Help!!! Buying house with missing building control sign-off

Laughalot11

Hi There,
So we are in the process of buying a Victorian house we really love, but the survey and searches have confirmed that a lot of alterations have taken place with out any building regs sign off. I list these below:
- Removal of load bearing wall in living room and kitchen (reported to be pre 1980). Not possible to confirm if suitable supports in place. No sign of structural problems.
- Removal of chimney breast (approx 1995) in the kitchen but retained above. Not possible without uncovering to confirm whether suitable supports in place. No sign of structural problems.
- Loft has been semi-converted with spacesaver stairs installed (1995). No sign off and doesn't meet building regs safety requirements. We knew about this and it was not being marketed as an extra bedroom.
- Bathroom moved and installed downstairs and upstairs with no sign-off. Evidence of required specifications missing (surveyor noted)
- No installation certificate for new boiler installed in 2012 (although a recent service was carried out)
- No building control installation certificate for electrics which were installed in 2012

So all in all it is a bit of a catalogue of missing consents and I don't know if we would be stupid to move forward with this purchase?
The surveyor has advised that we should get the building control regulation approval retrospectively ( for bathrooms and supporting wall and either put right or fully convert the loft) but I assume this would be a lot of money, work and upheaval when there are no obvious issues.

Would it be advisable to get a structural engineer in to check things?
Could a builder tell us if the bathrooms have ben installed correctly or only a surveyor?
Could the lack of consents affect our mortgage and would we need to tell them about this?
Could it affect our building/contents insurance?

I don't really know where to start or what we should be demanding from the vendor. We are also very time limited as our buyer needs to exchange by the end of the month otherwise her mortgage offer runs out.

Any advice from you wise people would be much appreciated as this is really stressing me out!!
Thanks

gagahouse

I face a similar issue with missing building regs / sign off and would also like to know if this would affect mortgage offer.

LateStarter

Until one of the mortgage advisors on here replies, I believe the answer is "potentially it can".

Without proper signoff, the council MAY seek remedial action from the property owner, which could affect the value of the property and thus the mortage offer. You also need to ask yourself if you can afford any modifications which may be required.

You should be speaking to your solicitor about this, as indemnity insurance may be an option.

Hoploz

I would not worry about ancient items as building regs didn't come in till afterwards. I would keep an eye on the chimney as that can be an issue. Has it been recently redecorated (possibly filling cracks etc)?
However I would be a bit concerned that they have done several other things recently without building regs. Do you know the reason? Did they do the work themselves DIY? Did they get a professional in but just didn't receive copies of certificates? Did they submit an application to the council which was inspected up to a certain point? Ask the vendor.

Bathroom, boiler and electrics would normally have been self-certificated by the installer rather than a visit from the building inspector, unless they were part of a bigger job. Have you checked with Corgi and Gas Safe to see whether any registered installer ever issued a certificate? You can phone them and they can tell you what certificates exist on file. That way even if you don't see them you know they were issued so it should be ok. Or you can ask the vendor to get copy certificates which will cost them a few quid.

Re the building work, a surveyor can't tell what structure is under the plaster any more than you can. It would need uncovering to establish what materials were used, which can be a big job.

You can have an electrical and gas safety check done, either yourself or ask the vendor if they will contribute/pay in full.

If you get to a point where you are happy and wish to proceed then solicitors can organise indemnity policies which protect you in the unlikely case that the council choose to prosecute for non-conforming work. This could be necessary if your lender requests it, and is normally paid for by the seller, but you will likely have additional legal costs added to your bill for the extra work on your side as well.