Am getting very concerned that the owners of a property we have had an offer accepted on didn't get the loft conversion (two rooms and a shower room) signed off for building regs. We are cash buyers so no need for a mortgage. The property was marketed as a 4 bedroom property with two additional loft rooms (although one was very clearly set up as an additional bedroom), and we are happy with the price agreed on. We have not yet had a survey done on the property, but the current structure of the work isn't really our main concern, our concerns are:
- Although we can ask the vendors to obtain Indemnity Insurance, this will only cover us for any costs relating to enforcement by the council after realising that Building Regs weren't signed off and can only be obtained if the Council are not already aware that Building Regs haven't been signed off. When we sell the property we will probably have to provide the same indemnity insurance to our buyers in order for them to get a mortgage and there is always a small risk that the council are made aware of the problem and therefore indemnity insurance is not possible and potential buyers have a mortgage refused.
- Will we have issues with Building Insurance, e.g. if anything happened to the structure that caused damage either to the loft conversion or elsewhere in the property could they refuse the claim, potentially leaving us with huge repair bills
- We are obviously concerned about this, and therefore any potential buyers we may have in years to come will also have the same issues, possibly devaluing the property or making it difficult to sell
- We don't think the buyer is being entirely truthful as to why Building Regs weren't signed off. The work was done in 2007, just as Building Regs changed, so we do think that to have the work done retrospectively to comply with Building Regs now would cost a fortune and so that wouldn't be an option either for the vendors to put in place now or for us in the future
- Surely the new shower room would have needed to be signed off by Building Regs
What is everyone’s thoughts on this, are we being over cautious or should we walk away now before spending any more money on the purchase.