Vendor claiming work was done prior to their purchase (photos suggest it wasn't)

Davesnave

Rosieandjim wrote: »

A friend of mine had her garage converted to a play room. However she did not need planning as it has a 'floating floor' ( I think that is the correct term) which is permitted so that when she moves it can be put back to a garage. Could this be why no planning approval?

That makes no sense to me at all. I'm not aware of temporary planning permissions, and a floating floor isn't any different from others from a planning perspective. If the garage conversion could be converted back to a garage, that implies that the large entrance opening was retained too.

What may have happened was the installation of a cheap floor to make sitting on it less cold + a stud wall to fend off the worst from the draughty garage door and maybe some cheap tarting-up of the interior; all fine for a play room. No permission sought or required.

Rosieandjim

Davesnave wrote: »

That makes no sense to me at all. I'm not aware of temporary planning permissions, and a floating floor isn't any different from others from a planning perspective. If the garage conversion could be converted back to a garage, that implies that the large entrance opening was retained too.

What may have happened was the installation of a cheap floor to make sitting on it less cold + a stud wall to fend off the worst from the draughty garage door and maybe some cheap tarting-up of the interior; all fine for a play room. No permission sought or required.

:rotfl:No tarting up (detached 4 bed property in good area) and no leaving large entrance it was bricked up with a window. It is also very warm.
I have also seen a similar one that was made into a kitchen and also hade a soft floor, bricked up garage door with window when I went house hunting with relative

Davesnave

Rosieandjim wrote: »

:rotfl:No tarting up (detached 4 bed property in good area) and no leaving large entrance it was bricked up with a window. It is also very warm.
I have also seen a similar one that was made into a kitchen and also hade a soft floor, bricked up garage door with window when I went house hunting with relative

Then that makes even less sense, because it is clearly a permanent conversion, just like mine.

KatieDee

Slight update, although nothing huge!

Our surveyor responded advising that if there are no building regs for the conversion, it would be fair to consider a reduction in price to reflect this, as we made our offer based on the converted garage. He suggested the cost of this is between £7000-£10,000 and it would be considered reasonable to reduce our offer by this amount.

Now, we don't want to do this. The work has been done, it seems to be okay in terms of quality and despite no building regulations being present, I don't think the job has been rushed. To suggest such a huge reduction because a piece of paper is missing seems a tad cheeky.

We're still waiting for the enquiries to be returned from our vendors solicitor and hopefully, all will be revealed and we'll have a better idea of who did the work and whether any paperwork was given. Having this will allow us to make a much more informed decision.

If we decide to remain at the current offer, what is the best way forward? Asking the vendor to have the work signed off by the council before we complete? An indemnity policy? Are we risking anything by continuing as previously agreed?

I don't really want to risk the purchase or upset the vendor, but I also don't want to lose money or experience bigger issues if we come to sell.

walwyn1978

At the very very least an idemnity policy that they pay for (every other prospective buyer will have the same issue as you and the EA will know this and lean on them to make it happen if you insist on it, which I would as it removes your issue on resale subsequently)

KatieDee

walwyn1978 wrote: »

At the very very least an idemnity policy that they pay for (every other prospective buyer will have the same issue as you and the EA will know this and lean on them to make it happen if you insist on it, which I would as it removes your issue on resale subsequently)

Thank you for your response. Indemnity was going to be the minimum we'd request, as I doubt our solicitor (or lender) would let us continue without that in place.

As long as I can be semi confident that we're not going to miss out hugely going forward, financially or otherwise, I'm happy to leave it at that. Of course having the work signed off would be far better as we can stop worrying about the quality, but I appreciate this might be a big ask for the vendor.

Going forward we plan to add a pitched roof and make a few amendments, so we'd need to get building regs and planning permission anyway, but I don't want to open a can of worms when we come to do this.

Still haven't been able to clear up the uncertainty around whether they did the work or not, but I'm hoping their response will explain things more.

Slinky

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Have a nice chat with the neighbours and bring the conversation round to the garage conversion.

Our surveyor found out about underpinning of the extension on our purchase from chatting to the neighbours. They are elderly and thought it was about 10-12 years earlier. Subsequent enquiries revealed it was 27 years ago........ So be warned!

KatieDee

Sorry to bump the thread, but still looking for some advice.

I spoke to the EA for a bit of an update, as two weeks have passed since the most recent enquiries were sent to the vendors solicitor.

I appreciate they probably wouldn't know what was going on, but it was partly to highlight a small delay and also to request a viewing to measure up, as the vendor said she was removing curtain rails and I want to make sure we buy these over the next few months (as opposed to a mad dash once we're in).

The EA was really reluctant and said she would leave this until we have an exchange date, as this might "spook" the vendor. Is this a thing? I just wanted to measure up and confirm exactly what she is leaving. Surely this suggests enthusiasm?! I do appreciate that viewings are annoying, so I didn't want to let it worry me too much.

We're still none the wiser about the work and when it was carried out. Should we just settle for indemnity insurance?

KatieDee

Another update!

We received the local searches back today which show several Building Regulation Applications, including the garage conversion. The date it was completed was less than a month before the vendors bought the house, so was clearly requested by the old owners to satisfy the previous purchase.

Annoying how this didn't show up on the local authority website but I am SO relieved that the vendors were telling the truth!