Help! Missing Building Approval Certificate – Can’t Get EPC to Sell House

RagingRiver967

Hi all,

I’m in a bit of a bind and hoping someone has been through something similar or has advice.

I’m in the process of trying to sell my property and, as required, need to get an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate). However, when the assessor came, they requested proof of building regulations approval for the dormer loft conversion I had done a few years ago. Without this, they can’t finalize the EPC.

Here’s the complication:

• The work was signed off by a private building control inspector, not the council.

• That company has since merged with another firm.

• I can’t find my final approval certificate, and I’ve contacted the merged company, but am still waiting to hear back.

I’ve read that involving the local authority for retrospective approval or a “regularisation” certificate could be an option, but that could invalidate any indemnity insurance I might use later on in the sale process — so I’m cautious about going down that route too quickly.

My questions:

1. What can I do if they don’t have the certificate or can't locate the records?

2. Is there a way to get retrospective approval or a workaround to still sell the property?

3. What’s the worst-case scenario here – could I really be forced to get the work reinspected or redone?

4. Has anyone had success getting an EPC without the cert, or would that be a dealbreaker for most buyers?

Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated!

user1977

Never heard of an EPC surveyor saying they need to see building regs approval for anything - they normally just look at it and make their best guess about method of construction etc.

But separate to that, I would expect buyers to at least ask the question about regs.

RagingRiver967

@user1977

Thanks for your reply!

When the surveyor came yesterday, he saw that I had a kitchen extension, and he was able to proceed without needing the building approval certificate for that. However, he said he can’t continue with the EPC application without the certificate for the dormers. Both the kitchen and the dormers were built after 2012, so I’m not sure why the dormers are being treated differently.

Do you think it’s worth going back to the same surveyor and pushing a bit more, or would you suggest just trying a different assessor altogether? Not sure if he’s being overly cautious or if this is genuinely a red flag from his perspective.

Bigphil1474

The BC Inspector company should have the docs. It'll be difficult to get retro sign off, as they need to see that the dormer was built/installed in line with the Regs at the time - they'd have to do some hacking to get to the gubbings of a 10 year old dormer. 

The EPC isn't a biggy - they don't really tell buyers much, they are just a piece of paper that you have to get. Might put some buyers off, but if you have any other paperwork in relation to the building work, that may help. Dig deep in every nook and cranny and see what you can find. 

RagingRiver967

@Bigphil1474

Thanks for the reply.

The BC Inspector company should have the docs.

The company I used has merged with another company I have emailed them providing reference numbers (found on invoices) so if they've got the docs hopefully they can look those up. 

The EPC isn't a biggy

I've already told my solicitor I'm struggling to get certain docs and to cover this with indemnity insurance but I think the buyers side might be pushing for an EPC - plus I did read online that an EPC is legal requirement before selling - have you heard the same?

user1977

Yes, you'll need the EPC. But as I said, never heard of them being interested in seeing consents etc in order to prepare one.

Bilivino

It sounds like you have what the energy assessor would call a 'Room in roof' (aka a loft conversion). If this is the case then the assessor wants to see Building Control sign off so that he can assign the best construction dateband for it in the EPC assessment for you. This would be the date of the conversion itself. He could proceed without sight of Building Control sign-off, but would have to assign the construction dateband of the main building to it instead which in most cases would lead to a poorer EPC rating at the end. How much poorer would depend on how old the main building is compared to the date of the loft conversion (and the difference in energy performance requirements of building regs between those two years). A percentage of EPCs are audited by the government approved accreditation schemes, and your assessor needs to provide sufficient documentary evidence in his assessment so that if the EPC was audited it would pass. If it were to fail audit, there would be consequences for the assessor's professional accreditation. Your EPC assessor is therefore not a fly-by-night one so that is good news. The dateband is just a setting in the assessment, so with the rest of the assessment already done, he/she could enter all the data and toggle between the two datebands for the room-in-roof and tell you the difference it makes - ie the rating that would result from each databand, while you work out whether its possible to obtain the documenation in the meantime. If the difference in rating is small then it won't matter too much to you, but if the difference is large then it would be worth keep working out what you can do to get any required documentation. I'm a DEA. Hope that helps.

Albermarle

There are numerous threads on the forum, where people are having trouble buying and selling houses with loft conversions with no building regs sign off.
Without the certificate you can not even really call it a bedroom, as there is no proof that it is habitable space ( even though it might look like one). 
So you probably have a problem bigger than just getting an EPC certificate.

eddddy

Albermarle said:

There are numerous threads on the forum, where people are having trouble buying and selling houses with loft conversions with no building regs sign off.
Without the certificate you can not even really call it a bedroom, as there is no proof that it is habitable space ( even though it might look like one). 
So you probably have a problem bigger than just getting an EPC certificate.

I think the cause of those problems is often 'sloppy' estate agents, who don't explain the situation to buyers at the outset.

So part way through conveyancing, the buyer gets a 'scary-sounding surprise' in a report  from their solicitor, mortgage valuer and/or surveyor - about lack of building regs.

Possibly with warnings about worst case scenarios - e.g. enforcement action by the council, roofs/ceiling collapsing.

If the situation had been explained to the buyers before they made their offer, they could have taken it into account when deciding how much to offer. And then they could have had a more informed discussion with their solicitor and surveyor about potential issues.

RagingRiver967

I appreciate all of your responses; they’ve been incredibly helpful for someone new to the process. The building work approval company has also gotten back to me. They’ve located the completion certificates in their archives and are willing to send them to me for a fee. I think that’s probably the best course of action to go with.

RagingRiver967

Albermarle said:

There are numerous threads on the forum, where people are having trouble buying and selling houses with loft conversions with no building regs sign off.
Without the certificate you can not even really call it a bedroom, as there is no proof that it is habitable space ( even though it might look like one). 
So you probably have a problem bigger than just getting an EPC certificate.

@Albermarle

Could the lack of certs delay the sale, or worse, prevent it from going ahead altogether?