Supporting wall

daisydoolittle101

Hi there  

wondering if I can have some help. Can you sell a house if there has been work done (beam put in) if there’s no work signed off? 

user1977

There's no fundamental reason why you can't. The buyers might ask questions about it, of course.

Some more information about why you're asking might help you get the advice you want!

pramsay13

You can sell anything you want. It might cause issues for a buyer and they might want the work inspected, or it might cause problems getting a mortgage but nothing is insurmountable.
Are you selling or buying?

daisydoolittle101

Thanks so much for coming back.

We are not planning to sell as of yet. However, the work we have had done has not been “professionally signed off” with building regs so I was more curious to know what could be affected in the future and how we could get around it? 

stuart45

If it was done after 1985 you can apply for a Building regularisation certificate as long as the work meets the regs. Alternatively you can leave it until you sell and see what the buyers say. An indemnity policy might be accepted. Some buyers are put off buying a house when structural work has been carried out without going through Building Control.

staffie1

stuart45 said:

If it was done after 1985 you can apply for a Building regularisation certificate as long as the work meets the regs. Alternatively you can leave it until you sell and see what the buyers say. An indemnity policy might be accepted. Some buyers are put off buying a house when structural work has been carried out without going through Building Control.

I bought a house where a supporting wall had been removed without building regs - but not before I got the seller to have the work inspected and provided regularisation from the council. With the best will in the world, an indemnity policy would have been no good to me had the bedroom wall come down on top of me while I was in the kitchen.

daivid

There is also the question of how well it has been done for your own piece of mind; has the correct beam been used? Were supports appropriate? Has the beam been properly fire protected? If you are sure of these then you could wait and see what happens if/when you try to sell, if you have doubts regularisation may put your mind at rest as well as removing a stumbling block from any potential sale.

johnhenstock

Dud you at least get structural drawings?

daisydoolittle101

Sadly not… I guess I just want to know where I stand legally.

it has been put in “properly” and I’m confident with this. Just not been arranged professionally or signed off…

johnhenstock

you can sell, of course you can, but question MIGHT arise IF the buyers suspect structural work has been carried out. the fact that it's been done without building control sign off is not the main issue. the fact that you didn't get structural drawings is what would make me run.

when you take shortcuts with stuff that can literally kill you, I wonder what else you take shortcuts with..

ProDave

I don't think you have said yet WHEN it was done?