Advice please!

Manic_monday

Hi all,

We accepted an offer on our house in November 2020 (first time buyer - no chain) and had an offer accepted on another property mid December.

We have sent all our documents & responses to enquiries within a couple of days and always keep in touch with solicitor/ estate agent as we were hoping for a quick sale.

We thought all enquiries were resolved and we were ready to sign contracts etc - when we found out that the house we are buying had some building work done a few years ago, all with planning permission, but no final sign off from building regs. The owner got building regs people round, who recommended further work. She said she had this work done 4 weeks ago and has since been waiting for the final documents from the building regs department. 

Her solicitor said the seller had been calling and chasing the building regs department every day - so we thought fine & that everyone was doing what they could.

A few days ago I contacted the building regs department myself and was told they hadn’t been out to do the final inspection and had no contact to tell them the work had been completed. They said they’d had no contact at all for a month & if the seller contacted them they could do the home visit & all paperwork within 5 days.

We were really fed up and confused about the misinformation so contacted our solicitor (who just said thanks for the update!) and both estate agents who are now trying to contact her for an update. 

Not really sure where we can go from here and if there’s anything else we can do?! 

Thanks all :-) 

moneysavinghero

Sounds like your seller is stalling for some reason. Tell them that they either provide the final sign off or they pay for building regs indemnity insurance within the next 7 days. If they don't you will pull out / drop the price.

Doozergirl

moneysavinghero said:

Sounds like your seller is stalling for some reason. Tell them that they either provide the final sign off or they pay for building regs indemnity insurance within the next 7 days. If they don't you will pull out / drop the price.

The OP has just scuppered the indemnity insurance route, albeit unintentionally.  

Manic_monday

Doozergirl said:

moneysavinghero said:

Sounds like your seller is stalling for some reason. Tell them that they either provide the final sign off or they pay for building regs indemnity insurance within the next 7 days. If they don't you will pull out / drop the price.

The OP has just scuppered the indemnity insurance route, albeit unintentionally.  

We got advised by our solicitor not to go with the indemnity insurance and to make sure we had the final building regs certificate. As the seller had already contacted the building regs department and had them do the initial inspection I think it would have been void at that point - I think?! :-) 

davidmcn

Manic_monday said:

Doozergirl said:

moneysavinghero said:

Sounds like your seller is stalling for some reason. Tell them that they either provide the final sign off or they pay for building regs indemnity insurance within the next 7 days. If they don't you will pull out / drop the price.

The OP has just scuppered the indemnity insurance route, albeit unintentionally.  

We got advised by our solicitor not to go with the indemnity insurance and to make sure we had the final building regs certificate. As the seller had already contacted the building regs department and had them do the initial inspection I think it would have been void at that point - I think?! :-) 

Correct, that horse had already bolted.