Are building regs required for new partition walls?

[CatAndHisKit]

Looking for a house, and I've seen one where the owners have separated the original living room into two rooms (no door in the new wall). They say they didn't need building regs - is that the case and if I bought the house would there be any issues ith reselling regarding mortgage apprivals? I don't need a mortgage, but obvs want to know it's safe. This has been done a few yrs ago so no issues for that stretch of time.

If it was a stud (plasterboard and timber) wall then no. I'd probably be a bit more concerned if they had removed a wall.

thanks, species. What about the safety/longevity of the wall materials, also whether it was joined properly with the ceiling/oher walls? It looks fine but ever so slightly curved out in one of the rooms.

You can ring building control and ask them.

If it is a plasterboard wall which is very common for internal walls then it's not the strongest consruction in the world - you wouldn't use it for load bearing, but it does the job. Just have to be careful when trying to hang things on them. Bit difficult to say about the curve but if it's a diy job then perhaps they didn't quite get it square?

thanks, species and gone - the point is they told me hey didn't get any building regs as they 'didn't need them', so not much opint ringing building control - unless you mean for them to inspect. I'm thinking the surveyor would cover all this.
I'm just scared of any liability / cost of making it right involved - even if they woiuld have to get indemnity insurance (if my solicitor advises me on that).

Also I wonder how much would it cost to take that partition wall in lounge down? (about 9ft wide)

You don't need building regs to remove a stud wall - in a house anyway unless it has created an increased fire risk / blocked off an escape route etc.

kirinm what about putting it in? they've put a wall up to divide the lounge. Also a sizeable arch/opening in one load bearing wall (side extension kind of.
Taking out is easier, I know, I may or may not do it.

I've just looked at the Building Regs and it says if you're creating a new internal wall the Regs would apply.

I think your best bet is to call building control and ask whether consent would be needed. If there was anything structurally done then I would assume approval was required. We put in a steel (albeit in a flat) and they wanted to be there when it was installed and wanted to know precisely what paint was being used etc - due to risk of fire spread.

House we bought had this separating the living room and the hallway. No regs required. Had been built straight onto the carpet!!

We just took it down ourselves - very dusty, but only a day's work

kirinm thanks, spoke to a surveoyr and he says they should have got the regs but was vague about mortgages being granted without regs - I was keen to know if mortgage lenders always needs this in place.

Trees the thing is, maybe they should have had regs but if no one knew and you took the wall down, that resloved it in a way . And yeah, must have been a cloud of dust!

We were about to purchase a house with walls that had been moved years ago when we found out the week before moving day that there were no regs and I had to cancel my removal company. Solicitor couldn't conclude the missives without this information. This rolled on for weeks and we pulled out because it was such a hassle.

Speak to your solicitor. I'm in Scotland so might be slightly different here but that was my experience.

yep, too much hassle potentially cantstop - I'm not going to pursue the house.