No buildings regs for roof, would you complete?

LLizz

Myself and my partner are in the process of buying our first house... Complete newbies and first time buyers after saving like mad for the last 5years.

We are about ready to complete, though have hit a stumbling block with the house in questions roof

Now, we had a home buyers report to be extra cautious which flagged up all is well - though the roof has been replaced at some point (1900s property) and a note was put forward for the solicitor to ensure docs are obtained for this. This was also flagged in our valuation.
You know what's coming right? There is no paperwork for this work. No building regulations docs. I'm told the docs came into play 1997 onwards so it's possible they it could have simply been done before that and never needed regs.

Sellers are saying it's never been done whilst they've been in it & our solicitors have requested they get indemnity insurance on our behalf to cover us if the council got wind.

We are worried as we don't intend on staying in the property for more than 4-5years, so this will likely come up again for us when we come to sell and frankly this is a huge purchase for us and we want everything to top to be kosher.
The biggest thing is: roof could have had work done illegally, it doesn't appear to be a new roof though and it's questionable whether it would stand up to current buildings regs now anyway - and thus we've opened a can of worms!

We are told by the solicitor we are well in our rights to ask for them to get the docs before we complete, though this means waiting up to 2months for them (and they've threatened to pull out before due to time taken) and this could also mean we unearth an illegal roof thus invalidating the indemnity insurance (you can't bring questions upon a roof with the local authority as it invalidates the insurance). Arrhh! Has anyone come across this before? Are we worrying unnecessarily?

kiddakidda

What is an illegal roof?

Have they been trying to jump on the back of trailers in Calias? :rotfl:

It's a roof, get a reputable builder to have a look at it. It's unlikely that you are going to get a building regs cert on it now anyway.

If it was me, I wouldn't worry unless it needed a new one.

kiddakidda

Oh and by they way,

I live in a circa 1900 property, I'm sure my roof won't be the original either. When was it replaced? God Knows.:)

LLizz

kiddakidda wrote: »

What is an illegal roof?

Have they been trying to jump on the back of trailers in Calias? :rotfl:

Cheers for the sarcasm. Greatly received...
Thanks for the reply though :cool:

teneighty

Depends what you mean by a "new roof"


If it is the common replacement of old slates with heavy concrete tiles then the roof timbers probably would have required strengthening. If not done this can cause serious deflection in the roof and possible structural damage to the house walls.


I would not worry about the lack of Building Regulations approval but I would get a competent person, building surveyor, structural engineer etc. to inspect the roof to make sure the necessary strengthening timbers have been inserted or the original roof was strong enough to take the extra weight.


If it is just a straight forward replacement of the roof covering with an identical material this has only needed Building Regs approval in the last few years and I would not worry about lack of paperwork.

kaya

An indemnity form costs £176 according to our solicitor , so when you sell the property on spend £176 and then you have nothing to worry about , *simples*

phill99

There is no such thing as an illegal roof.

Your solicitor is a fool. If the work was done pre 1997, there will be no docs. No matter what he says, they cannot be magiced out of thin air.

And how many roofs in the UK come up to current regs? About .01% as the regs change every few years, so unless your roof was replaced last week, it wont be to current regs.

You are worrying over absolutely nothing. If the roof was defective, your surveyor would have picked this up and evidently he hasn't.

societys_child

I'm told the docs came into play 1997 onwards so it's possible they it could have simply been done before that and never needed regs.

Exactly!

Sellers are saying it's never been done whilst they've been in it & our solicitors have requested they get indemnity insurance on our behalf to cover us if the council got wind.

Don't see why it would need indemnity insurance, there's nothing for the council to get "wind" of. (unless your solicitor wants to make a few quid on the commission)

pleasedelete

you dont need building regs to replace a roof. Do they mean the tiles have been replaced or the beams and joists?

What is the indemnity for? The perceived lack of building regs (if so useless) or insurance for the roof if anything is to go wrong (probably of some use)

societys_child

phill99 wrote: »

Your solicitor is a fool.

I agree with this ^^

phill99

pleasedelete wrote: »

you dont need building regs to replace a roof. Do they mean the tiles have been replaced or the beams and joists?

What is the indemnity for? The perceived lack of building regs (if so useless) or insurance for the roof if anything is to go wrong (probably of some use)

Indemnity insurance wont cover the roof if it goes wrong. It only covers the cost of a defence if a legal action is taken by the council.

The chances of that? 1 in 100000?

Solicitors get commission on indemnity policies they sell. They are the only ones who benefit from selling it.