Building Regulations Certificate

AMUK786

Hi All - some advice for a first time seller!

• I did some renovations in 2015 (6 x chimney breasts removal onto gallow brackets into loft, through lounge (rsj), downstairs WC (concrete lintel) and new joists across 1st floor bedroom ceilings) which was all drawn up by the architects - 2015.
• The architects logged the drawings with Local Authority Building Regs. during the project 2015.
• I am now looking to sell and have realised that none of us (Project Manager/Architect and myself) got the building regulation certificate final approval. 
• The Local Authority Building Reg site shows my application and decision and is 'approved with conditions' in 2015.  The conditions were to provide the specs of the concrete lintel and RSJ - which I sent to the architects and assume they sent to the Local Authority.
• The buyer has had a structural engineer survey and all was ok with minor points around bringing the gallows up to current regs (e.g. not gallows but rsj under chimney stack).
• I'm aware of Indemnity Insurance and regularisation certificate but not sure what is the best approach.

EITHER
1. Indemnity Insurance - will need to convince a nervous first time buyer that this is ok to cover any enforcement action.
OR
2. Regularisation Certificate - I have lots of photos of the works and installation i.e. showing the RSJ, the gallow brackets, the concrete lintel, the joists.

Is it better to get the buyer to agree to the indemenity insurance and/or will the Local Authority accept the photos and issue a Regularisation Certificate? How long on average might this take?

Thanks

 

greatcrested

well after 5 years it's too late for the LA to enforce Building Regs anyway, so insurance is money down the drain as it will never need to pay out.

Having said that, you have a nervous FTB to convince, and also perhaps their tick-box-obsessed mortgage lender.

So for the sake of (£100? £150?) the insurance might be best.

Regularisation might take time, raise issues, and conceivably might be refused.

But what does your architect say? Surely your contract with him included this, so in fact you could pass on the insurance cost to him..........

FreeBear

muhaimin786 said: 2. Regularisation Certificate - I have lots of photos of the works and installation i.e. showing the RSJ, the gallow brackets, the concrete lintel, the joists.

It would be better in my opinion to have a certificate for the works done. The abundant photos of the work may be enough for Building Control to issue the necessary paperwork. The only thing that might cause problems is the gallows brackets - Most authorities won't accept their use any more..

A certificate will make the sale progress much more smoothly, and should the FTB pull out, the next one should be easier to placate. It will also make it easier for them to sell when their time comes.

foxy-stoat

I wouldn't recommend purchasing worthless indemnity insurance - get it signed off properly so its done.

ss2020jd

As a buyer I had once previously accepted an indemnity insurance for an old extension as I was going to make my own alterations anyway. Although I would think the building regs certificate would be preferable. In this climate it could cause a delay though depending on the backlog they have, or if they feel the work isn’t up to regs.

 I’ve seen that some building control departments are accepting photos of works due to limited physical viewings. Also, bear in mind that once you or solicitor or buyer alert building control to this now then I believe you can’t take out an indemnity policy after. 

At least they can see the records that visits and checks were made. If the surveyor hasn’t raised any problems then that should hopefully satisfy them, although the lender will probably want the indemnity policy. 

greatcrested

ss2020jd said:

..... bear in mind that once you or solicitor or buyer alert building control to this now then I believe you can’t take out an indemnity policy after.

So if there IS an issue with getting the Regularisation Certificate for any reason, you cannot then fall back on insurance. You are stuck with either

* finding a buyer willing to proceed with neither or

* fixing the issue (eg removing /replacing the gallows brackets if that's the issue).

AMUK786

greatcrested said:

well after 5 years it's too late for the LA to enforce Building Regs anyway, so insurance is money down the drain as it will never need to pay out.

Having said that, you have a nervous FTB to convince, and also perhaps their tick-box-obsessed mortgage lender.

So for the sake of (£100? £150?) the insurance might be best.

Regularisation might take time, raise issues, and conceivably might be refused.

But what does your architect say? Surely your contract with him included this, so in fact you could pass on the insurance cost to him..........

Thank you, The architects are not responding to email or phone at the moment. 
Insurance is my preferred route but yes this buyer is extremely nervous. 
I'm interested to know if anyone has gone through Regularisation?

AMUK786

FreeBear said:

muhaimin786 said: 2. Regularisation Certificate - I have lots of photos of the works and installation i.e. showing the RSJ, the gallow brackets, the concrete lintel, the joists.

It would be better in my opinion to have a certificate for the works done. The abundant photos of the work may be enough for Building Control to issue the necessary paperwork. The only thing that might cause problems is the gallows brackets - Most authorities won't accept their use any more..

A certificate will make the sale progress much more smoothly, and should the FTB pull out, the next one should be easier to placate. It will also make it easier for them to sell when their time comes.

Thank you, agree the certificate will stop any further conversations from the FTB or any other buyer.
Yes - the gallow brackets were in the architects original drawings in 2015 and I understand regs now prefer RSJs but since it was ok in 2015 would they need to be replaced?

AMUK786

ss2020jd said:

As a buyer I had once previously accepted an indemnity insurance for an old extension as I was going to make my own alterations anyway. Although I would think the building regs certificate would be preferable. In this climate it could cause a delay though depending on the backlog they have, or if they feel the work isn’t up to regs.

 I’ve seen that some building control departments are accepting photos of works due to limited physical viewings. Also, bear in mind that once you or solicitor or buyer alert building control to this now then I believe you can’t take out an indemnity policy after. 

At least they can see the records that visits and checks were made. If the surveyor hasn’t raised any problems then that should hopefully satisfy them, although the lender will probably want the indemnity policy. 

yes - as a buyer I have accepted indemnity insurance previously and happy to do so. 
The dilemma is on timing and yes, once LA is notified, indemnity insurance is worthless. 

AMUK786

greatcrested said:

ss2020jd said:

..... bear in mind that once you or solicitor or buyer alert building control to this now then I believe you can’t take out an indemnity policy after.

So if there IS an issue with getting the Regularisation Certificate for any reason, you cannot then fall back on insurance. You are stuck with either

* finding a buyer willing to proceed with neither or

* fixing the issue (eg removing /replacing the gallows brackets if that's the issue).

my thoughts exactly.