Local Authority completion certificate & buildings insurance

hillman8364

Hello there

New to the forum and would appreciate some advice please. 

[1] Buying a house in England

[2] Rear extension & knock through done 2010

[3] Full structural survey shows no current issues

[4] Surveyor suspects not all details comply with the building regs at that time.  Obtain the completion certificate to confirm these details were acceptable at the time.

[4] There was Building Control unconditional approval (ref number exists)

[5] Seller remembers visit(s) from building control

[6] But solicitor search reveals no completion certificate

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It’s possible the missing certificate was an oversight, or was not needed (have read not all cases required the Local Authority to issue completion certificates).

I understand that as a buyer I’m limited in what I can request myself, so whether the final visit can be retrospectively arranged - and it will pass - and the certificate issued is unknown at this stage.

What does this mean for me?  Really struggling to make sense of it, but I believe:

[a] Enforcement (and indemnity insurance) isn’t a relevant concern as it’s beyond the time anything could be legally enforced.

[b] Buildings insurance is a concern; have read stories that whilst most “mainstream” insurers do not ask about building regs / completion certificates when buying insurance, it can invalidate a claim if it’s then revealed there is no completion certificate.

I cannot substantiate these stories, so have tested by asking several “mainstream” insurers today, who categorically stated they cannot insure without the completion certificate.

This feels a huge grey area and there must be thousands of homes that this scenario would apply to.

Please does anyone have any experience of this?  Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you!

(Removed by Forum Team)

user1977

Insurers cannot wriggle out of a claim because of a technicality which they hadn't even asked you about on their proposal form. The chances are that you're talking to people who don't really understand what a completion certificate is, but have gained the impression from your conversation that it's vital, so they're playing safe by saying they'd need it.

A vast proportion of buildings have had some sort of undocumented work carried out to them. It doesn't mean they're uninsurable or that insurers would even care.

But bear in mind that standard buildings insurance doesn't cover you for fixing substandard work, whether or not a completion certificate was issued.