Estate Agents / Seller Lying about Property & No Building Regulations - HELP!

UnderOffer

It’s possible the property has been on the market for a year, because similar buyers like you offered then discovered all these issues and subsequently withdrew. 

I’d really consider walking away, if you only have 1 parking space where can you park a second car? 

The changes to the property sound extensive and not having a toilet plumbed in is very strange, are you sure there is access to drainage/plumbing? 

pretamang

it sounds like a disaster to me - walk away.
I've been there when you find just the right place and then spend money to find out all is not right.

FreeBear

CSI_Yorkshire said:

FreeBear said:

johnhenstock said:

Extensions, alterations to srructural walls and other modifications (new barhroom) are normal and nothing to be afraid of, but these things are always done by a professional. I can understand opening up a living room wall without building control sign off, as long as structural drawings are available, but electrics without a certificate? That’s a botched job.

Quite a few alterations & extensions have been done on a DIY basis without the involvement of "professionals". Then there numerous building projects that been done by "professionals" that have turned out to be right bodge jobs. The person doing the work is no guarantee of a quality job.

As for electrical work without a certificate - Piffle.

I think an EIC has been a legal requirement for notifiable work for quite some time.  I could be wrong, but mid 2000s perhaps?

Notifiable works such as a new consumer unit, a full rewire, or a new circuit, yes. That type of work should be signed off. But a fused spur, or replacement sockets/switches, no.

johnhenstock said:

FreeBear said:

johnhenstock said:

Extensions, alterations to srructural walls and other modifications (new barhroom) are normal and nothing to be afraid of, but these things are always done by a professional. I can understand opening up a living room wall without building control sign off, as long as structural drawings are available, but electrics without a certificate? That’s a botched job.

Quite a few alterations & extensions have been done on a DIY basis without the involvement of "professionals". Then there numerous building projects that been done by "professionals" that have turned out to be right bodge jobs. The person doing the work is no guarantee of a quality job.

As for electrical work without a certificate - Piffle.

You’re clearly clueless.

69 posts before getting added to the ignore list - Well done laddie.

johnhenstock

FreeBear said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

FreeBear said:

johnhenstock said:

Extensions, alterations to srructural walls and other modifications (new barhroom) are normal and nothing to be afraid of, but these things are always done by a professional. I can understand opening up a living room wall without building control sign off, as long as structural drawings are available, but electrics without a certificate? That’s a botched job.

Quite a few alterations & extensions have been done on a DIY basis without the involvement of "professionals". Then there numerous building projects that been done by "professionals" that have turned out to be right bodge jobs. The person doing the work is no guarantee of a quality job.

As for electrical work without a certificate - Piffle.

I think an EIC has been a legal requirement for notifiable work for quite some time.  I could be wrong, but mid 2000s perhaps?

Notifiable works such as a new consumer unit, a full rewire, or a new circuit, yes. That type of work should be signed off. But a fused spur, or replacement sockets/switches, no.

johnhenstock said:

FreeBear said:

johnhenstock said:

Extensions, alterations to srructural walls and other modifications (new barhroom) are normal and nothing to be afraid of, but these things are always done by a professional. I can understand opening up a living room wall without building control sign off, as long as structural drawings are available, but electrics without a certificate? That’s a botched job.

Quite a few alterations & extensions have been done on a DIY basis without the involvement of "professionals". Then there numerous building projects that been done by "professionals" that have turned out to be right bodge jobs. The person doing the work is no guarantee of a quality job.

As for electrical work without a certificate - Piffle.

You’re clearly clueless.

69 posts before getting added to the ignore list - Well done laddie.

"laddie", an entire extension and a toilet downstairs without any new circuits or rewiring? you're delusional, ignore as much as you want.

CSI_Yorkshire

FreeBear said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

FreeBear said:

johnhenstock said:

Extensions, alterations to srructural walls and other modifications (new barhroom) are normal and nothing to be afraid of, but these things are always done by a professional. I can understand opening up a living room wall without building control sign off, as long as structural drawings are available, but electrics without a certificate? That’s a botched job.

Quite a few alterations & extensions have been done on a DIY basis without the involvement of "professionals". Then there numerous building projects that been done by "professionals" that have turned out to be right bodge jobs. The person doing the work is no guarantee of a quality job.

As for electrical work without a certificate - Piffle.

I think an EIC has been a legal requirement for notifiable work for quite some time.  I could be wrong, but mid 2000s perhaps?

Notifiable works such as a new consumer unit, a full rewire, or a new circuit, yes. That type of work should be signed off. But a fused spur, or replacement sockets/switches, no.

I assumed that the scope of works described by the OP would be sufficient to be notifiable, it sounded like some substantial renovations had been done, much beyond a simple fused spur or replacing a socket.

Having re-read the post, they actually don't say how much electrical work would be done, so I suppose that's just speculation.

Gavin83

johnhenstock said:

FreeBear said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

FreeBear said:

johnhenstock said:

Extensions, alterations to srructural walls and other modifications (new barhroom) are normal and nothing to be afraid of, but these things are always done by a professional. I can understand opening up a living room wall without building control sign off, as long as structural drawings are available, but electrics without a certificate? That’s a botched job.

Quite a few alterations & extensions have been done on a DIY basis without the involvement of "professionals". Then there numerous building projects that been done by "professionals" that have turned out to be right bodge jobs. The person doing the work is no guarantee of a quality job.

As for electrical work without a certificate - Piffle.

I think an EIC has been a legal requirement for notifiable work for quite some time.  I could be wrong, but mid 2000s perhaps?

Notifiable works such as a new consumer unit, a full rewire, or a new circuit, yes. That type of work should be signed off. But a fused spur, or replacement sockets/switches, no.

johnhenstock said:

FreeBear said:

johnhenstock said:

Extensions, alterations to srructural walls and other modifications (new barhroom) are normal and nothing to be afraid of, but these things are always done by a professional. I can understand opening up a living room wall without building control sign off, as long as structural drawings are available, but electrics without a certificate? That’s a botched job.

Quite a few alterations & extensions have been done on a DIY basis without the involvement of "professionals". Then there numerous building projects that been done by "professionals" that have turned out to be right bodge jobs. The person doing the work is no guarantee of a quality job.

As for electrical work without a certificate - Piffle.

You’re clearly clueless.

69 posts before getting added to the ignore list - Well done laddie.

"laddie", an entire extension and a toilet downstairs without any new circuits or rewiring? you're delusional, ignore as much as you want.

There's no mention of an extension anywhere in the original post and a bathroom will almost certainly be connected to an existing circuit, unless there's something like an electric shower which might use it's own. A full rewire in notifiable but adding extra cables onto an existing circuit isn't. If it isn't notifiable there's no requirement to get an electrical certificate and there's a surprising amount you can DIY before it becomes notifiable. So yes, I think there's a reasonable chance nothing the vendor has done electrically requires a certificate.

I believe refitting an existing bathroom isn't something building control would be interested in, although they'll need to be informed if you're fitting something entirely new. For removing walls it'll depend on the wall in question. Ultimately they probably don't need as many certificates/sign offs as the OP thinks, although there will certainly be some of it which should have been run by the council.

Also there's very little work that has to be done by a professional. Almost everything is DIYable. There are some extremely competent DIYers out there and similarly some poor professionals. Or even people who were professionals but no longer have the relevant trade body membership. Certainly in my house the worst jobs are those done by the professionals and my DIY is better. Ultimately whoever done the work is irrelevant, the quality is always a gamble.

NorfolkCanary

johnhenstock said:
"laddie", an entire extension and a toilet downstairs without any new circuits or rewiring? you're delusional, ignore as much as you want.

Where did the extension come from?
There appears to be a DIY move of the bathroom, so unless we know otherwise assume plumbing and possibly heating pipes. There's no mention of additional circuits being added, assumption being the pre-existing circuits would be used, i.e. spurred. Obviously if one isn't competent then a electrician should be undertaking the works, however.... welcome to DIY culture.

Obviously the removal of walls could cause concern, ideally you'd already have drawings, structural calcs for extra beams etc, detailing what the changes were.
If it's fairly modern build there's potentially plans around from the original builder or on the council planning site/office. Can be used to compare previous and existing.

In terms of moving forward it depends on what else fits the budget locally. You could consider either a full structural report or RICS level 3.
Given the "flickering lights" suggest an electrical inspection/report. Whether the seller would pay for these is probably unlikely.
In terms of the non-plumbed toilet is there any drainage pipework nearby? Can a pipe be routed outside, to an existing stack vent or foul sewer network?

It doesn't sound terrible, subject to detailed survey, however sounds like as a purchaser you'd need to be prepared to be surprised and put in some extra funds for repairs/finishing. That would also apply to many of the UK's housing stock.

Slinky

Before you go down the route of shelling out for any more surveys, I think that you need to assess whether the vendor is likely to accept any reduced offer that you may make. It sounds as though there may be a divorce needing paying for, with money being split between two of them and onward lives to make for themselves. If she or he is convinced their property is worth their asking price, which they managed to persuade you to offer, they may not accept any revised offer, in which case paying for more surveys is going to be more money down the drain.

When push comes to shove, how much do you really want THIS property with all its problems, and only one parking space, as opposed to any other which you may yet find?