Building Regulations - No Completion Certificate

sal-123

We purchased a brand new build in 2002, which was built by a local building company and one of 10 houses. We recently put it up for sale, on the day we were due to exchange (we were going to complete two days later, so all packed and ready to go) our buyers solicitors requested a copy of our building regulations certificate - our solicitor then spoke to the local council and found out there was no completion certificate ever issued, although we have the NHBC certificate. My solicitor arranged for the Building Control Surveyor to come to do the final inspection a couple of days later, only to be told we cannot have a certificate as our three bedroom windows opening are 75mm above the maximum height of 1100mm from floor level, our buyers have now pulled out because they needed a quick completion and are not happy to purchase without a certificate.

We have since found out that 8 of the 10 houses built never had these certificates and it appears all the houses have windows over this height, however I am yet to find out if the two that have been signed off do....

I don't know what to do next, we will now probably lose our house we wanted to buy and have to pay solicitors fees and had already paid for a full survey of our new house. I have spoken to the solicitors who acted for me on my purchase in 2002 (although my solicitor is no longer there and they have merged) and they have checked my file and say there is nothing in my file about building reg's, so presumably my solicitor never asked for them, so does anyone know if they are they responsible or is the builder for not getting it built to building regulations. Do I have a case against my builder or solicitor, can I get my money back I have lost and have the windows corrected?

The Building Control Surveyor suggested a permanent step below each window as a solution, but I see this as more of a safety hazard than the windows being an additional 75mm higher, also the rooms are not that big so a step would put potential buyers off.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks

SquatNow

If ti's a detatched house you could knock it down and sell it as building land. you'de still make a profit over what you paid for it.

cats!

I would contact the solicitor who did the conveyancing (please tell me you didn't use the developers "preferred" legal people?!).

The solicitor should write to the developer pointing out the defect and the fact that you have suffered a financial "loss" (i.e. couldn't move) because of the defect.

One thing though, it is also caveat emptor. You should also have checked that all the paperwork was in order, particularly if the property is mortgaged!

sal-123

cats! wrote: »

I would contact the solicitor who did the conveyancing (please tell me you didn't use the developers "preferred" legal people?!).

The solicitor should write to the developer pointing out the defect and the fact that you have suffered a financial "loss" (i.e. couldn't move) because of the defect.

One thing though, it is also caveat emptor. You should also have checked that all the paperwork was in order, particularly if the property is mortgaged!

Hi thanks for your advice. No we didnt use the developers preferred legal people. I left it up to my solicitor to check the paperwork, I will know not to, next time........I have tracked the company down, as they have moved and merged with another solicitors, my solicitor is no longer there though, although they have checked my paperwork and I received a copy of a couple of letters this morning, these are from the developers solicitors to mine mentioning building regulations "it will be for our client to satisfy Building control and we are confident that in both cases they have" and our client is still finalising matters with regard to Building Regulation Approval, it will be available before completion". But obviously it never was.

The property is mortgaged, infact we remortgaged with another company as well, so I'm surprised we got a mortgage without it.

snarffie

sal-123 wrote: »

We purchased a brand new build in 2002, which was built by a local building company and one of 10 houses. We recently put it up for sale, on the day we were due to exchange (we were going to complete two days later, so all packed and ready to go) our buyers solicitors requested a copy of our building regulations certificate - our solicitor then spoke to the local council and found out there was no completion certificate ever issued, although we have the NHBC certificate. My solicitor arranged for the Building Control Surveyor to come to do the final inspection a couple of days later, only to be told we cannot have a certificate as our three bedroom windows opening are 75mm above the maximum height of 1100mm from floor level, our buyers have now pulled out because they needed a quick completion and are not happy to purchase without a certificate.

We have since found out that 8 of the 10 houses built never had these certificates and it appears all the houses have windows over this height, however I am yet to find out if the two that have been signed off do....

I don't know what to do next, we will now probably lose our house we wanted to buy and have to pay solicitors fees and had already paid for a full survey of our new house. I have spoken to the solicitors who acted for me on my purchase in 2002 (although my solicitor is no longer there and they have merged) and they have checked my file and say there is nothing in my file about building reg's, so presumably my solicitor never asked for them, so does anyone know if they are they responsible or is the builder for not getting it built to building regulations. Do I have a case against my builder or solicitor, can I get my money back I have lost and have the windows corrected?

The Building Control Surveyor suggested a permanent step below each window as a solution, but I see this as more of a safety hazard than the windows being an additional 75mm higher, also the rooms are not that big so a step would put potential buyers off.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Presumably, the step needs to be 75mm high, so put in the step. Make it easily removable.

Get Building Regs Approval.

Put a plant on it or something when you have viewings, or remove the step completely.

Job done?

chappers

That is one way around it the correct way would be to claim on the NHBC warranty and get the whole thing corrected.
Your solicitor has definitely been negligent particularly with his responsibilities towards your lender and particularly in light of the fact that the solicitors had been in communication on this matter.
With regards to apportioning blame and any compensation the blame probably lies somewhere halfway between your solicitor and the builder.
Basically I think you have three options to get BC to enforce compliance on the builder, to build the step as per BC recommendations , or to claim under the NHBC warranty.The NHBC would have an obligation to ensure that the building adheres to building regulations.
Now either way it's going to be a while before you get approval.

Doozergirl

I'm with chappers.

AFAIK, if a builder has NHBC cover, they have regular inspections and sign off is often not carried out by the local council's Building Control department. The builder pays a lot of money to NHBC for the guarantee.

You need to make a call to NHBC as they often guarantee building regs issues. It seems to be an additional part of the policy which the builder pays for on top of structural integrity so it might be that if they hadn't paid for the building regs section that you are only covered for actual damage caused by defects, not the inability of the builder to meet regs.

Do you have legal cover with your home insurance? If NHBC fails, I'd be straight on to them. Either NHBC should help you OR your solicitor was negligent by not checking whether sign off was being made by NHBC or LA Building Control and ensuring sign off had actually happened. That must be pretty basic stuff for a new build!

You have to rectify this situation yourself now because the opportunity for buying an indemnity policy has gone once you talk to the LA.

Rather than putting in a step which would be structurally a nightmare, I'd lift the windows if I had to. Or perhaps Building Control could be persuaded to write to say that they won't be seeking you to rectify the issue? Such a pain that the window issue isn't a big one but it prevented sign off on the entire house :wall: