Seeking Advice on Property Purchase Issues - lack of building reg

DreamHouse1

I am a first-time buyer (FTB) and we're about to exchange contracts on a property, but we've realized a few issues:

1. The kitchen was extended in 2019 by removing a wall, but there is no building regulation certificate.
2. The garage was converted to a room in 2019, also without planning and building regulation certificates.

I am concerned about the lack of these certificates. Our surveyor has revealed some damp in the ceiling of the extended area, which may be due to a bathroom above it. He mentioned that he cannot confirm the quality of the construction and that a structural survey wouldn't help much since he cannot dig into the foundation to verify if standards were followed.

The vendor has reduced the asking price by £20k to address the lack of papers and to fix some rising damp issues and other findings in the survey.

Here are my main concerns:

1. Will it be very hard to sell in the future due to the lack of building regulation certificates?
2. Should I proceed with the purchase or pull back?

For context, the original asking price was £560k, and they've agreed to reduce it to £540k. A similar house next to ours, without the extension, sold for £530k a few months ago.

Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

Bookworm105

obviously the next buyer will have the same concerns if you were the one trying to sell it to them

only you (and your lender) can decide what level of risk you are willing to accept now that the surveyor has flagged the issue on the record

the council has "extra power" nowadays..
Building Safety: extension of enforcement for non-compliance with building regulations - Mills & Reeve (mills-reeve.com)

DreamHouse1

Attached the floorplan the property and side property without the extention

DreamHouse1

Bookworm105 said:

obviously the next buyer will have the same concerns if you were the one trying to sell it to them

only you (and your lender) can decide what level of risk you are willing to accept now that the surveyor has flagged the issue on the record

I agree the buyer will have the same concern as me. but I am interested in knowing is this a big issue. Will the property be unsellable? I know as we are offered some reduction may be in future I will be asked some reduction but I am interested to know the economics. Will the value of the property  appreciate and we can see some profits let's say after 5yrs  

silvercar

A full structural survey would be my minimum requirement. I would want to know that there is no evidence of problems. It is 5 years old (does the seller have proof of the date?) so I would want reassurance that there is no visible signs of problems.

it may be that it would come under permitted development, therefore not need planning. The lack of building regs is more of a concern. If they built to standard, why didn't they get it certified?

DreamHouse1

silvercar said:

A full structural survey would be my minimum requirement. I would want to know that there is no evidence of problems. It is 5 years old (does the seller have proof of the date?) so I would want reassurance that there is no visible signs of problems.

it may be that it would come under permitted development, therefore not need planning. The lack of building regs is more of a concern. If they built to standard, why didn't they get it certified?

They said they don't want to get certified as the vendor is out of the country now

propertyrental

Bookworm105 said:

obviously the next buyer will have the same concerns if you were the one trying to sell it to them

only you (and your lender) can decide what level of risk you are willing to accept now that the surveyor has flagged the issue on the record

the council has "extra power" nowadays..
Building Safety: extension of enforcement for non-compliance with building regulations - Mills & Reeve (mills-reeve.com)

Under the old rules I would have said ignore the lack of certs but check quality of work.

Having seen bookworm105's link above, I'd be much more concerned.