Building regs - Noddy, anyone?

[kitsmummy]

Three years ago we moved into this house and had a lot of work done to it - wall taken down in the kitchen breakfast room and a steel put in, french doors put in and an understairs toilet etc. At the time I asked our builder if we needed building regs approval and he said something along the lines of we shouldn't need it if we're staying at the house for a certain number of years, or something like that. At the time I did wonder if he was bluffing so we didn't have any hold ups to the work, but I didn't question it any further.

Now 3 years on we've put it on the market and have accepted an offer. On filling in the solicitors forms it asks if we've had any building work done and I don't know what to answer. If I say yes, will this then get questioned further and will we have to get retrospective approval from building regs, or will it not be a problem? Not that it really makes a difference, but the house looks great and we've had no problems at all, but I don't know if this has the potential to really hold things up?

thanks

well. your builder was lying. but there we go. i suppose you can say no and just hope the solictor doesnt ask any further questions.

Say yes, they will find out. At our old house our solicitor found out that the extension had no planning permission or building regs. It was all applied for in retrospect by the owners and it was all fine. Didn't hold anything up, we went from making an offer to to moving in in 8 weeks.

If you lie you can be SUED in the future.

Would you want to buy a house to find the owner had lied?

Put wheels in motion now, you probably need building regs so ask for retrospective building regs, we bought our last house after they applied for retrospective building regs. Like rebl it didn't hold up the sale at all.

Your builder could of done the work under a Building Notice which means that you havent got to send in the plans just he self certifies that the work he is completing meets the current legisalation.

In particular in steel beams should have engineers calculations to confirm the loading is correct. And this may has consequences. I would assume that the patio doors are double glazed so thats fine.

The toilet situ isnt much of a problem. I assume that a vent was positioned to external air?

My builder also told me that regs were not needed for minor building work.Apparently a lot of builders don't bother for small jobs[rightly or wrongly].The person buying can pay a small amount in insurance to cover any future problems .I think my sister paid arround 28 pounds when buying a 3 bedroomed house that had had some work done.Or alternatively you can have it done retrospectively which will definately cost more and is probably only worth it if you are having more building work done.Seek advice from your solicitor.

well a wall and steel is not exactly minor work.....

Thanks for all your advice everyone. I'm doing it by the book and getting it checked out and trying to get retrospective building regs. I could murder the bloody builder though

Yes ,it also happened to me and i am now getting it done retrospectively along with current work.I would never use the original builder again.But speaking to other builders, jobs like pulling down walls and putting up beams are considered 'minor' jobs and this is fairly common.