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Original poster

Internal Works with no building regs :(

33 replies

sparkles311 · 23/04/2018 12:22

Hi All,

Hope you all are well. I would need some honest suggestions. We have found a property. Its a victorian terrace house. The previous owners have done lots of alterations to the property. Like Loft conversion and creating 2 rooms. Converted a bedroom to a family bathroom in the first floor. Removed the chimney breasts from all the rooms and also from the kitchen. And all these works don't have any building regulations and completion certificate. And the current owners have told the estate agents they would not be applying for any retrospective permissions.
We are really in big dilemma . What is your opinion on this ? Will anyone of you under our situation would go for such a property. Also one more thing the estate agents have marketed the property as loft rooms and also taking price of 2 bedrooms not a 4 bedroom property.

Kind Regards,

OP posts:
Original poster
sparkles311 · 23/04/2018 17:51

The current owners have bought the property 6 yrs back and since then have used it for rental purpose. They said that these works were done by previous owners. And surprising thing is when they bought the property the EA had market it as 4 bedroom house, including 2 rooms in the loft as bedrooms. I just wonder how they can do that. And the current owners didn't bother to ask for any paperworks. And they had actually paid a higher price than a 2 bed terrace house in those times. And now when they had come to sell it, they had said no to whatever papers our solicitors have asked. They are also not agreeing to get all the works regularised. And also said no to invasive survey, which I agree that every seller would say NO. Anyway, we have let our solicitors know that we would not be proceeding further. Thank you so much everyone, for sharing your experiences and these advices have really helped us a lot.

OP posts:
Smeddum · 23/04/2018 17:56

Chimney breast removal without proper regulations is bloody scary! We looked into it in our old house but decided against it due to cost and complexity of the job.

Original poster
sparkles311 · 23/04/2018 17:56

The current owners have bought the property 6 yrs back and since then have used it for rental purpose. They said that these works were done by previous owners. And surprising thing is when they bought the property the EA had market it as 4 bedroom house, including 2 rooms in the loft as bedrooms. I just wonder how they can do that. And the current owners didn't bother to ask for any paperworks. And they had actually paid a higher price than a 2 bed terrace house in those times. And now when they had come to sell it, they had said no to whatever papers our solicitors have asked. They are also not agreeing to get all the works regularised. And also said no to invasive survey, which I agree that every seller would say NO. Anyway, we have let our solicitors know that we would not be proceeding further. Thank you so much everyone, for sharing your experiences and these advices have really helped us a lot.

OP posts:
RatRolyPoly · 23/04/2018 18:02

If it were just the loft conversion I might have been more positive...

Not a chance in hell with the chimney breast removals.

Don't even set foot in it again!

RatRolyPoly · 23/04/2018 18:02

Whoops, missed your update. Sorry!

Original poster
sparkles311 · 23/04/2018 18:03

The current owners have bought the property 6 yrs back and since then have used it for rental purpose. They said that these works were done by previous owners. And surprising thing is when they bought the property the EA had market it as 4 bedroom house, including 2 rooms in the loft as bedrooms. I just wonder how they can do that. And the current owners didn't bother to ask for any paperworks. And they had actually paid a higher price than a 2 bed terrace house in those times. And now when they had come to sell it, they had said no to whatever papers our solicitors have asked. They are also not agreeing to get all the works regularised. And also said no to invasive survey, which I agree that every seller would say NO. Anyway, we have let our solicitors know that we would not be proceeding further. Thank you so much everyone, for sharing your experiences and these advices have really helped us a lot.

OP posts:
Original poster
sparkles311 · 23/04/2018 18:05

Oh No why my message is posted so many times !! Not sure whats gone wrong and I am not able delete them :(

OP posts:
CrustyCob · 23/04/2018 20:15

Sparkles! Grin
Re your updates. The Estate Agents at that time might have said 4 beds in good faith. The old saying "Buyer Beware" holds true.

Not your problem that they did not get the paper work sorted with the previous owners six years ago, and it has come back to bite them.
They have used it as a buy to let then, rather than living in it themselves?
Interesting, perhaps they are no longer able to rent out 4 rooms as two are not "proper" bedrooms.

They are not prepared to get Building Control involved, to sort out the lack of consents, so they know that it's all dodgy as hell. You are talking many thousands, definitely in five figures, potentially, to sort it all out. It's not a case of a few hundred quid to put a steel joist in somewhere.

Glad to see everyone on the thread is saying red flag here! Absolutely agree with all the different points made.

All the best to you!

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