House Selling and Building Regs

Civvy21

Hi,

I have lived in our current house, a 1930s end of terrace, since the early eighties. We are now considering moving on to pastures new.

Early after moving in my then partner's father, who was a builder, removed one internal load bearing wall to make a through lounge. He also removed a chimney breast from the ground up to the loft where it rests on some large planks of wood. We do not have any building regs certificates for either of these.

In the mid 90s we had a single storey rear extension built. It did not need planning permission but we did go through the correct channels and have all the relevant building regs certificates. However, he did take out another internal wall for which we have no paperwork.

So my questions are:

How much of a problem am I likely to have with the lack of building regs for the two removed walls and the chimney breast? Is it a major problem or is it something that is fairly common on properties of this age?

Would it be worth me trying to get retrospective building regs now (especially for the chimney breast) or would I just be making life more difficult for myself?

Would I be legally liable if the house is sold and soon after there were major structural issues with the building?

Are there any other pitfalls I could face with these issues?

I appreciate with hindsight we should have done things differently. However we are where we are.

Grateful for any advice.

Badger51

Lack of Building Regulations approval for alterations done 30 or 40 years ago is unlikely to be a show stopper IMO. It isn't that unusual a situation. Regularisation by Building Control would be optimal (for getting the paperwork in order) but would necessarily to be very invasive requiring a lot of making good and redecoration..

-taff

You're likely to have problems with the chimney and remaining breast resting on planks of wood no matter how long ago it was removed.Do you mean they are actually planks of wood or are they gallows brackets?

Badger51

You're likely to have problems with the chimney and remaining breast resting on planks of wood no matter how long ago it was removed.

Yes,that's true.

FreeBear

Civvy21 wrote: »

He also removed a chimney breast from the ground up to the loft where it rests on some large planks of wood.

How large are these "planks of wood" and what supports them ?


I can't imagine it would have been acceptable to support a chimney stack in this way back in the 80s or 90s. It sounds like a right bodge job, and any surveyor is bound to pick up on it and downgrade his valuation.


Get a structural engineer in to do some calculations and then a builder to install some proper support before even thinking about selling.

Civvy21

Thank you all for your comments.

I will go down the route of having the chimney breast brought up to current regs.

I appreciate it may vary from district to district, but how helpful do the buildings regs people tend to be in these situations? Before making a formal application, can you just ring up and get advice from your council on the best route to take? I understand that some councils are happy with gallows brackets whilst some want a full width RSJ. My neighbours have not had their chimney breast removed.

I probably underplayed it a bit with my "planks of wood" comment. It is fairly hefty, more like the size of a railway sleeper. But I do appreciate it needs to be done properly.

hazyjo

If it's stood okay for that long with no dropping, cracking or collapsing, I'd be more inclined to firstly wait to see if they're having a survey, and secondly (presuming yes), see if an indemnity policy would suffice.

davidmcn

The council almost certainly won't care, unless and until it looks like it's going to collapse, so the lack of paperwork isn't particularly relevant. Only really worthy of concern if the surveyors think it's defective.