Accidentally reported the house we are buying to building control

[Neet90]

The house we are buying has a structure supporting/ strengthening one of the beams. We had gone back and forth through solicitors about the work and if there were building regulations. The solicitor suggested we contact the water board directly about another matter so I thought I would be proactive and contact the council about the supported beam also, particularly as due to rot other beams may need replacing once we move in and it would be useful to know what approvals we would need. I sent the council relevant information and now our solicitor has frightened me saying that I have reported them, placed their house on notice, they have informed the sellers solicitor, said there is no possibility of indemnity insurance and we could be sued, our mortgage is at risk etc etc. This was clearly foolish of me but I had no idea at the time and now it seems this is yet another thing to worry about and I'm so nervous. I've no doubt upset the sellers and may have jeopardised it all.

Either the house is structurally sound, or it isn't.
If it is, it will get signed off.
If it isn't, walk away.
Or buy it at a discount reflecting the costs of the necessary work and arrange a retention on the mortgage.

We already negotiated a discount after our building survey. I had no idea querying the structure built to support the beam with the council would cause so many issues, I thought I was being proactive and getting an answer once and for all about building regulations. I didn't realise there would be repercussions, our solicitor has given me a real telling off and I'm panicking now.

What could you be sued for?
You're employing the solicitor to ensure that all the building regulations have been met and that the paperwork is all in order. If it isn't, he should be highlighting this to you.
Not just bunging through a sale and collecting his fee.

I don't understand why YOU are in any legal danger. It isn't your house yet and if there is a serious problem then that is the fault of a previous owner...not you. The sellers want to use you? No leg to stand on surely??

As far as I know, he's right about indemnity insurance, but I don't know what you could be sued for. He doesn't sound like a great solicitor.

What's done is done, really. There's nothing you can do at this stage.

Sued for what? If the house is structurally unsound then clearly you won't get a mortgage for it unless it is fixed, but then neither would you want one!

Thanks. I got a little frustrated with the solicitors back and forth queries about building regs so just wanted to get to the bottom of it and so I contacted the council directly with all the info, I thought it would also be useful for when we need to replace any beams there. The solicitor was appalled by my actions and says the house we are buying is now placed on notice, it wasnt our place to contact the council, building control may want to visit, it may cost them, they will be more annoyed if we don't go through with purchase, potentially affected our mortgage etc etc. I'm a bit frightened, I daftly didn't realise it would cause such issues.

Did your solicitor not warn you that if you contact the council to query then you are no longer able to purchase indemnity insurance? They should have done. Ours did when there was a non-issue with window planning permission

Exactly the same happened with us fatima
It was remiss of your solicitor if they didn't mention it.

@FatimaLovesBread @prampushingdownthehighst
I wasnt advised at the start of the process not to do things like that so I honestly didn't realise. I cracked on and contacted the council and sent them all the information which probably made it worse. I didn't run it past the solicitor first as I had no clue of the implications (still not sure if I'm honest).

Sounds to me like they can huff all they like, but other than a 'telling off', what could they do? How is it your fault if the building is structurally unsound?

Btw, this would have shaken me up OP as I hate being told off unexpectedly. Makes me feel like a little kid. You didn't know, they should be guiding you. When we bought our first house the solicitors were total twunts to me for not knowing the process inside out... That's why I hired them. The knobs.

@millstick
I most definitely hated getting told off at school and this has definitely made me feel like a child again. I honestly had no idea what I did would be wrong. I don't really know what happens now though, do the council check it? I guess they could agree it doesn't need building regs approval or they can approve it retrospectively, but what if they don't approve it? We were prepared to replace the beam at some point as our surveyor did mention it but will try council hound us instead once we move in or will we have an issue with the mortgage now? I guess this holds things up, I had hoped we were nearing the end of the process, I feel like an absolute plonker.

I’m totally confused

If transpires the vendor has been remiss then how on earth would you be sued? You simply have obtained information that would have likely been pulled up by you sol in any event

You may well have made the house unsaleable except to someone who doesn't require a mortgage, if it is declared structurally unsound. In which case, the vendor has potentially lost a huge amount.

How could the solicitor have advised not to approach the council when OP went and did it without informing them of her intentions?

Indemnity insurance is a waste of time anyway. It's very unlikely for most councils to take enforcement action and that's all you're indemnifying against. No insurance against the work not being up to scratch. I wouldn't be surprised if indemnity insurance was the next big misselling scandal.

I went back and forth with our solicitors over a boiler installation, they were trying to get me to accept indemnity insurance in the absence of paperwork - i didn't care about the paperwork, only whether it was safe, i was quite happy to accept a gas safety certificate instead of the the correct building control sign offs.

You have done nothing wrong I can see. I'd be questioning your solicitor and his/her behaviour. S/he should not be acting for the sellers but for you. You may have by raising the point with the council put the sale and your purchase in jeopardy, but this is not your problem. It won't have affected your mortgage potential if you decide to back away from this house - replacing beams is a major, costly and disruptive business. Change your solicitor now.

If it's possible to have such a huge effect accidentally, there is something wrong with the system.

^ exactly

People seem to think indemnity insurance is some catch all thing when it is really very limited and is of no help if you decide you want to sort something out yourself.

The OP will not have made the house unsaleable!

If it’s unsaleable it because the vendor has been remiss in complying with council regs

(crossposts, I was agreeing with soulrider)

We do want the house, we've spent a fortune on surveys, there was just a question mark over whether or not the support of a cellar beam needed building regulations or not and it seemed to be going round in circles so i thoight i would just ask the council. I'm worried I've screwed it all up now, especially as we need a mortgage to purchase it.

Did the owners of this house do the work and did they get all relevant planning and building control sign off?
What exactly are they going to sue you for?

@UndomesticHousewife I don't know if the suing part is a bit far fetched but I have no idea. There is no building regulations and they say it wasn't needed but there seemed to be confusion so I thought I would just ask the council- clearly a huge mistake. It's just for a wooden structure sat on bricks to support the beam above which I think has been spliced at some point. I gather there will now be no indemnity insurance but am panicking the mortgage company won't lend on it now the council are aware. I'm so worried we may have put the whole move at risk.

The purpose of indemnity insurance is to cover any enforcement action the council might take for lack of building regulations approval/sign off. It would cover your legal fees in the event that action was taken, the cost of any remedial works required, loss in the value of the house due to the issue, cost of surveyors etc.

As you have contacted the council, the indemnity insurance provider won't now cover the issue, as the risk of enforcement action is much greater. From a mortgage lender's point of view, in the absence of an indemnity insurance policy, they will require evidence of building regs compliance. So the seller's only other option now is to obtain a regularisation certificate. This is assuming the work would have required building regs in the first place. If it didn't, the council can inspect and confirm this, and then everyone can move on

If it did require building regs, but doesn't have it, it can take days or weeks or months to sort out, depending on the council's turnaround time and whether the work does actually comply with building regs already or not. It usually involves exposing part or all of the beam, which may mean cutting away part of the wall, which will then need to be re-plastered and redecorated presumably. It's not a 5 minute job. It will take even longer if the work doesn't comply and needs to be rectified.

I imagine your solicitor is frustrated with you because you are paying him/her to sort the issue and advise you of the legal consequences of things, but
you have gone ahead and taken matters into your own hands, presumably without any real knowledge of how the system works. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, I don't mean it to, but I can't think of how else to put it. You'd be surprised how many people do it He's also now got to tell the seller's solicitors which won't have been a pleasant conversation.

The seller might be annoyed because it's not really your place to report issues with their property to the council and potentially cost them a lot of money. I can't see how they'd be able to sue you though. If the work should have had building regs and doesn't, the seller should have got it done properly in the first place.

From your point of view, having a regularisation certificate is much more preferable to an indemnity insurance policy. As long as you're happy to wait as long as it takes for the council to inspect the works and for any remedial works to be carried out, and the seller is willing to sort with the council, then hopefully all should be fine.

Just remember neither party is legally tied into the transaction until contracts are exchanged.