House buying without building regulations

foxy-stoat

They wont cover issues with structural work - do you know what work was carried out?

davidmcn

y2graham wrote: »

I didn't say house falls down i said issues with structural work. They are two very different things!

Call it what you like, it's not going to be covered.

eddddy

y2graham wrote: »

I didn't say house falls down i said issues with structural work. They are two very different things!

I think you've misunderstood what buildings insurance covers.

It covers specific incidents (or perils) that cause damage to the property like:

- fire, lightning, explosion and earthquake
- riot, civil commotion, strikes, labour or political disturbances
- malicious damage or vandalism
- storm and flood
- falling trees or branches
- escape of water or oil
- theft or attempted theft
etc

It will specifically exclude cover for anything that relates to poor workmanship and materials (e.g. if cracking occurs because a joist is undersized and/or a joist needs to be replaced)

So, for example, what the insurer means is that if a chip pan starts a fire in your house, they will still pay the claim, even though you you have no building regs sign-off on the alterations.

(But the situation may be different if the fire is started by faulty wiring, which did not have building regs sign-off.)

Cakeguts

I am confused. Why would someone go to all the trouble to do internal structural work on a property and then put it on the market?



I would have thought that the work was done to improve the layout so that the people who lived there could live there better?


Or was the work done so that they could sell the house for more than it would have fetched without the structural work? In which case they may have been trying to make a quick profit and not done it properly?

y2graham

Thank you for all your comments and views. We are going to get the seller to sign off the works before we move and if it delays or even breaks the chain the thats how it will be. We can not risk moving into a house that has not been signed off.

y2graham

Cakeguts wrote: »

I am confused. Why would someone go to all the trouble to do internal structural work on a property and then put it on the market?



I would have thought that the work was done to improve the layout so that the people who lived there could live there better?


Or was the work done so that they could sell the house for more than it would have fetched without the structural work? In which case they may have been trying to make a quick profit and not done it properly?

I think initially they were planning on staying in the property but for what ever reason they are now moving.

Thrugelmir

Cakeguts wrote: »

I am confused. Why would someone go to all the trouble to do internal structural work on a property and then put it on the market?

Increase the potential selling price.

Cakeguts

Is the house on the market for more than a similar one without the structural alterations? If so you might want to be very careful about how the alterations have been done?

maisie_cat

It is common for the final inspection not to be done, sometimes due to a catch up on paperwork. It does rather depend on what was done. Was the work inspected as it was done at all? If it was opening up work I would be concerned that the support for the upstairs structure was not sufficient & the sellers are going to have to open up to get regularisation certification anyway.
Our house had some dodgy building work, but it had been standing for 30 years or so. If you open up many houses you will find some amazingly bad workmanship, but it takes a lot to make a house fall down.

mr_auspicious

maisie_cat wrote: »

It is common for the final inspection not to be done, sometimes due to a catch up on paperwork. It does rather depend on what was done. Was the work inspected as it was done at all? If it was opening up work I would be concerned that the support for the upstairs structure was not sufficient & the sellers are going to have to open up to get regularisation certification anyway.
Our house had some dodgy building work, but it had been standing for 30 years or so. If you open up many houses you will find some amazingly bad workmanship, but it takes a lot to make a house fall down.

Exactly this happened to me with the house we are in the process of selling (although after today’s reports on what Mark Carney said I’m not so sure now). We refurbished the house and built a kitchen extension when we bought it ten years ago and the builder, a relative did everything right rightbup until he failed to submit the electric and gas and central heating certificates, so we never received the final certificate. I wasn’t aware of this until it cam to selling the house.

The buyer insisted on the certificate, wouldn’t accept indemnity insurance and I assumed that would be that and the sale wouldn’t proceed. When I phoned building control someone there spoke to the building regs surveyor who worked on the job and remembered it, they found the paperwork and the sign off for all the work and said they’d issue a certificate if they received the missing certificates. We had to pay for a couple of very expensive inspections by a company that specializes in retrospective certification but we’re now at the stage where we’re just waiting for the final certificate to be issued.

I think the OP needs to speak to vendor and have a conversation about what happened, if the work was done as recently as they say building control will remember what, if any involvement they had. There should be a certificate that proves the plans were approved at least.

You should also be careful about the vendor contacting building control - I think that once they are alerted to problems with the building work the vendor won’t be able to take out an indemnity. Although it looks like you’re not going down that route anyway.

The vendor will know that this will come up every time they try and sell the house, they should be looking to get this resolved ASAP, and given the uncertainty with the housing market at the moment I’d be desperate to find a way to sell the house right now.

You’re in a very strong position, I’d definitely be asking for the certificate, or a tidy sum off the offer. You really need some clarity on what happened when they did the work.

If we do end up with a no deal Brexit, selling your house and renting a few years before buying again might not be the worst outcome....