Building regs/load bearing wall

jimbo772 · 29 March 2019 at 2:54PM

Hi all,

Looking for a little advice. We are buying a home in which the current owner has knocked through between two rooms, one of which was a load bearing wall. He's had it done properly, calculated loadings - actually over estimated as he was planning a first floor extension for which he had planning, steel bar installed, etc; - and has invoices. Work was done 7-8 years ago. BUT he didn't think he needed building regs and his builder didn't tell him. He has offered to pay for an indemnity. This came to light because it was one of the standard questions our solicitor asked.

During our mortgage application, the bank had a standard homebuyers valuation done - not a structural one. No issue was flagged.

We are trying to accelerate the exchange because one of the buyers in the chain needs to complete before an organisational restructure takes place.

This morning, the chap we are buying from contacted his solicitor to offer to pay for an indemnity to avoid the problem above. However, his solicitor said that might not be enough, and (our) lender might want building regs in place because of the risk of devaluation if there is a problem. Of course, to get building regs we are probably talking 6-8 weeks.

My biggest concern is really that the bank pulls the funding between exchange and completion. My sense is that the work has been done properly, particularly since the seller is very happy to pay for building regs.

So the question is: does an indemnity, which really only addresses enforcement risk, give the bank what it needs?

Will a structural survey suffice ()recognising that this might involve hacking stuff off walls?)

Can we get a private building control company to look at it?

Or do we need to wait for a proper council fellow with a clipboard, who probably won't be able to issue a completion certificate anyway, since its all hidden under plaster?

Advice gratefully received.

James.

System · 29 March 2019 at 3:20PM

Building Regs need to be signed off by the council and they can ask for the plaster to be removed in order to inspect the work if they are of a mind to. They would probably also want a copy of the certificate for the RSJ

jimbo772 · 29 March 2019 at 3:48PM

Thanks. Since BR will take 6-8 weeks I am wondering if a structural survey will satisfy the lender (and myself)?

davidmcn · 29 March 2019 at 4:01PM

If the lender's survey didn't raise any concerns about the actual condition of the property then I doubt they'll want more than the lack of consents sorted out (either by retrospectively getting it or an indemnity policy). If you want a structural survey that's up to you. The lender isn't going to unexpectedly pull out.