Buying house velux window building warrant

Tiberius2016

Hi there!

We're buying a house in Scotland, and have had an offer accepted and are hoping to complete at the start of April.

There have been a number of alterations to the property, most dating back 20+ years (dormer projection, conservatory, mullion removal on windows, extension at rear). The sellers have also added an en-suite bathroom under the eves and this has a velux window that has been added to the roof. This en-suite and velux has been done in the last 5 years approx.

The sellers solicitors has asked for the part of the standard clauses about all work having building warrants etc to be removed. They have supplied letters of comfort from the council for the older works, but nothing for this velux/en-suite.
When we view the property the seller said that the velux didn't require a building warrant, so I called the council to confirm this after seeing they wanted this part of the contract amended. The council said that a building warrant should have been acquired but they were unlikely to take action. They said for a small fee (£120) a retrospective warrant could be obtained but that the waiting list for this is around 3-4 weeks.

As I have to give 1 months notice on our rental property and I obviously don't want to do that until we've a confirmed completion date, if we were to ask the seller to get this retrospective warrant it would likely push back completion to May or even June.
The work all seems to have been carried out to a high standard and I had a roofer inspect the roof and he said it was in great condition.

With this in mind, my gut is telling me that the velux isn't really a big enough issue to delay things over, and is very unlikely to present a problem in the future, and we'd really like to get moved as soon as we can, so I'm thinking just to ignore it and proceed (assuming my lender is also happy to proceed)

What are peoples thoughts on this? Are there any potential issues I've overlooked, or alternatives that I've not considered?

Thanks,

davidmcn

I would just take a view on it assuming the lender is happy (though they might not be - depends what your solicitor advises them). The risk is that a future purchaser or lender may be more fussy about it and you'll then have to go chasing after the paperwork.

AlexMac

It wouldn't stop me, and I think you've done more than most purchasers would do to assess risks; which, it would appear to me, are negligible.

Put yourself in the position of yourself as a seller, in, say 5-10 years... wheter or not you get the retrospective warrent, I can't see it being an issue.

I now have to admit to a personal context to my opinion; a terrible past chicanery. Not only did I add a Velux in a past flat without planning permission (locally required) and with only a nod and a wink from my shared freeholder neighbours rather than formal Freeholder authority, but I didn't declare this on selling! Luckily the forms then in use by my buyer's solicitor only asked if I'd replaced any windows; not added 'em!

Unless when you come to sell you get a buyer who is even more picky than you, I bet it won't even be an issue. I'd save myself a month's rent and plough on. If you really wanted to push it, you could ask for the seller's solicitor to retain a £120 retention then send 'em the bill when received?

Tiberius2016

Thanks for the feedback, that puts my mind at ease that I'm making the right call. It's all new to me as we're FTB, so it's reassuring to get a second unbiased opinion.

The word from the solicitor seemed to be that as long as the surveyor hadn't flagged it up as an alteration (which it doesn't seem he has), then the lender wouldn't have an issue.

Fingers crossed the solicitors can now get things finished off okay in the next few days!