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!

tbs624

Personally I’d walk away. AFAIAA the indemnity will only protect you against action being taken by the Council’s Building Regs.

You would need to have a structural engineer in to survey the house and probably lift floorboarding & cut through plasterboard to check what had actually been put in place in the way of support structures. The issue would have to be disclosed to your buildings insurance company too.

Is it detached or are there likely to be party wall issues as well?

Is the price you’re paying a fair reflection on the potential difficulties with this property?

silvercar

Ask your surveyor his opinion.

chappers

Give us abit more information.
Is it a knock through between two rooms, how wide is the span, did the current owner do the work if so does he know what size the steel(assuming there is one as it has stayed up since 2006) how many storeys above the beam.
Measure from the ceiling to the underside of the boxing in and that will give an indication of the size of beam used and I could probably tell you if the beam is sufficient.

Though to be honest if there is no sign of either cracking above, of sagging floors etc then it should be fine it's been there since 2006.

The other option is to ask him to get the work signed off by BC it would involve little more than removing some plaster work.

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. My partner and I already decided we won't go with the indemnity insurance, as it offers very little, and the house could potentially be unsafe.

We've already had some money knocked off for other work that needs doing, but I can't see us going ahead with the sale unless we can get the retrospective certificate.

minigirl

I would definitely go with the retrospective BR Certificate. Indemnity Policies are good for some things but when it comes to the structure of the property I would go for the Certificate. With regard to the seller being a Building Company, they probably either didn't raise the query when they did the part-exchange or they just accepted an Indemnity Policy to push it along.

chappers

If they are a building company it shouldn't be too much problem.Pull off some plaster to let the inspector see the size of the beam and maybe the bearing at one end and then replaster it.

claire484

Thanks for the advice. We're hoping to hear from the building company on Monday, so fingers crossed they'll go with the retrospective BR certificate too. I'll let you know how we've got on!

poppysarah

You need to know it's safe and that it's been done properly.
I wouldn't settle for anything less than the retrospective BR certificate either.

It may not be the only issue that should be picked up.

clutton_2

i would not trust the building companies view - they want you to buy the house form them - get your own structural surveyor in and get the building companies permissoin to take a bit of plaster off to check it out thoroughly

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