Building regulation certificate not issued 11 years ago

Julia_Powell

Help! We are in the final stages of trying to reach exchange on our house./ Our buyers' solicitors have asked our solicitors for copies of various building regs and tree preservation orders going back years. I noticed, in their letter, mention of some work we had done on the house back in Feb 2007. I then noticed, when I looked online on our council's archives, that the work we had done is shown as on-going! I stupidly (I sooo regret this now as I suspect it means we cannot go down the indemnities route... more of that later) rang the council and, when they checked things, they said a final inspection had not taken place as they hadn't been told the work had been completed. They are therefore sending someone out asap (as I explained we were trying to move so time was pressing). I have a copy of their letter to me confirming our application, plus a copy of a receipt showing I paid £121 back in Feb 07. On the letter, I had hand written the name of the inspector who came out to check things DURING the work, The council said he was no longer with them (no surprise given it was so long ago). The work we had done was - we switched the position of one window and one front door (with one small window next to it) - basically, swapped over their positions. They were the same width. We obviously had to brick up beneath where we were putting the window as that had a door shaped hole. We also moved one toilet from one side of a wall to another, and added a small sink. We added approx two metres' worth of pipe work to connect to the existing mains.
The builder no longer exists and I cannot remember literally all the fine details as it is all so long ago. I don't even have a photo of how the house used to look as we had the work done two weeks after moving in. You can just about see a vague outline of where the door used to be if you look closely, plus you can see a slight outline on tiles in what is now our utility room, to show where the loo used to be... but that's it. Should I be worried? What if he wants to somehow undo part of the work to check things? Even though it's been there nearly 11 years now and is clearly fine. We had a full building survey on our house three weeks ago which was fine so I don't really have concerns about things - I am just desperate not to cause delays. Can anyone offer any reassurance as to what may happen when a new inspector comes out to sign off? The work doesn't even look 'new' anymore - it looks like the fabric of the rest of the building.... Really edgy about this ! So annoyed that i rang the council as, had I not, we could just have offered an indemnity. However, it appears, once you have contacted the council to inform them of a certificate missing, this can no longer be done. That is what my solicitor said anyway. However, the council actually said our issue was right on the cusp of their time limits for coming out which is usually ten years and said we could always offer an indemnity... confusing. I tend to think the solicitor is going to be right on this but not totally certain given the conflicting advice....

Browntoa

They need to inspect using the regulations for that period not the current

For various reasons I was unable to finish major buildings work and get a completion certificate for almost 20 years but luckily the guy who came out had been round in the past . He tracked down copies of the 1992 regs inspected and after I finished a few odds and ends off got a certificate.

That house has been sold with no issue

Indemnity insurance cannot be issued now you have told the council

Worse case you may need to expose lintels etc and make good

Julia_Powell

Thanks for that. I am hoping ours wouldn't be classed as major building works as was only a few days' work - I just don't think we have time on our side in order to do any alterations if any are needed... or how the inspector would even know without unpicking brick work or plaster work. The door and windows all open smoothly etc and there is no evidence of problems. I do know, when the inspector invested DURING the work, there were no issues picked up as I would definitely remember that..... Just can't quite figure out what will happen other than him looking at a window, a door and a loo.... Yet another reason to add to my inability to sleep these days!

Julia_Powell

Both the door and the window are in part of the house with nothing above - either flat roof or tile work above porch. Not weight-bearing. Would they definitely need lintels? And how can I tell if lintels are there? Also,as an inspector did come out DURING, surely, if we didn't have lintels and needed them, we'd have been told then... or if we did have them, he'd have been able to assess that then anyway. Now going to stare at door and window to try to see if lintels are there!

Doozergirl

Julia_Powell wrote: »

Both the door and the window are in part of the house with nothing above - either flat roof or tile work above porch. Not weight-bearing. Would they definitely need lintels? And how can I tell if lintels are there? Also,as an inspector did come out DURING, surely, if we didn't have lintels and needed them, we'd have been told then... or if we did have them, he'd have been able to assess that then anyway. Now going to stare at door and window to try to see if lintels are there!

Just stop panicking.

The building inspector will have any previous notes and they know exactly what they are looking for. You worrying about it isn't going to change anything. If something doesn't meet standard then he will tell you what it is in order to rectify it. If there is an issue then it's unlikely to be anything of great cost given what you've told us.

It is stressful, but you do have a choice as to how much stressing you do. This is in your hands and entirely solvable.

chappers

Personally I would have just said to the buyer that the works are beyond enforcement and have been in place for 11 years now so if you want to employ a surveyor, your welcome.
Whilst the risk is small as it's just a final inspection, there is a risk none the less and if the BCO refuses to sign it off what then. You have no recourse to indemnity and will probably have to carry out the works necessary.

Also OP could you break your post down into paragraphs rather than just one big chain of sentences, it makes it very hard to read.

sheramber

We had the same position over an attic conversion when we bought our house.

The seller told us when we viewed that they knew they had not applied for a completion certificate and would need to do so now.. The work had planning permission.

The council inspected the work and found three small modifications needed

Open staircase had too wide a distance between treads - fixed by screwing in pieces of wood which we removed after we moved in.

Not enough air vents in the roof so extra added.

Glass in front door not safety glass. This was replaced by a joiner who later discovered that it had been safety glass but was not marked as such.

It didn't stop the sale going ahead.

Our solicitor retained £800 to cover the work needed ( to cover the cost of seller didn't get work done) and the seller arranged for the work to be done and paid for it.

Once it was passed by the council they issued a letter of comfort- it was too late to get a cerificate.
When my solicitor got the letter of comfort he forwarded the retained money to the sellers.

Davesnave

Julia_Powell wrote: »

So annoyed that i rang the council as, had I not, we could just have offered an indemnity. However, it appears, once you have contacted the council to inform them of a certificate missing, this can no longer be done. That is what my solicitor said anyway. However, the council actually said our issue was right on the cusp of their time limits for coming out which is usually ten years and said we could always offer an indemnity... confusing. I tend to think the solicitor is going to be right on this but not totally certain given the conflicting advice....

The solicitor is right, but this will be better than indemnity insurance and the worst case scenario is minor work at probably quite low cost.

So long as the inspector isn't called Goole and doesn't want to question you regarding the demise of a certain Daisy Renton, you should sleep easy.

Julia_Powell

Thanks for replies so far. Apologies for long paragraphs - it was the second time I'd typed it all as the first lot 'vanished' just before posting!

Reading up about things online, I see mention somewhere that it IS possible to pay for an indemnity after approaching the council but that it can't be an 'off the shelf' policy. Does anyone know anything about that?

I wish I could remember seeing lintels actually going in. I think I remember - but I cannot be certain as it was so long ago. My biggest concern is having to remove render from the outside or plaster from the inside when we are so close to exchanging.

Is it very likely that the inspector will insist on seeing the actual lintels, even though the work was inspected whilst it was going on, or is he more likely to be checking that things just look ok, with no evidence of movement (the windows/doors all open smoothly etc so no evidence of upvc frames warping etc). Especially as, if we had actually had a final sign off done correctly, that would have been a visit AFTER the works were completed so, even back then, the lintels wouldn't have been visible by that stage. This is bearing in mind the works WERE inspected at the time the builder was here, just not again after completion.

chappers

if it really is the final inspection you should be fine all of the structure insulation etc would have been inspected. The final inspection checks things like smoke detectors have been fitted, fire doors etc. Basically just the things that can be visually seen when it's finished

Julia_Powell

Thank you Chappers. It was only swapping the position of a door with the position of a window - literally, them swapping places plus moving a loo from one side of a wall to another so i don't think there was loads to check in the first instance.

I will just have to keep my fingers crossed, I think, that it goes without a hitch. Just have no way of contacting the builder as he moved to France years ago...