Buying a converted Bungalow, building regs issue!

duffman_4

Hi,

We are going through the process of buying a converted bungalow and an issue has arisen regarding the Building Regs (BR) or rather the lack of them with regards the loft conversion.

The conversion was done in 1988 and seems absolutely fine, to the eye it seems to have been done extremely well. Unfortunately after our solicitor enquired about BR the sellers solicitor has established that it was never signed off by the council.

The sellers solicitor has also contacted the council to see if they are likely to take any action to which they have replied that 'it's unlikely'. This may have seemed like a good idea but my solicitor tells me that because they have told the council that the BR are not in place we are unable to get Indemnity Insurance on the issue!

This now leaves us in a quandry. We are going to ask their solicitor to get confirmed in writing that the council will not take any action but is this enough?

We realise that common sense would dictate that if the conversion has been in place for 20 years and had no issue then it is unlikely that anything might happen in the future.

We intend on putting an extension on the back of the property which will undoubtedly require BR, we are concerned that when these works are inspected that any council official might take issue with the conversion.

I just wondered what people thought and if anyone has had any experience of this type of thing.

We really don't want the move to fall through but we also want to be sure that it will not come back to haunt us if we move there.

I hope this is posted in the best place, but if anyone thinks it is not in the right forum then please feel free to move it (if such a thing can be done!).

Many thanks

Duff

Doozergirl

They won't take issue with anything previous. They really don't have the time or inclination to run around checking everything in the house. Building Regs 20 years ago would have been nothing on current regs anyway. Even if it had sign off at the time, most of the work will not comply with current regs anyway.

As long as it is sound, I would be happy to proceed with or without indemnity.

seven-day-weekend

A letter from the Council should suffice. I used to work in Planning and wrote these letters (although about Planning Permission rather than Building Regulations) all the time.

molerat

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

A letter from the Council should suffice. I used to work in Planning and wrote these letters (although about Planning Permission rather than Building Regulations) all the time.

In Scotland it is called a "Letter of Comfort".

guppy

For what its worth, I wouldn't have any concerns about the authorities taking an interest. I'd be far more concerned that it meets fire safety standards (i.e. smoke alarms, self-closers on doors), is properly insulated, that the floor joists are strong enough and that there is adequate ventilation to the rafters etc.

Trouble is, most of those things will be hidden by decor If it looks ok 20 years later, that is some comfort

Richard_Webster

This now leaves us in a quandry. We are going to ask their solicitor to get confirmed in writing that the council will not take any action but is this enough?

If you are happy with the condition of the work, yes.

If you are getting a mortgage your solicitor will have to have something because lenders are so risk averse that your solicitor would need to have the letter to protect himself from the lender complaining later. Their official requirements as good as say this - which is way over the top in the real world.

If you aren't getting a mortgage then as long as you are clear that that is what the inspector is saying (which is most likely) then I'd go ahead.

Imagine the headlines in the local papers if a Council suddenly decided to go the County Court for an injunction to have a property reinstated to its previous condition in respect of some 20 year old work!