Building regs completion / regularisation - what are my options?

what_now_

We are so close to exchanging on the house of our dreams that we have been waiting to do for nearly 18 months due to many issues up and down the chain, it finally looks like we are there and it transpires that there was no building reg completion sign off for a first storey extension in 2007. (there was planning permission) We have had a regular homebuyers survey which didnt highlight any potential issues although i do understand it would need a full engineering survey to really tell us anything but we desperately want to proceed. However the sols have contacted the LA and we will have a mortgage on the property although the lenders have not yet been notified. Currently the owners are looking into regularisation but from what i have read this can be costly and time consuming and churn up all sorts of issues and we have already been told they are not prepared to shoulder any added cost this could bring. Are there any other alternatives open to us which would mean we could complete on the property?

AdrianC

You could simply ignore it, assuming your lender are happy to...

After 13yrs any fundamental construction issues would have come to light.
There's nothing the LA can do about failure to get it signed off.

Any kind of certification today would certainly be at least partially destructive, in that the finish would have to be breached to check for lintels, insulation, etc - and it would need to be brought up to today's standards to be signed-off today.

what_now_

We would be happy to ignore it but our solicitor is being very assertive that we need a compliance certificate. So we just need to tell our sols that we are happy to proceed without and ask our lenders if they are happy to lend without?

AdrianC

what_now_ said:

We would be happy to ignore it but our solicitor is being very assertive that we need a compliance certificate.

Your sol can be as assertive as they want. They don't get the final say. You and your lender do.

Why has this only come to light a year and a half into the purchase, just as exchange finally draws close?

ProDave

Buy an indemnity policy

what_now_

AdrianC said:

what_now_ said:

We would be happy to ignore it but our solicitor is being very assertive that we need a compliance certificate.

Your sol can be as assertive as they want. They don't get the final say. You and your lender do.

Why has this only come to light a year and a half into the purchase, just as exchange finally draws close?

Buyers pulling out at the bottom, major structural issues on a house further at the top and covid have all caused a consecutive delays (this my user name), conveyancing only really got going 6 weeks ago!

what_now_

ProDave said:

Buy an indemnity policy

We have been told that we cant have an indemnity because the current vendors did the work and the LA have been informed

davidmcn

AdrianC said:

what_now_ said:

We would be happy to ignore it but our solicitor is being very assertive that we need a compliance certificate.

Your sol can be as assertive as they want. They don't get the final say. You and your lender do.

Technically correct, but the lender primarily relies on the solicitor's advice, and in this sort of situation are hardly likely to overrule advice that they shouldn't lend. Not clear from the OP which solicitors were daft enough to contact the council and thus preclude an indemnity policy as a solution.

SameOldRoundabout

Have the vendors spoken to Building Control about a sign off? We had some walls removed and RSJs put in in a previous house, and had building control visits throughout but didn’t realise the builders hadn’t arranged for sign off. It only came to light 2 years later when I suddenly wondered whether we should have had a compliance certificate. I contacted the LA who sent the guy round, he literally looked up at the RSJs (he’d seen them installed but not with fire resistant plasterboard), which were obviously plastered and painted, and signed it off. No quibble no destruction no fuss. Not sure if it’s different with an extension instead of internal works. 

what_now_

SameOldRoundabout said:

Have the vendors spoken to Building Control about a sign off? We had some walls removed and RSJs put in in a previous house, and had building control visits throughout but didn’t realise the builders hadn’t arranged for sign off. It only came to light 2 years later when I suddenly wondered whether we should have had a compliance certificate. I contacted the LA who sent the guy round, he literally looked up at the RSJs (he’d seen them installed but not with fire resistant plasterboard), which were obviously plastered and painted, and signed it off. No quibble no destruction no fuss. Not sure if it’s different with an extension instead of internal works. 

This is what was originally suggested but (and im not exactly sure on what the process is here as the vendors are dealing with this and its chinese whispers between them the estate agents at the mo) but they can only sign off against the original building regs / planning proposals? and these have been lost by the council in a flooding incident some years back, thus the regularisation suggestion and why i think the vendors originally approached the council. It all feels like bureaucratic red tape to me?

snowcat75

what_now_ said:

SameOldRoundabout said:

Have the vendors spoken to Building Control about a sign off? We had some walls removed and RSJs put in in a previous house, and had building control visits throughout but didn’t realise the builders hadn’t arranged for sign off. It only came to light 2 years later when I suddenly wondered whether we should have had a compliance certificate. I contacted the LA who sent the guy round, he literally looked up at the RSJs (he’d seen them installed but not with fire resistant plasterboard), which were obviously plastered and painted, and signed it off. No quibble no destruction no fuss. Not sure if it’s different with an extension instead of internal works. 

This is what was originally suggested but (and im not exactly sure on what the process is here as the vendors are dealing with this and its chinese whispers between them the estate agents at the mo) but they can only sign off against the original building regs / planning proposals? and these have been lost by the council in a flooding incident some years back, thus the regularisation suggestion and why i think the vendors originally approached the council. It all feels like bureaucratic red tape to me?

Regulisation will cause a nightmare no ifs no butts it will, BC at best are slow add co-vid and they are virtually visiting nothing inside just relying on pictures, to regulise and complete it will take months and months.

IMHO the solicitors have acted badly, although they have correctly highlighted the issue but the comeback which is well over 10 years legally is nil, if the survey hasn't highlighted any issues then I doubt there is, and 13 years on the building regs which would have applied then would now be out of date by todays standards anyhow. 


Most older houses have been modified throughout there lives with virtually no paper trail (many before regs), its why lenders and as a rule most sol  don't "really" want to pry too far back.


Edit 

I'm beginning to think it may be the vendors that have highlighted the issue to the LA (that's called inviting the vampires in), I'm thinking that's what's put your sol in a spin, as normally they would just put an indemnity insurance on it and be done...…. If its the vendors then they have acted really stupid, and most likely ignored there own sol advice.