Building Control Certificates Holding Up Process

Samsonite1

After all this the Vendor may pull out as they have just moved back to the country and fancy living in it for a few months. Apparently. Not sure what to make of that.

Hoploz

Oh dear looks like you need to hit Rightmove again then. At least your sale is almost ready. Hope you find something suitable.

Samsonite1

Is the UK system really that bad? I.e. is there no legal recourse? According to standard conveyancing protocol, the Vendor should supply the building control certificate. If they wish to sell after pulling out, another copy of the certificate is required. If they had done what they should have, they could use the certificate again. It only costs £40 and we have paid for both sides. The problem being that the Vendor (their solicitors or estate agents) are saying "we told you all along that we would not obtain this document". As far as I know, this is not true. It was a standard enquiry from our solicitor as it was from our buyer's solicitor. We became aware that the Vendor was not playing ball just 2 days ago and paid to have the work done in the absence of decent behaviour from the Vendor. They still seem to be hell bent on pulling out due to inaction by themselves.

We are such normal, decent people that should these total *expletives* pull out, we will move into rented accommodation to allow the buyers to move in. We will sort ourselves out and I will feel obliged to let anyone I know to avoid buying from a certain Estate Agent. I have dealt with a few in the past, but this one has told too many lies and really needs to lose business over it.

dc197

A great tip I have learnt on these forums is that it doesn't matter who said what to whom. There's always miscommunication when dealing with so many parties and often dealing via intermediaries.
All that matters are the facts right now: you want a certificate and one is not yet available to you.

Your options seems to include these:
1 Proceed without the certificate. If the extension is of reasonable age and there are no problems with it, it's unlikely any will appear.
2 Wait more having told them you are unwilling to proceed without the certificate.
3 Walk away.
4 Combination of 2+3 is to look for another property but not formally withdrawn from this one.

Samsonite1

The Vendor took 2 months to fill out their forms and we lost our first buyer due to the lack of action. That has been the main delay - everything else has come together quickly. We now have all of the documents, signed contracts - were only informed that they were expecting us to get the certificate 2 days ago and we have got it. The only delay now is waiting for the buyer to receive their contract, sign it and send it back - this has to be done by post apparently so will not happen before next week.

The Vendor is still thinking about pulling out despite being in the last few days before exchange. Just seems ludicrous to me.

Our backup plan is simply to move into rented accommodation (my original preferred plan). Thankfully we chose a panel solicitor who will refund all fees if it falls through so taking control by selling and renting mitigates most of the issues with the Vendor and we only wasted £40 on a certificate for the property - the funny part is, they want to sell the house later in the year if they pull out now - the next buyer will have to get the same certificate done or they may to and fro about it yet again! That is why it is always sensible for the seller to get these documents.

dc197

Samsonite1 wrote: »

That is why it is always sensible for the seller to get these documents.

Yes, but on the other hand they are probably only performing the work as and when it becomes necessary. No need to obtain a certificate if the buyer doesn't ask for one.

My current house's extension had no BR when the previous owners put it in, and my current buyers didn't ask for a certificate, so I did not obtain one. I did not request one when I bought the house either.

Samsonite1

dc197 wrote: »

Yes, but on the other hand they are probably only performing the work as and when it becomes necessary. No need to obtain a certificate if the buyer doesn't ask for one.

My current house's extension had no BR when the previous owners put it in, and my current buyers didn't ask for a certificate, so I did not obtain one. I did not request one when I bought the house either.

Quite a farcical system then in many ways!

The even funnier thing now is that the buyer of our house realised that they did not need the certificate after all. Their solicitor made a mistake because there was planning approval for a side extension that was never built. They wanted a certificate of completion that would show the side extension and when they got it, they realised it was only planning approval - they already had proof of rear extension (but not the certificate) and would actually have been happy without the certificate! I think my head may explode if I get any more good news...

sheramber

Since the vendor is considering not selling that may have been the ploy all along. They wanted you to withdraw because they would not pay for the certificate rather than them withdrawing from the sale.

Hoploz

So h the vendor pulled out or not? It's beginning to sound like a threat which they don't really want to do, now, they just want to get it exchanged ASAP

Samsonite1

Ok so it seems like it was threats, but they worked. It was a chain of 3 with us being in the middle, so we had the most to lose. We had already lost one buyer and wanted to keep the current one happy. The seller owned many properties and was clearly playing hard ball as previous sales had fallen through. We ended up paying through the nose for various things on both sides including indemnity insurance. But we have exchanged.

Not a great experience - will definitely move into rented next time to make sale and purchase separate transactions as we have done in the past. You save no time or money doing it at the same time from this experience!