Buying Property with Loft Conversion and No Building Regs

[juliedee4663]

Am getting very concerned that the owners of a property we have had an offer accepted on didn't get the loft conversion (two rooms and a shower room) signed off for building regs. We are cash buyers so no need for a mortgage. The property was marketed as a 4 bedroom property with two additional loft rooms (although one was very clearly set up as an additional bedroom), and we are happy with the price agreed on. We have not yet had a survey done on the property, but the current structure of the work isn't really our main concern, our concerns are:

• Although we can ask the vendors to obtain Indemnity Insurance, this will only cover us for any costs relating to enforcement by the council after realising that Building Regs weren't signed off and can only be obtained if the Council are not already aware that Building Regs haven't been signed off. When we sell the property we will probably have to provide the same indemnity insurance to our buyers in order for them to get a mortgage and there is always a small risk that the council are made aware of the problem and therefore indemnity insurance is not possible and potential buyers have a mortgage refused.

• Will we have issues with Building Insurance, e.g. if anything happened to the structure that caused damage either to the loft conversion or elsewhere in the property could they refuse the claim, potentially leaving us with huge repair bills

• We are obviously concerned about this, and therefore any potential buyers we may have in years to come will also have the same issues, possibly devaluing the property or making it difficult to sell

• We don't think the buyer is being entirely truthful as to why Building Regs weren't signed off. The work was done in 2007, just as Building Regs changed, so we do think that to have the work done retrospectively to comply with Building Regs now would cost a fortune and so that wouldn't be an option either for the vendors to put in place now or for us in the future

• Surely the new shower room would have needed to be signed off by Building Regs

What is everyone’s thoughts on this, are we being over cautious or should we walk away now before spending any more money on the purchase.

I sympathise - had this problem recently with a house where the extension was not signed off despite being quite recent, and walked away. I still regret losing the house but the sellers were not able to produce any explanation, paperwork and it was all a bit vague. The indemnity insurance is not really worth the paper it is written on.

Yes,my he indemnity insurance just satisfies the solicitor that they have covered their backs really and allows the mortgage company to give the mortgage if needed. Thousands of indemnity policies are sold to smooth the way to sale, rather than providing a genuine solution to the issue.

If you feel you won't need a genuine solution that could be okay. If you don't plan to use as a 5 bed or to sell as a 5 bed or if you plan to do further work to the property to sort it out, it could be a cheap way to a bigger house. Again, you need to have it checked out for safety.

But, you say it's priced higher than a 3 bed without the conversion. Therefore you are paying for the work being done even if not for 2 full extra bedrooms. So I probably would walk away.

Yes you can often get retrospective planning permission but not building regs. They need to see the original structural calculations and see it at staged points throughout its construction.
After completion they might have to get you to remove ceilings and floors in order to see that it is safe.
Someone recently said they had a builder who new 'how to get round the planning rules' - that's the last sort of builder I would employ.
Building regs aren't there to generate an income for the council but to ensure safety and sound construction.
One wonders why they didn't submit plans to the Building dept, it doesn't cost a lot in the scale of a loft conversion.
Indemity insurance won't cover the cost of bad construction...
Very face