House Purchase - no building regs for extension!

rajanm

Hi all,

We're in a bit of a house buying quandary and wondered if anyone had any advice.

Basically, we're about to exchange on a house in Bromley. A small extension was built on to the kitchen in 2001 (according to the vendors) - there was no sign of building regs for it and so we asked the vendor to get building control to come out and inspect it.

The vendors actually had indemnity insurance for it but for some reason during our purchase process, their solicitor had somehow informed the council that there was an extension attached to the house. This of course invalidated the insurance!

Anyway, building control have now been out and said that the foundations of the extension are short by 3 inches so they can't pass the extension. The vendors solicitors say that despite this the council have told them that no enforcement action can be taken (i.e. to demolish the extension). I spoke to the officer who carried out the inspection and he kind of said the same thing - that the extension has been there for so long that it is highly unlikely they can take any action against it.

I have asked the vendor's solicitors to get this confirmed in writing from the council. In terms of the safety of the extension, we had a full survey done (not specifically structural) which didn't show up any issues with the extension.

So my question is, what do we do now? If we don't get written confirmation from the council that they won't enforce any action, then where does that leave us? Even if we do get a letter from the council, could we get some money off the purchase price to cover for the fact that the foundations are shallow by 3 inches (despite the fact that our survey hasn't picked up any issues with the extension structurally)?

Hoploz

You could try and get some money off. They might cave out of desperation if they're on a chain.

But if your lender is happy to proceed then there's no reason not to just go ahead. The survey said it was ok. If it was 18" I might query its integrity but 3 inches on the depth is hardly likely to make a difference structurally.

The only reason not to proceed to my mind would be if the lender pulled out due to lack of paperwork, leaving you unable to purchase.

lemontart

Never take a verbal assurance get everything in writing and official

rajanm

Yes we were thinking for asking for a price reduction but how exactly should we phrase our reason? Also how do you begin to calculate how much to ask for? Is it the cost of underpinning the extension?

SplanK

If it was me, I would seek further advise from a surveyor regarding the foundations. It may not need anything doing, but if it does, it could cost a lot to put right, or if you take the risk and leave it and it later becomes a problem...... just because it does not meet regulations and the council wont do anything about it, does not mean its safe from future problems.


I would also consider speaking to an house insurance company, without giving the address details away and seek their advise regarding possible outcomes if you do need to claim, however given that you know about the possible issue now could mean that you wont be able to claim as you bought "a known problem"....


Perfect example of insurance problem: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121747/Young-couple-devastated-moving-dream-home--kitchen-COLLAPSE-24-hours-later.html


I am not sure about the rules around foundations, however I know regulations change over time so at one point, these foundations might have been correct! Is their 3" to short based on 2015 regs, or did they look at it from a retrospective point and base it on 2001 regs?


Also, is it 3" short in depth, or width?

Pollygarter

Be aware that the buildings regs problem won't go away. Unlike planning issues which may have a limited time for enforcement action, buildings regs infringements can always be enforced at any time in the future. Because the insurance route is now not an option, short of rebuilding, getting this assurance is your best option. And you may not get it. Buildings Regs guys are deeply into the rules, they've been developed to keep buildings safe. So whilst they may know full well they haven't got the resource to pursue it, and have much bigger problems to sort, they may not ever say yeah, that's fine...!

You may be happy to take it on the chin but a future buyer may not be. It does cause you a problem on resale. So there is a reasonable basis for a renegotiation on the price. People do all sorts of stuff to their properties without getting proper building regs approvals but a kitchen extension? That's not the best idea given how intrinsic it is to the use of the home and how expensive it could be to correct.

Annie1960

The surveyor will not have picked this up, as they do not dig down to inspect the foundations, so they will not be aware of the problem.

You could be buying a real problem here. Personally, I would look for something else.

rajanm

In terms of the building regs, I've been reading up on this. Apparently enforcement action can be taken within 12 months of the structure being built. After 12 months, action can only be taken via a court injunction - however, there are no cases of this ever actually happening.

My concern now is more down to the safety of the extension - one part of me thinks that thousands of buildings in the country wouldn't come even close to complying with building regs at the moment so should I really worry about a 5ft by 5ft extension?

Also as much as the homebuyer survey wouldn't have looked at the foundations, building control (who went out to inspect the other day) were the ones who noticed they were 3 inches too short - wouldn't they have commented that it was structurally unsound and unsafe?

davidmcn

Bear in mind that there are millions of buildings still standing whose foundations would be considered inadequate by today's standards. In the context of a 5' x 5' extension which isn't showing any actual problems just now, this doesn't seem like a big deal.

lemontart

The previous owner of my property had to take down an extension to it when they bought it as the person they got it from had no planning permission let alone anything else. So thread carefully.

wiseguy80

I won't worry too much about it to be honest. As somebody suggested there are millions of properties which won't comply to current standards. Since it's been built for a long time, it is not enforceable.

If the vendor is willing to give, you can look to get some money off from the sale price but how would you value the lack of paperwork. All depends upon the area you are buying in. My friend recently pulled out of a house because of similar reasons. It was sold again in a couple of days.