building consent when selling

[ClueLessFirstTime]

basically our sellers had (structural) building work done that might or might not have required builing consent.
according to the sellers it wasn't required and they don't have much paperwork.
what happens if bc was required but they haven't done it?

They can pay for indemnity insurance. Depends what it was. It might not have needed bc when they had the work done but the regs may have changed and it now does. Or you could request it retrospectively from the council but you wouldn't be able to seek indemnity insurance then, I don't think.

What was the work, if you want to say?

a brick pillar was re-enforced with concrete.

Tricky one.
A basic repair might not need consent but your description doesn't sound that basic. What does your survey say? If no problems then presumably the insurance idea deals with any theoretical chance you would be required to get permissions or make good? If there are issues you would want to check repairs required and reduce the agreed price.

the survey came out without concerns.

how would it work with a indemnity insurance?

I don't know about insurance but it sounds like you need to get the surveyor to comment on the work and its implications. It will be clearer then.

ok, the surveyors report says that a brick pillar has been repointed with concrete. from what I could find this wouldn't need bc...

repointing is a basic repair that wouldn't need blg regs. sounds like a non event unless they have noted something else sinister. hooray!

I'm in scotland so not sure if it's the same.. but we have just bought a property where they had done some work adjusting the struts in the roof. It came up in the home report/survey.

My solicitor asked for them to produce the paper work required to prove it was done by building regs and said if they couldnt provide that then the sellers would have to have a survey done on the work to prove it was done to standard. So may be it's the same for you?

As it turned out, in our situation, they said the work was done more than 20 years ago and the original surveyor agreed this was probable, though was paid by the seller. So no proof was required and we just have to believe it's ok or not buy the house.. we've bought it. The mortgage company didnt see it as a concern nor the insurance.

We're just buying a house with two extensions with no evidence of building regs. The surveyor and solicitor weren't fussed, both exensions are pretty old, and I'm very much hope we've been well advised on this as we have nothing in place to insure us on it!

Our local council website has details of planning permission applications and building control documents going back 20 years or more - might be worth taking a look on your equivalent site, Stiffy?

"our sellers had (structural) building work done "

repointing is not structural

is there something else, or can you describe it better?

We were recently buying a house with similar issue. Surveyor made a massive deal of it but I did my own research on it (and confirmed my findings with solicitor) - buildings regs dept have a year after completion of works to come round and inspect, and that's it.

After that the theoretical possibility exists that they could come round (which is what an indemnity insurance policy covers) but they would have to go to court and get an injunction to do so, showing reasonable suspicion of a public safety risk. If the website I read was correct this power has never been used against any domestic householder ever (is used exceptionally rarely for e.g. public buildings, apartment blocks).

So if it was done over a year ago you're fine. But make the vendor buy you an indemnity policy anyway just so you've covered it belt and braces.

we are now going with the indemnity insurance.
our sellers are really nice people but our sols are like small children, you really have to tell them what you want and that you want it now... hoping to exchange today and complete tuesday...

Good luck!