Help required - purchasing house with no building work certification

Revolverocelot

We are nearing the closing stages of a home purchase. 

However an issue has emerged in that the house we are buying has been extended 15 years ago. We have received the planning permission as per request but the seller does not have certification for completion of the building work completed and adherence to building regs etc. They claim that the work was inspected during the work being done. But the completion was not certified. 

Our conveyancing solicitor has told us that without certification (now retrospective) that he will have to detail this in the report to our lender and that they will almost certainly not provide our mortgage. 

Q1: If the seller were to apply for inspection and certification now, can this only be done by the local authority? Or can it be done privately?

Q2: How long will inspection and certification take? 

Q3: If the seller refuses to have this inspection done, what are our options to try and progress this (we worry they may pull out of their sale to us and opt for a cash buyer, of which there was one who made an offer almost as good as ours - this is an extremely sought after property). 

Q4: If the seller does get an inspection but the certification is refused - what are our options then? If remedial work needs to be completed? 

Any guidance, advice etc would be much appreciated. 

Please consider that losing the opportunity to buy this house is the last thing that we want and we would be prepared for future spend or compromise financially in order to secure it. 

Slithery

Revolverocelot said:

Our conveyancing solicitor has told us that without certification (now retrospective) that he will have to detail this in the report to our lender and that they will almost certainly not provide our mortgage.

Your solicitor is talking rubbish. The council legally can't take any action after this long.

Revolverocelot said:

Q1: If the seller were to apply for inspection and certification now, can this only be done by the local authority? Or can it be done privately?

Either, but as it would have to be brought up to modern standards it's not going to happen. Forget about this as an option.

Revolverocelot said:

Q2: How long will inspection and certification take?

As above, it's not going to happen.

Revolverocelot said:

Q3: If the seller refuses to have this inspection done, what are our options to try and progress this (we worry they may pull out of their sale to us and opt for a cash buyer, of which there was one who made an offer almost as good as ours - this is an extremely sought after property)

Just ignore it and carry on with the purchase at the price you originally agreed. I'm guessing that you haven't seen building regs for the original property either but for some reason that doesn't bother you?

Revolverocelot said:

Q4: If the seller does get an inspection but the certification is refused - what are our options then? If remedial work needs to be completed?

They're not going to get one. If any works are needed after you move in then you pay for them yourself just like any other homeowner.

Revolverocelot

@ slithery 

the risk is not enforcement action from the council, the risk is the extension having issues after we buy and any problems caused meaning it would be difficult for the lender to get their money back should we not be able to pay our mortgage and they have to sell it. 

That’s the upshot, the solicitor is saying that once he reports this to our lender. They won’t lend against this property without the assurances that the certificate would offer. 

Therefore your suggestion to carry on with the purchase anyway, I do t see how we could as our solicitor is effectively saying that our mortgage offer would be withdrawn for this property 

user1977

What does the extension comprise, and what's actually wrong with it other than it lacking the bit of paper saying the council signed it off? What has your surveyor said about it?

Revolverocelot

Surveyor has comeback with no concerns. There is nothing to report from them. The standard of the work generally on the entirety of the house seems to be very high. It is a bungalow extended into a dormer first floor. 

My concern is that we dealing with an overly cautious conveyancing solicitor. However he is boldly stating that he would not assure our lender without this certification. 

But we are near the end of the process. And if we have to go with another solicitor then we start the whole process again with the risk of receiving the same outcome. 

We don’t know where to go with this. Our solicitor is effectively saying it is certification or the deal is over. 

user1977

I would suggest you invite him to seek instructions from the lender and take it from there. You may wish to consider complaining about the absurd advice he's offering you and the lender.

As queried above, how old is the rest of the house, and what certification does that have?

Mahsroh

We recently bought a house which had an extension without building regs sign off. Initially I pushed back but in the end following advice from my conveyancer and a surveyor we proceeded anyway but the vendors provided an indemnity policy. The extension is newer than 15 years too. Obviously I'm not privy to  the day to day correspondence between my conveyancer and the lender but it wasn't even remotely an issue for the lender as far as I'm aware. 

I agree it seems like your conveyancer is being overly cautious. I can't imagine your lender having an issue with it on a 15 year old extension.

One thing I will say is that when I initially pushed back and tried to get the vendors to get retrospective sign off, I was advised by my conveyancer that doing so would invalidate any indemnity policy. Just something to bear in mind.  

lucypilates

 you should ask the vendors to purchase an indemnity policy to cover this - it’s fairly common - but as previously mentioned, you will need to have NOT informed anyone official about the lack of one … also make the vendors pay for it because it’s their fault they’re in this position … and they will find this is an issue with all buyers .. even cash buyers because most cash buyers will want security against their investment too.

Revolverocelot

lucypilates said:

 you should ask the vendors to purchase an indemnity policy to cover this - it’s fairly common - but as previously mentioned, you will need to have NOT informed anyone official about the lack of one … also make the vendors pay for it because it’s their fault they’re in this position … and they will find this is an issue with all buyers .. even cash buyers because most cash buyers will want security against their investment too.

An indemnity policy is not an option as the local council are already aware as a result of checks done by our conveyancing solicitor. They have placed a contravention notice on the property. 

The likelihood of any enforcement action is zero as the building work is 15 years old. 

However our main issue is that our solicitor is saying that he cannot confirm to the lender that their security is not affected by this issue. And therefore he is saying upon his advice to them, that they won’t give us our mortgage. 

What can we do?

lucypilates

What about a private full on intrusive survey to satisfy you that the building works is sound ? 

Your solicitor seems to be giving you a problem without suggesting a solution … I’d put it back on the solicitor to ask what he wants you/the vendor to do … and potentially, I would pay to speak with another solicitor to ask what their take on the situation is .. 

kingstreet

Ask your lender for its view on the extension without certification. Then you'll know if your solicitor's guess is accurate.