No Building Regulation approval

Richard9876

My wife and I are buying a house and I would appreciate some help.

The house we are buying is nearly all newly built with just a side wall and part of the front wall from the original house on the site which was mostly demolished and then rebuilt including several large extensions. It was built by the current owner who acted as the property developer.

The building control function was carried out by a private company who say on their web site that they are licensed by the Government as a Corporate Approved Inspector.

The seller has provided a building control completion certificate (it actually says Final Certificate) for the work done.

This certificate refers to "the work described in an initial notice given by us and dated 12 January 2012."

Our solicitor has obtained a copy of the planning permission for the work done (the seller is being unhelpful).

However the seller is not providing a Building Regulation approval document and their solicitor says :-

"My client does not hold any of the plans or permission in relation to the building works."

Which is probably a lie as he was the property developer.

I would have expected there to be plans that were submitted to building control for assessment against building regulations and for these plans to be amended as necessary and when they complied with the building regulations a Building Regulation approval would be issued.

Is this how it works when a private company does the building control function ?

How concerned should I be about no Building Regulation approval ?

Will future buyers be able to get a mortgage on the house with no Building Regulation approval ?

My solicitor has said :-

"I confirm that MLM an approved inspector for building control purposes and building control approval is dealt with by MLM writing to the Council with an initial notice stating the intended works. The Council then has a timeframe within which to respond failing which approval is considered to be given."

Is this true ?

Would silence from the council constitute a genuine completely valid Building Control approval ?

Thanks for your help
Richard

anselld

Richard9876 wrote: »

The seller has provided a building control completion certificate (it actually says Final Certificate) for the work done.

That is Building Control approval. That is all you end up with.

Richard9876 wrote: »

Our solicitor has obtained a copy of the planning permission for the work done (the seller is being unhelpful).

Planning permission and building control are entirely different matters.

Richard9876 wrote: »

However the seller is not providing a Building Regulation approval

You just said the opposite above!

Richard9876 wrote: »

I would have expected there to be plans that were submitted to building control for assessment against building regulations and for these plans to be amended as necessary and when they complied with the building regulations a Building Regulation approval would be issued.

In my experience the inspectors ( Council or Private) are not that interested in the plans. They look at the construction as-built and if if complies with the regs they are happy.

Richard9876 wrote: »

My solicitor has said :-

"I confirm that MLM an approved inspector for building control purposes and building control approval is dealt with by MLM writing to the Council with an initial notice stating the intended works. The Council then has a timeframe within which to respond failing which approval is considered to be given."

Is this true ?

Would silence from the council constitute a genuine completely valid Building Control approval ?

Phone building control. Ask them to confirm their view of the status of the work concerned.

phoebe1989seb

Richard9876 wrote: »

The building control function was carried out by a private company who say on their web site that they are licensed by the Government as a Corporate Approved Inspector.

The seller has provided a building control completion certificate (it actually says Final Certificate) for the work done.

We used an independent building inspection company when we built an extension on our last house in 2012. The building control completion certificate they provided is all the documentation we had and this was sufficient for our buyers/their solicitor & lender when we sold at the end of 2014.......

Richard9876

Thanks for the above responses.

I would welcome any further opinions anyone has.

Doozergirl

You're talking at cross purposes. The house has planning permission from the council and a final certificate from a building control firm. That is all the approval you need.

I'm not sure what you're expecting? The building control firm would have a copy of the plans but the only thing that concerns you from a mortgage viewpoint is the conpletion cert, which you have in hand.

Do you think that a private firm also needs a certificate from the council? It doesn't.

Thrugelmir

Does your mortgage lender have an issue with this? As in effect the property would be treated as a new build for mortgage purposes.

Richard9876

Doozergirl wrote: »

I'm not sure what you're expecting? The building control firm would have a copy of the plans but the only thing that concerns you from a mortgage viewpoint is the conpletion cert, which you have in hand.

I would of liked the building control firm to of assessed and approved the relevant detailed plans prior to the house being built and for there to be a document confirming this (i.e. a Building Regulation approval)

Based on their website I believe this would of been the case if the council had done the building control.

I would like this to help give me more confidence that the house has been built properly instead of only having a completion certificate which is written in an evasive manner and gives little if any confirmation that the work done actually complies with the relevant building regulations.

We don't need a mortgage but future buyers will so I'm also concerned as to what mortgage lenders require and whether the completion certificate is enough or whether the building control approval of the plans is also needed.

anselld

Richard, I am afraid you have higher expectations of the Building Control process than exist in practice.

Firstly, architects "detailed" plans are not really that detailed. They rely significantly on the builder to have a knowledge of the building regulations during the build.

Secondly, the inspector does look at the plans when submitted, but there can be significant deviations and changes during the build. It is unlikely these would be reflected in the plans, they would simply be agreed with the inspector.

Thirdly, as I mentioned earlier, the inspector is far more interested in seeing what has actually been built at each stage. I did a six month build of flats last year and must have had half a dozen visits, but the plans were not looked at once after the initial submission.

So, to re-iterate, the completion certificate is all you will get and all you need. It is not a cast-iron guarantee that everything is built properly (look at some of the new build horror stories!), but it is as good as it gets.

You might like to think it should be different, and you can keep asking till someone agrees with you, but it isn't going to get you any more evidence out of the developer.

Richard9876

Thanks for the above replies.

Doozergirl

You always get a completion certificate, whether it's LA or private firm.

They never say very much, just like a planning decision notice doesn't say very much. All the notes are kept though and the size of the certificate isn't indicative of the work that has gone in to making sure there is compliance.

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick, somewhere. If there is a completion certificate, what everyone gets, then that means it has been built correctly. There is no certificate issued before the house is built.

Planning permission comes before. Building Control completion comes after. There is nothing from Planning to say it has actually been built according to the plan and you get nothing from Building Control to say that the initial plans look like the building will comply.

Many people don't even submit plans to BC - we have never done it. It certainly doesn't mean that our build is substandard, we just don't need an architect to teach us to suck eggs. I want people to check it as it goes up, not look at paper.