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.

@BarbaraStrozzi we could potentially afford to replace that 1 beam but now we have alerted the council (though I have received an email to say I need to contact a different department so no clue if it's been forwarded or not) I don't know if this would need to be done and approved before our purchase thus causing time, issues and potentially affecting our mortgage. Regarding the extension, our surveyor had queried the need for building regs and mentioned where the original house had been knocked through but this was all decades ago and now we would be unable to get indemnity though they weren't willing to provide it anyway due to the age of the works so would his cause mortgage or insurance issues without some sort of approval from the council that they don't care. But what if the council do care about the old extension, what do they test it against today's regulations. I guess if we just purchased it now regardless building control could just chase us. Not sure what we are meant to do next.

@BobTheDuvet yes it's a big chunky beam that they have supported, we are having a structural engineer look at it and some other bits but probably too late to make much difference now the council are aware. I hope building control will only be concerned with the beam and that this could be remedied one way or another, promptly I hope. How can we be sure they won't care about the extension, they know it's it's, old and without building regs as far as we aware, will they just swerve the matter due to age, give proof they don't tend to deal with things so old or do they check it's safe and sound before deciding to take no action. How quickly have they come out and how soon did you get approval for your works? Thanks

No words of advice but hope you can sort this out soon. Maybe you didn't think this through properly but it was a genuine mistake.

The suing thing... I’m not an expert but from what I’ve read here, the experts are saying the council will “tag” the house on a local search until they have a chance to inspect it. The issue is that the seller may not have done anything wrong (and no council permission was needed) but the council might take a week or month(s) to get around to inspect and confirm this. In that time, the seller can’t sell the house to anyone, including OP.

So if it’s a chain and it collapses and the seller faces thousands of pounds of expenses all because of the OP - and it turns out there was no need for a permission just like the seller told the OP to begin with .... yeah, I can see why they might want to sue.

The enforcement notices that the council issue are for work less than a year old. If they believe that there is an imminent danger then they can try and get an injunction, but I believe that is done through the magistrates court and is pretty rare - normally if things are actually falling over and so on.

I have seen many houses where things have been done blatantly against the building regs. e.g. not having external doors to a conservatory. There is absolutely no point having an indemnity for something like that unless the work was less than a year old.

In this case, assuming that the beam support work is less than a year old then they should of course have had building regulations for it. And whilst I understand that contacting the council may have fucked things up a bit, at the same time I would want to make sure that it has been done properly. If that forces the seller's hand to get building regulations sign off then great. This sounds like something that if done wrong is potentially unsafe, and if they haven't been forthcoming with the proper information then stuff them.

I've also just read that most indemnity policies only cover works over a year old too. So they really are only covering the very slight chance that the council take out an injunction. I wouldn't want to buy a house that was at risk of having an injunction taken out against it whether I had an indemnity policy or not.

OP I really feel for you

these things can be so slow and you just wanted the information.

I can't see how you can get in trouble. If the search has alerted the owners to the fact that the building is structurally unsafe, that can't be your liability in any way, can it?

if you hadn't been using a solicitor for conveyancing - and some people don't - then you would have been the one to write to the council anyway.

* There is no building regulations and they say it wasn't needed*

So what are they worried about then? They presumably looked into it and were sure it didn't need building regs and went ahead. If this is the case why are they/the solicitor not just saying to the council BC doesn't need to get involved.

However if they just did whatever they did without checking anything and now potentially they cannot sell the house until it's sorted well, that's not actually your fault.

We sold a house last year and had to get indemnity insurance which didn’t even feature in our own conveyancing when we bought it in 2014.

I'm also a bit gobsmacked that you are still worried about having fucked up more than the umpteen people who have pointed out that you should be more worried about the house being structurally unsound and a hideous money pit than about whether or not you can now get useless indemnity insurance. The sellers sound deeply dodgy in claiming that structural work done a year ago didn't need building control. What else have they done and not declared?! As for the solicitor (and also the field of cunts delight upthread) - I have no words. What cuntery indeed, not wanting to spend 100s of 1000s of pounds on a potentially structurally unsound house without proper investigation . Gives the profession a bad name.

Sorry, that first sentence is gobbledegook, perils of writing on a phone. Hopefully the gist is clear!

What frogsoup said.

OP, please stop beating yourself up about trying to ensure that the house you’re spending your life savings on won’t come crashing down next time there’s a strong wind. Don’t let the solicitor berate you one minute more; if they had been doing their job properly then you wouldn’t have had to approach the council yourself. We bought last year, and our solicitor was meticulous about this sort of thing; there’s no way she would have proceeded with a potentially significant structural issue like this. Hold your ground.

I'm not very impressed with the conveyancing solicitors on this thread (and I say that as a solicitor).

If the beam failed and the building collapsed, would an indemnity policy cover it?

Put simply, the beam in the cellar is there to deflect the weight of the floors above into the side walls and then into the ground. The ground takes the weight of the house via such beams. If the beam isn’t tied in to the walls, it might not be doing it’s job. It could be grossly oversized or undersized and your Structural Engineers Report should look at how the beam is functioning and recommend changes if there is a problem. At under a year old, this whole mess is down to the vendor. It’s his beam!!!! He didn’t get BR approval and, it would have been necessary.

Lastly Building Regs are not always direct Council services. They might be done via a contract with a BR company. You could just not contact the phone number you have been given and certainly don’t do it before you get your SE Report!

And please don't come back to the thread and drip feed that it is a listed building

Oh dear god no, definitely don't do that!

Thanks @Aridane 

Don't buy the house. Walk away. Even if you have exchanged contracts it will be cheaper to accept the contractual penalties for pulling out than it will be to go ahead with buying a money pit like this.

^ this is not good advice. If you have exchanged contracts, which I assume you haven't given that the building regs issue was still being sorted, you need to be absolutely clear on what the potential contractual penalties might be before withdrawing.

After 4 years the LA can not enforce building regs non-compliance anyway. Assuming the work was done more than 4 years ago you just need to be satisfied that it’s sound.

That's not actually the case. Planning is 4 years if no planning permission, 10 years if breach of conditions and no concealment. Building Regs is usually 12 months but there is actually no limit on the enforcement period if the work is unsafe and causes an issue.

In terms of the building regs for the extension, given the age I wouldn't worry. A lot of Local Authority building regs records don't go back before the early 1990s. I would however get a structural engineer to confirm that the work and structure is safe.

@Neet90 if the work to the beam was done in the last 12 months they might not have been able to get indemnity insurance anyway, depends on the insurer.

@kirinm What is your issue with the conveyancing solicitors on this thread? On the whole they have made the OP aware of the various options that might now be available to her. FWIW I would be wanting a regularisation certificate for this work.
If someone was content to accept indemnity insurance I would always strongly recommend that they also get a structural engineer to check the work is actually safe.

Sorry, there was a bold fail on my first post above!

@BubblesBuddy from what I understand the seller didn't think any building regs were required for supporting the old beam. Our surveyor mentioned this should be checked and we are awaiting the structural engineers report, the solicitor has asked we forward this to them once received. The customer service team at the council responded and directed me to another council they twin with on building regs, I have no idea if my email has been forwarded, deleted or is floating around in their system still. I don't know what the next steps are and haven't had any more news from the solicitor. The last I heard they said he building would have been placed on notice and that we could sort the beam once we move in. I haven't contacted anyone else but still don't know if that type of works requires buikding control or what happens now.

The tone adopted and your 'gate cunt' phrase, actually.The OP hasn't 'fucked' anything. She may have slowed the process down or saved herself a future nightmare.

I'd be keen to know what cause of action the vendor would have against her.

I don’t think the solicitor knows if the house is “on notice” or not! It’s been passed to another Council. Let sleeping dogs lie!

I would strongly suggest you do not agree to sort out this beam if it needs sorting that is. The SE Report will tell you. The main issue for the SE will be whether it is effective in carrying the load required and deflecting it into the ground. If it is, the Vendor applies for Building Regs approval in order for the sale to proceed. It’s not your house yet and it’s their responsibility. They would be mad not to do it. So, sit tight for your Report then act accordingly. Don’t let any expense of rectifying this be put onto you.

@BobTheDuvet Yes I don't know if my email is being actioned or not or if it will bite me in the bum later down the line. I appreciate everyone's assurance that building control won't look at the older extension etc is reassuring as I could never afford to remedy anything other than that beam. I think even weeks may put things in jeopardy, I kind of hope it doesn't need approval at all but nobody has confirmed this. I guess I will ask my solicitor and structural engineer what to do after the report is through.

@kirinm I assume you don't mean me personally, as I didn't say any of that stuff. Most have offered helpful views about the situation. There have been one or two overly dramatic posts. I stated in my first post I'm not sure what the OP's solicitor thinks the seller is going to sue her for.

I think if ( and it is if ) vendors are trying to sell a property not signed by building regs - Not your fault at all. If you had not pointed this out I bet the next ( informed ) buyer would have done. I actually think you may have done them a favour. If it is all safe and signed off - great - if not - they need to know.