Help - No building regs

mossley1968

Hi everyone


I would be really grateful for any advice: I am in the process of selling my house and buying an apartment (downsizing) the buyers for my house has been very flexible and offered the full asking price, so all good, but the apartment I'm buying that I love, I have found out literally just before all contracts were due to be exchanged that the owner of the property (it's a large house she converted into flats) has not lodged any plans or had a regularization visit to sign off the property as flats, so no completion certificate etc are in place. So effectively my understanding is that I am actually buying a portion of a house that is not recognized an as apartment and one which may not meet with current building regulation to allow it to be. The house was converted about 14 months ago. The owner has offered to buy me an indemnity policy but it doesn't allay my fears should the council kick up a fuss and so I am most likely going to pull out of the sale.


My question is the Estate Agents who have marketed the property I think they have done so dishonestly as it's misrepresentation to market them as apartments when they are not legally recognized as being so and they were actually aware of this. Is there any legal redress for me to get the money back from the 2 surveys I've had done (one homebuyers, one structural) and the fees I've paid to arrange the mortgage - Any information would really help. To exacerbate matters further my conveyancing solicitor phoned me today (I think she's been truly pants not catching on to this issue much earlier) to actually tell me that her firm has gone bust and they are closing on Friday, so as you can imagine I'm not best part pleased and don't know where to start with it all now. Thanks in anticipation - Colin

G_M

If you can prove that the EA knew the property was not regularised, you might have a valid complaint, and maybe a claim...........

However, EAs are not lawyers, and it is not their job to investigate the legal Title, or the Planning laws etc.

Buyers either check that themselves, or employ a solicitor.

jbainbridge

EAs generally make no investigations when offering a house for sale. It's very unlikely you'll get anywhere.

If the conversion has been done as you say without involving the planning dept. it will take a while to sort the mess out ... the best thing you can do is walk away. Sorry.

HouseBuyer77

Did the flat have a seperate title deed available at the land registry?

Too late now but it's always a good idea to pay £6 to obtain the title plan and deed from the land registry any time you are interested in buying a property. Lots of people come on these boards having spent a lot of money only to find there's a problematic charge on the deeds, or they're not actually buying the whole garden etc etc

davidmcn

HouseBuyer77 wrote: »

Did the flat have a seperate title deed available at the land registry?

Seems unlikely if the seller did the conversion. It's normally the first sale of the flat which would trigger a new lease being registered.

lincroft1710

mossley1968 wrote: »

it doesn't allay my fears should the council kick up a fuss and so I am most likely going to pull out of the sale.

I'd be far more worried about any safety aspect of the flat not being built in accordance with building regs. Gas and electrical installations spring to mind.

Browntoa

and soundproofing and fireproofing between flats


its a whole can of possibly expensive worms