Building Regulations problem

claire484

Hi,

I'm a FTB and looking for some advice regarding a house I am in the process of purchasing. The house had a load bearing wall taken down in 2006, and we have been advised by our solicitors that building regulations were not obtained for this We are also being advised that the sellers are offering us indemnity insurance to cover this, however we have no idea of how good the workmanship is.

Can anyone offer any advice as to what we should do? Thanks!

Cazza

Have you had your mortgage survey done yet? Try talking to the surveyor for their opinion. Depending on their reaction, it's worth possibly getting a structural engineer round to look at the situation and give you their recommendations. If there's work that needs doing, you can always go back to the vendor and tell them you'll proceed, as long as they get any neccessary works done at their expense. This way, you should also be able to get building regs approval too. It worked when I bought my flat!

claire484

Thanks for the advice. We've had our survey done, the surveyor suggested we needed to get hold of the building regs certificate, but that's all. We're waiting for the sellers (who happen to be a building company who took this house as part exchange) to get back in contact with us, as we would like a retrospective building regs certificate. We've already had some money taken off for works that need doing too.

pixelchick10

We had the same situation when we bought this house - we took the indemnity insurance. The knock-though obviously looked fine -- so we weren't worried about the standard of construction. Four years on no problems at all. I wouldn't be too worried by this ...

claire484

Just an quick update, and a question.

We finally got the building company to agree to letting us have a structural surveyor come in to look at it (at our cost), and it turns out that there is no RSJ- the wall is only being supported by floor joists and the bricks are already starting to move. The surveyor said it was unstable, could fall down, and needs an RSJ putting in. Luckily for us the building company have agreed to pay for an RSJ to be put in, but only if we can find a builder to do it.

Am I right in understanding that this work will require building regs? As a FTB I have no idea as to how this should proceed now, do we find a builder and ask them to sort out the relevant building regs paperwork?

Thanks in advance,

Claire

adaze

:eek:

Yes it will require Building Regs!

If you use a small local builder then you can pay BC yourself, all the BC will do is turn up check the RSJ is the correct size for the job, check the workmapship is of sound quality and thats it. If you contact BC they may well be able to tell you what size RSJ you will need, if not you will need a structural engineer to calculate the loads the RSJ will need to support. Alternatively you could go for a builder that can sort it all out for you, but you might pay more for that.

If the bricks are starting to sink, did the surveyor check the roof etc.. that is using that wall for support? If not, get them back to check that there is no further damage to the rest of the wall/ roof etc..

claire484

Thanks, the roof is OK luckily! Just trying to get some quotes now

woodbutcher_2

In my experience the BCO will not tell you what size RSJ you need but will pass the buck and make you have structural calcs done which adds considerably to the cost.I think Catnic make some box lintols that can be used in all loading situations which may negate the need for calcs,although i am not 100% sure of this.Worth checking the catnic website for.

claire484

Thanks, luckily we don't have to pay for this, sounds like it could get very expensive!