Faulty New Build Property

SirBigChips

Hi, if anyone can help our enquiry we would be very grateful. Sorry for the length of post, also I know a lot of this is law related but some of you may have relevant information or experienced similar.

We purchased a new build property in South Wales through a local housing developer last year, we bought the house as built and not through plans, through a local estate agent. When the conveyancing solicitor was putting together the exchange one of the requirements was for the Building regulations completion certificate to be seen in order for the mortgage lender to release the funds. A Building regulations completion certificate was issued through an Approved Inspector (not the local aouthority), to say that the property had passed building regulations. We did not get a survey done on the property because it was a new build and it had a Building Regulations completion certificate and a 10 year new build warranty with the property. We did not feel that a survey was necessary.

We noticed during the winter months that the 1st floor bedrooms and the roof rooms were very cold. A few people friends etc looked at the roof rooms and said that they felt the builder had not complied with building regulations. We had an independent survey done by an RICS surveyor, and it came up with a number of defects in relation to insufficient insulation above the 1st floor bedrooms, and between the rafters in the roof rooms, and confirmation that the property had not complied with building regulations.

I had a look at the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) to look for any clues as to why the property was not as thermally efficient as we had thought. Also the SAP Calculation and EPC are documents used for the Approved Inspector to sign off the property. Without a pass certificate the approved inspector could not pass the property and a completion certificate could not be issued.

We discovered that the SAP calculation and the EPC was based on architect plan drawings which were very different to how the roof construction was built. For example the plans listed 150mm insulation board between the rafters and insulated plasterboard underneath the rafters. In reality the builder had only put 100mm between the rafters with regular non insulated plasterboard underneath the rafters. This we have been told is not best practice, and will have alot of cold bridging at the point of rafter and plasterboard and is likely one of the causes of the roof rooms being so cold. I asked the energy assessor if he had been notified by the builder of any changes for the as built SAP and he said no. All he had been provided with was the architects plans. So basically the SAP and EPC we have for this property is void.

I have complained to the approved inspector and they have said that they can accept no responsibility for anything that the builder did not do properly. Basically a get out clause for anything they did not check! The general consensus on this is that the Approved Inspector did not check the construction of the property very well at all. However I cannot prove this because I am a third party to them and they don't have to answer my queries of provide me with any information.

The builder ignored our claim that there was a problem with the property for several weeks and so we have issued a claim with the warranty provider/insurer which is NOT NHBC but another. The insurer has authorised remedial works which we feel is unsatisfactory, because a) we will lose the storage space in the eves of the roof, we would not have bought the property if the house did not have storage space, and b) the solution the developer has put forward will only address the issues with the cold bedrooms on the 1st floor, it will not make the roof rooms any warmer. They are going to fiddle the area weighted U values of the entire roof to (so say) make it achieve a pass!?

The warranty provider has refused to let me speak to their in house Surveyors who have authorised the solution, along with many other failings on their part (for example not being able to answer my queries in relation to various technical matters), and my feeling is that the warranty provider is limiting it's own risk so that in the event of a claim, they have authorised minimal work at minimal cost which they would have to pick up the bill for if the builder failed to rectify the problem.
To rectify the problem properly could cost up to £10k, but this solution will cost less than £1k.
My question is where do I stand legally with all this? Is there a case for misrepresentation as the builder provided a void SAP and EPC and also the approved inspector provided a Building Regulations completion certificate which should not have been issued?

Many thanks

chanz4

lofts are not ment these days for storage, they are supposed to have insulation deep and high in the eves