May have to pull out of purchase, advise please!,

Chop-D

Evening all, a what would you do in our situation question please;

Selling and buying. Our vendor being very evasive about providing building regs certificates for some major structural work to the property. Were aiming to exchange & complete before Xmas, legals started end Sept. Everything else is good to go. Our gut instinct is vendors solicitor may be waiting til the last minute to confirm there are no building regs sign off in the hope we will just go with it, is this something that actually happens or are we worrying over nothing?

If they don’t have buildings regs sign off we will need a regularisation cert or we won’t be able to proceed. If we do need to pull out, we would rather look at other homes sooner rather than later as we don’t want to mess our buyers around. What is the etiquette as to when it’s acceptable to start looking round at other options? 

What would you guys do in our situation?

cheers

davilown

when was when was there work completed? And what were the works?

Chop-D

davilown said:

when was when was there work completed? And what were the works?

Appreciate your question but please just view it on the fact that if we don’t have the regs sign off and the vendors are not willing to get a regularisation cert we will not be able to proceed with the purchase.

JGB1955

If it was me, and the building works were carried out more than (maybe) 5 years ago, I would just proceed.  There is far more context needed than you seem willing to provide....

molerat

What does the council building standards web site state about building regs for the property ?

Why is a certificate so important ?  My SIL has not got a certificate for her house and it hasn't fallen down in 400 years.  People seem to get hung up over a piece of paper which proves very little apart from it having a piece of paper.

steve866

Does building regs show up on the searches?

Chop-D

Yes I appreciate the piece of paper aspect but it is what it is, and I need to work with what I’ve got! Sorry I had actually forgotten about the searches, the council ones are delayed but we are being encouraged to use an indemnity at the mo which doesn’t help us find the building regs. We are just worried that if we do pull out due to this we would rather get on with it so as to not waste time. Cheers for your replies so far

sheramber

We bought a house without the building Control Certificate for an attic conversion. The sellers did apply and the inspection highlighted three areas that needed updating. Money to cover the cost of these was retained by our  solicitor until the work was done and passed. A Letter of Comfort was issued as it was out of time for a Building  Control Certificate to be issued.
I have just moved into a house that does not have building control for putting in french doors in 2016. Again certification has been applied for and a sum of money retained to cover the estimated cost of redoing the work

Solicitors are very wary of these things now in case they are sued at a later date. 

Crashy_Time

Ask them to stop being evasive or you will look elsewhere.

Chandler85

They won't find it as they probably don't have it.  Pull out and go buy a new build, these have lots of pieces of paper that can help make you feel fluffy inside.  Your electrical cert becomes meaningless when they change regs, your gas one becomes a tick box exercise in a few years, and the "new build warranty" is completely pointless in 10 years.

When you pull out, you won't be refunded for the searches you have paid for, and you'll need to pay your conveyancer for the work they have completed.  If you have paid a fee for your mortgage, you will lose this as well if you don't complete before it expires.

Be polite though, and pull out as early as possible, so the seller isn't waiting for you no reason, it is stressful enough for them, they might also be buying elsewhere, so the whole chain needs to know.

Scotbot

Assuming the work wasn't completed in the last few months the building cert will be available if they complied. Since you aren't interested in purchasing without it pull out now stating why and tell the EA as well as your solicitor.  If a building cert does exist it wil be found very quickly and you can reinstate the purchase.