can anyone clarify what documents are needed when buying an extended house please?

[beaglesaresweet]

I'm especially interested to hear about buying houses with a loft conversion - I know that usually there supposed to be a completion (or compliance?) certificate issued by the council. Are there any other options for these documents to be done correctly - i.e. issued by 'approved inspectors' (without specifying by whom are the approved) who issued such a certificate, and in this case, does this have to be lodged with the local council?
There is a notice of works (in the case I'm looking at) lodged at the council, but no completion cert at the council, and vendors/their lawyers implying that the inspectors letter is enough. Surveyor isn;t sure and commented that they are 'some sort of inspectors' but he said i need my sol's advice - well, needless to say the sol hasn't got a clue < what? who am I supposed to turn to?>.

Is it my job to contact these inspectors, or the council to clarify? Dismayed at everyone's (professional) lack of knowledge. Potentially a big issue if it's not dome correctly.
Sorry, I know it's a boring subject! Maybe someone bought with similar letter and has been reassured by their reliable sols?

sorry for the double 'issued' there.

Your solicitor should absolutely be advising you on this - that is what you are paying for. I'm pretty certain that a loft conversion needs building regulation sign off and there should be documentation from the Council to that effect. If the vendors' solicitors expect you to rely upon something which isn't particularly clear, you need your solicitor to ask the vendors' solicitors for an explanation of the document/s, whether it came from the council, whether the vendors got council sign off, and if there is any doubt, I'd suggest taking out insurance (your solicitor will advise) which the vendor should pay for.

thank you, mandy and comic! I'm not even more sure I'm not being unreasonable with my worrying. Exactly, I thought that what lawyers were for - I'm just in disbelief about my solicitor saying 'we are not experts on this either', ask the surveyor! Well surveyor says that it's possibly fine for this to be signed off by 'approved inspectors' who issued this certificate, but he does say that normally council should have a completion doc too - same as even a legal secretary is saying in hte same firm, but the sol herself is just clueless. It's not a large conveyancing firm, there are only two conv solicitors there. She is not young so I assumed she was experienced - obv not!

The vendors sol are shrugging that there is a certificate by inspectors, and there aren't any other documents (though there is notice of work with council) - can we ask then to find out from the council whether it's enough, or to confirm that these inspectors aer approved by them? I just wonder whether anyone came across these 'approved inspectors' as maybe the term means 'approved by council'.

Would a council answer such questions? or is there maybe some building reg official body who approves these inspectors, and they could still lodge the existing cert with the council now?

'I'm now even more sure'

Approved inspectors are one of the options for building control www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/howtogetapproval/wheretogetapproval/approvedinspector so if the work has been approved by someone registered then that should be fine, afaik.

Your solicitor really should understand this stuff though!

Having read up a bit more... I think an approved inspector issues a certificate once work is complete, but that does not have to logged with the council. The council only have to be notified that work is planned under the approved inspector scheme.

If you call you local building control they'll be able to clarify.

thank you, strong! could it really be all fine - but are you sure that it shouldn't be logged with council? in any case I hope it can still be logged in now perhaps, if need be.
Thanks for explaining that it's not the council I should contact, but the building control (what are they called officially so I can google?) just building control of X location?
I know the sol SHOULD understandm, but I'm stuck now with this one .

...or did you mean that 'building control' is a department in local council?

You can go with either the building control department of the council for approving extensions/loft conversions or you can use an independent inspector.

So if there is a certificate from the independent inspector then that should be fine.

Ours is from the council and they inspected our garage conversion 4 times, at the beginning, twice in the middle and then when it was complete and signed off on it, we then got a certificate through the post.

For our kitchen extension, we went with the council again, mainly because our builder knew the building control department as they inspect all his work. So an independent inspector doesn't have to lodge anything with the council as far as I know.

Does that help?

Thank you, Contented. It does help! Just wondering why are there these two options - I hope the indep inspectors are never dodgy or unsrupulous! Sounds like the council is very stringent, but inspectors might not be - or are they equally trusted and reliable?
Also do you pay the council or inspectors for this? could it be that council is slower or more expensive? Just really that- why would someone activelly not choose the usual council route?

Approved inspectors are vetted quite stringently, and have to follow the same standards as the council.

You do pay for the service, yes, and it's quite expensive! They compete with council building control for this work (which is why most council websites don't mention the option, I suspect!). They don't have the enforcement rights that the council do, but they have the same ability to inspect/approve.

Good luck!

thank you, strong! So is there definitely nothing to worry about? I'm glad to hear they are stringently vetted - I assume by a official body other than the council.
I'm still curious what would the advantage be to use the inspectors rather than the normal council route - if they are cheaper, than I can see the point.
Also, if say, there are any issues later on, is there some protection offered (in case the regs were signed not carefully)? Could you get money for the works? I assume this side is much easier through the council, but maybe it's equally safe with these..

Building regs approval (via whatever route) isn't any guarantee of the quality of the work. Only that the work is in line with building regs (eg structurally sound, adequately insulated, safe enough in event of fire etc).

If there are problems because of building regs not actually being met when then had been signed off as met, you would have a case against the assessor I suppose. The chances are that the sign off means that regs were met though!

Re: why people would go with an approved inspector rather than the council. This is the industries take on it: approvedinspectors.org.uk/about-approved-inspectors/why-approved-inspectors/

They claim to be cheaper and/or more helpful and/or more flexible. I've no idea if that's actually true :)

... the industry's take on it...

thanks so much, strong. I realise that it's not the quality of work that's inspected. The issue in this case seems to be this: the surveyor was surprised that they signed off fire safety regs as the doors facing the hall in the house (main floors) are not fire doors - though the loft itself has fire doors. He says that now this would be against rulesd andyou'd haev to change all doors - but as someone said on MN, lots of houses haev original internal doors, so it's a 'modern' issue. I think maybe the regs were not as strict in 2008 as they aer now (?)
Someone said that sometimes inspectors are friends of the builder and could sign off something, though if course this is a bit extreme!
Thanks for the link - I didthink it may be the cost/flexibility. But I hope also honesty. And that yo couldn't just pay them to sign off if some aspects are not perfect.