

Hi there,

Thanks for the above replies. I've spoken to the surveyor. He says he saw some "nibs" where the wall was taken out (no idea what these are!!). Anyway, these lead him to suspect that some sort of support WAS put in. What he says is that he can't be sure that the type of support put in at the time is adequate. I guess he's just covering his back and alerting me to the fact I need to look further into this.

He said building control should be called out, that they would need to remove a part of the ceiling to examine the support underneath to see if it's the right type or not.

Is this okay and will building control come out and do this themselves? That is, can I save on the cost of a structural engineer and just ask the vendors to get building control out directly to have a look?

Also who should foot the bill for these costs? I didn't anticipate there would be this problem when making my offer.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Doozergirl

I'm not sure what the price difference would be between Building Control and a Structural Engineer. I normally pay £250 + VAT for a structural engineer. Building Control is less - call them though to find out. I have a feeling that Building Control ask for the calculations to show that the new support is adequate for the load above in which case you're going to need the structural engineer anyway. Building Control Officers won't be qualififed to tell you if the support is adequate, just that the work meets legislation.

My gut says call a structural engineer. They will tell you with far more qualification if it safe and if it isn't they will do the calculations etc. for you.

It does sound like it is probably safe but your surveyor is being cautious. Your vendor should probably pay, BUT this isn't really a dealbreaker in my mind. It's not like they couldn't find another buyer without these checks.

patiosharan

We have been in a similar situation: the house we were purchasing had a wall removed and the garage turned into what is effectively an annex off the kitchen. The vendors were not aware of the need for regs for this or the fact that they were needed when they bought the property.

Our survey picked up the alterations and the surveyor said it needed further investigation. As it had been like that for over 4 yrs we decided that it needed to be signed off for building regs before we would proceed, with that and the fact that it had been safe for a number of years it was enough for us. That was a Monday, by Friday the council had been round and given it a certificate. The vendor arranged and paid for this to happen.

As far as I understand it indemnity insurance is effectively against the council finding out about the works and demanding action, not whether the building is structurally safe, hence we went down the route of getting the building regs in place.

It also means there are less likely to problems if and when we come to sell.


Hth