Please help: Mis-sold house, who’s at fault?

ReadingTim

Rob-123 wrote: »

Reading Tim- I appreciate what your saying, but my concern is that there is no proof it’s 12 years old..? So how can the council have no comeback, as for all they know it could have been completed this year?

There's also no proof it's not 12 years old....

Rob-123

That’s true Tim, very true.

Doozergirl, by local searches I’m talking about the water searches that I have, and there are also maps with my road which our boundaries are outlined...? I’m at work again now, I will have another look through and look for those, if I have them what is it that I am looking for on there?

Rob-123

UPDATE

I have just received a reply from the solicitor. I phoned and asked her for a copy of all the searches they did. She has sent me a 15 page copy of the LLC1, of which I have not seen until now! I certainly was never sent this during the conveyancing process.

It says under Planning & Building Regulations:

Planning Permission granted:
Loft Conversion with reference.

Building Regulations Approval:
Loft Conversion with reference.

Building Regulations Completion Certificate:
None.

If I had known about this document I would have insisted they got a completion certificate!

davidmcn

Rob-123 wrote: »

UPDATE

I have just received a reply from the solicitor. I phoned and asked her for a copy of all the searches they did. She has sent me a 15 page copy of the LLC1, of which I have not seen until now! I certainly was never sent this during the conveyancing process.

It says under Planning & Building Regulations:

Planning Permission granted:
Loft Conversion with reference.

Building Regulations Approval:
Loft Conversion with reference.

Building Regulations Completion Certificate:
None.

If I had known about this document I would have insisted they got a completion certificate!

Yes, telling you "Our search has revealed a building regulation for a loft conversion" doesn't even make sense - a building regulation what? If it had said there was a completion certificate (but they hadn't seen the actual certificate) that would be fair enough. But they should have advised you on the implications of there being no completion certificate issued.

Of course they may argue that the outcome would likely have been that you'd have got the sellers to obtain indemnity insurance, fail to haggle the price down, and end up paying the same amount for the same house with the same lack of insulation...

AdrianC

Rob-123 wrote: »

Building Regulations Completion Certificate:
None.

If I had known about this document I would have insisted they got a completion certificate!

OK, and they can't, because one was never issued.
Would you have walked away from the purchase completely?

Remember - this is a separate question from whether or not there's a lack of insulation...

teneighty

Rob-123 wrote: »

UPDATE

I have just received a reply from the solicitor. I phoned and asked her for a copy of all the searches they did. She has sent me a 15 page copy of the LLC1, of which I have not seen until now! I certainly was never sent this during the conveyancing process.

It says under Planning & Building Regulations:

Planning Permission granted:
Loft Conversion with reference.

Building Regulations Approval:
Loft Conversion with reference.

Building Regulations Completion Certificate:
None.

If I had known about this document I would have insisted they got a completion certificate!

Well it is good that you have got confirmation of Building Regulations and Planning approvals. Lack of a completion certificate is not that unusual it is not compulsory and may not be a big deal.

The first thing I would do is double check with Building Control that they really haven't carried out ANY inspections. I would go to their office and physically look through the file myself to check for site inspection notes. The file will be available for public inspection.

If there are in fact no inspections at least you have got the approved drawings to check the work done is in accordance with the approved plans.

That leaves you with the choice if the work is in accordance with the plans you can try and get Building Control to sign it off although due to length of time they might not do it.

If the work is not in accordance with the plans you can upgrade it to those plans or live with it as it is if it is safe. I wouldn't worry about Building Control taking enforcement action, it is far too late for that to happen unless it is deemed to be dangerous.

Looks like your solicitor might be off the hook.

Rob-123

I agree the sentence they wrote to me doesn’t make sense... I took it to be that the building regulation document (certificate) was in place but not needing to be provided.

If I had known there was no certificate I definately wouldn’t have purchased the house as it was, I would have most probably insisted they got it signed off, failing that if I thought the owners were hiding something to do with the conversion I would have walked away.

I emailed my solicitor and said that you never supplied these searches to me, you never told me that you knew there was no certificate in place, and she responded by saying they were sent to me, and that because the enforcement period had expired they wouldn’t have raised any concerns!!!

Doozergirl

Exactly what teneighty says. Perfect advice

AdrianC

Rob-123 wrote: »

I agree the sentence they wrote to me doesn’t make sense...

But you didn't ask them to clarify it...

I took it to be that the building regulation document (certificate) was in place but not needing to be provided.

...you just assumed?

If I had known there was no certificate I definately wouldn’t have purchased the house as it was, I would have most probably insisted they got it signed off, failing that if I thought the owners were hiding something to do with the conversion I would have walked away.

That's very easy to say now that you've discovered what may or may not be an issue with the construction - but it's a MASSIVELY more conservative approach than the vast majority of housebuyers take and, if it was widespread, it'd render a lot of properties completely unsaleable without major work.

I emailed my solicitor and said that you never supplied these searches to me, you never told me that you knew there was no certificate in place, and she responded by saying they were sent to me, and that because the enforcement period had expired they wouldn’t have raised any concerns!!!

Yep, that's normal. Well, a more normal attitude would be "buy an indemnity" - which just covers the legal costs surrounding any enforcement, so by taking this more realistic attitude, they've actually saved you/the vendor a hundred quid or so, with no downside.

Rob-123

Okay Adrianc:

Now I can see it doesn’t make sense, now I know the difference between building consent and certification.

I didn’t assume, I thought that the building reg document was in place, because the solicitor said ‘our search has revealed a building regulation but due to the age the seller hasn’t provided the document’ is it unreasonable to take it that way?

A more conservative approach than most house buyers take..? How do you know what approach most housebuyers take when they are actually told that there is no certificate in place..?

So you’re saying the reason they took a ‘realistic attitude’ by not advising me that they knew there was no certificate, was to save me £100?

To the other comments, thank you.