HELP-New roof has been fitted & building control wont sign off-

as1983

Hi,
First time poster here and in a very worrying position so looking for advice on what we should do next.

We are selling our house and have accepted an offer from a cash buyer, the person we are buying a house from isn't in a chain so could be moving very quickly! 
We live in an older property so before we put house on market we decided to do some work- new windows and front door and replace roof as the previous was leaking ALOT plus it had the old expandable foam which lenders wont touch nowadays so wanted to get it removed and replaced. The roofer told us we needed to replace the joist as it was rotting so this was replaced like for like along with tiles.We have a 10 guarantee from roofing company. And since new roof we have had a lot of bad weather and no issues what so ever!!!

We are in the long process of uploading all of the documents to the solicitor and so organised for someone to come and do EPC & for building control to come and give sign off and provide a certificate.

However we had a guy come from Devon Build Control yesterday who said "he isn't confident in the roof" and we should get advice from a surveyor or structural engineer and implied we may need the roof removed and re fitted!! This cost us £400 for this news. So that would mean £10k down the drain along with another £10k we would need to find plus the risk of losing our buyer and house we are buying as this would all time time doing...

My partner spoke to Devon Build Control this morning to confirm exactly what they need as this wasn't made clear when they visited and they have asked for a surveyor to confirm: the structural integrity of the roof as well as reviewing the insulation.(NO INSULATION WAS CHANGED OR REMOVED)

We are now speaking to various people and will hopefully get this sorted out and get signed off but has anyone been in a similar situation, can one opinion differ to the next in terms of the above, any advice on what we can do if the worse scenario plays out? I have read about Indemnity Insurance, is this something that we could offer to seller if/when it comes up in their own survey or do we need to mention it before?

HELP


Thanks 

BarelySentientAI

You can't get indemnity insurance for something that the party likely to take action is already aware about.

The answer is to get a surveyor to check the roof - just as the council have said.  Until that happens, you won't know if it is a big problem or not.

Do you think a buyer is going to want to purchase something where the roof might fall in?  And more importantly, do you still want to be living there without getting it checked?

user1977

Indemnity insurance isn't an option if you've already flagged it up to building control.

Albermarle

We have a 10 guarantee from roofing company. 

Have you informed them of the issue with building control sign off?

born_again

as1983 said:

Hi,
First time poster here and in a very worrying position so looking for advice on what we should do next.

We are selling our house and have accepted an offer from a cash buyer, the person we are buying a house from isn't in a chain so could be moving very quickly! 
We live in an older property so before we put house on market we decided to do some work- new windows and front door and replace roof as the previous was leaking ALOT plus it had the old expandable foam which lenders wont touch nowadays so wanted to get it removed and replaced. The roofer told us we needed to replace the joist as it was rotting so this was replaced like for like along with tiles.We have a 10 guarantee from roofing company. And since new roof we have had a lot of bad weather and no issues what so ever!!!

We are in the long process of uploading all of the documents to the solicitor and so organised for someone to come and do EPC & for building control to come and give sign off and provide a certificate.

However we had a guy come from Devon Build Control yesterday who said "he isn't confident in the roof" and we should get advice from a surveyor or structural engineer and implied we may need the roof removed and re fitted!! This cost us £400 for this news. So that would mean £10k down the drain along with another £10k we would need to find plus the risk of losing our buyer and house we are buying as this would all time time doing...

My partner spoke to Devon Build Control this morning to confirm exactly what they need as this wasn't made clear when they visited and they have asked for a surveyor to confirm: the structural integrity of the roof as well as reviewing the insulation.(NO INSULATION WAS CHANGED OR REMOVED)

We are now speaking to various people and will hopefully get this sorted out and get signed off but has anyone been in a similar situation, can one opinion differ to the next in terms of the above, any advice on what we can do if the worse scenario plays out? I have read about Indemnity Insurance, is this something that we could offer to seller if/when it comes up in their own survey or do we need to mention it before?

HELP


Thanks 

You need to get the builder back.
You have consumer rights against them.

as1983

Albermarle said:

We have a 10 guarantee from roofing company. 

Have you informed them of the issue with building control sign off?

not yet no, we are waiting to hear from a structural engineer who will hopefully come and say it is all fine!

as1983

BarelySentientAI said:

You can't get indemnity insurance for something that the party likely to take action is already aware about.

The answer is to get a surveyor to check the roof - just as the council have said.  Until that happens, you won't know if it is a big problem or not.

Do you think a buyer is going to want to purchase something where the roof might fall in?  And more importantly, do you still want to be living there without getting it checked?

No obviously not, to the last part of your message!! Hence us panicking and worrying about it....

ThisIsWeird

How old is your house, as1983? What type of roof covering was on it before - slate, for example? And what's the new covering material? If you don't know - if the invoice doesn't say - could you post a photo?

And, is this a 'loft' roof - ie exposed rafters on its underside, in a loft space used for nothing more than storage?

as1983

ThisIsWeird said:

How old is your house, as1983? What type of roof covering was on it before - slate, for example? And what's the new covering material? If you don't know - if the invoice doesn't say - could you post a photo?

And, is this a 'loft' roof - ie exposed rafters on its underside, in a loft space used for nothing more than storage?

Hi, 1890 and old tiles were replaced with interlocking tudor tiles and just loft space. purely for storage.

ThisIsWeird

as1983 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

How old is your house, as1983? What type of roof covering was on it before - slate, for example? And what's the new covering material? If you don't know - if the invoice doesn't say - could you post a photo?

And, is this a 'loft' roof - ie exposed rafters on its underside, in a loft space used for nothing more than storage?

Hi, 1890 and old tiles were replaced with interlocking tudor tiles and just loft space. purely for storage.

If it's an open and ventilated loft space, what 'insulation' are they talking about? The only effective insulation you can to your loft is the type that goes over the ceiling, and that has now't to do with the roof. (And ditto the foam that had been applied - zero useful insulation value).

Are these new 'Tudor' tiles heavier, I wonder? Are they 'concrete' tiles? That might be their concern.

I don't think a surveyor will have much trouble determining whether the rafters are strong enough. If the new tiles are too heavy for your roof structure, then I hope you have Legal Protection in your house insurance? It should make any claim against the roofer easier to pursue.

as1983

ThisIsWeird said:

as1983 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

How old is your house, as1983? What type of roof covering was on it before - slate, for example? And what's the new covering material? If you don't know - if the invoice doesn't say - could you post a photo?

And, is this a 'loft' roof - ie exposed rafters on its underside, in a loft space used for nothing more than storage?

Hi, 1890 and old tiles were replaced with interlocking tudor tiles and just loft space. purely for storage.

If it's an open and ventilated loft space, what 'insulation' are they talking about? The only effective insulation you can to your loft is the type that goes over the ceiling, and that has now't to do with the roof. (And ditto the foam that had been applied - zero useful insulation value).

Are these new 'Tudor' tiles heavier, I wonder? Are they 'concrete' tiles? That might be their concern.

I don't think a surveyor will have much trouble determining whether the rafters are strong enough. If the new tiles are too heavy for your roof structure, then I hope you have Legal Protection in your house insurance? It should make any claim against the roofer easier to pursue.

Yes purely on the bottom above ceiling, and sorry the rafters were replaced at same time as the tiles which are concrete.