Want to cry - no building regs completion cert on property

[Howdidthathappen1]

My solicitor has sat on this information for weeks but thats a different moan.
I'm looking to buy a bungalow thats got a loft conversion and single story extension. Planning permission was granted for extension and dormer - but we have no detailed pictures of the plans just the description.
Builing control made 5 visits during the works but no final sign off visit was requested so no completion certificate. Local council has provided a written assurance that they will not take action as this occurred in 2004.
The work we want to do to the property in terms of alterations - knock down internal load bearing walls so put steels in and put in extra toilet- will highlight any deficits which will obviously need to be corrected before we can do anything.
I'm thinking of giving a significantly reduced offer that would cover any potential remedial work - the bits that I can make an educated guess about. Would this be madness?? Should I walk away - have looked at breaking the chain but rentals suitable aren't available. We love the potential new house it took ages to find anything we liked.
If it complicates things - the owner was a chippie who did most of the work himself (now deceased) his son is a structural engineer!!

Did you have a structural survey?

If it has been done since 2004 and no movement is evident, this wouldn’t worry me especially.

Put a request in that the seller contact the council and get it signed off and issue a final certificate. It can be done relatively quickly with my local authority, not sure if it varies between councils.

@RainingBatsAndFrogs

Did you have a structural survey?

If it has been done since 2004 and no movement is evident, this wouldn’t worry me especially.

This. But it needs to be a proper survey including access to the roof.

We discovered issues with the roof caused by a shoddy conversion when we had some other work done. Cost about £10k to sort (which was not material in the context of the wider works, otherwise wikis have really annoyed me).

It wouldn't worry me either especially as they did visit while the work was done.
Speak to the council tell them what you want to do and ask if they give you a completion certificate covering all of it when you are done. So its sorted when you come to sell.

It sounds quite low risk especially if professionals were involved and BC did the site visits. Careless not to get it signed off. Tell them you need a final cert or a regularisation certificate.

Builders doing their own work can be the worst! (We brought off a builder and the whole place was a mess, issues with plumbing, electrics, loft conversion as I mentioned).

We had a full survey - full of the caveats of 'unable to access' and his report was based on the assumption building regs had been signed off.
I had a suspicion as the bathroom in the loft is 'interesting' and one of thing things we need to change. But the quality of craftsmanship in the property is obvious if not to my taste so the work is likely fine - its just the risk!
Responses have made me feel a bit better!

I've been on the other side of this. We had the loft converted in our last house. The work was done by one guy who worked with building control throughout the project, but was ill right at the end and kind of went awol. I had three under 5s at the time and didn't have as close a handle on things as I should have done. It wasn't until we were well advanced in selling that I discovered we didn't ever get a completion certificate. I felt absolutely sick with worry but it ended up being a non issue - the council came out quickly, checked the work and issued the certificate.

I would tell your vendors that you need the certificate. Hopefully they will be able to get it signed off, and if they can't I would have thought you could then look at negotiating on price. Or you could ask your solicitor if indemnity insurance could help here?

Similar to cheese. Had substantial work done on our old house & had building control visits throughout. I was then unwell & forgot to follow through with the sign off. It was 10 years later when we came to sell & they signed it off no problem.

The vendors did approach the council who provided a letter stating that they would not take action due to the time lapsed but neither would they sign off - due to time lapsed.
So my thinking now is a price reduction as the work we will do will be signed off - which will almost cover the original work as we're altering it.

I don't see the gounds for asking for a reduction. It's been inspected by the council at construction time, and you had a structural survey.
It's been there 15+ years, any fault would have become evident by now.
Unless you can see evidence of new remedial work, it's going to be sound.

We had similar with a loft conversion in our current home. We got a letter from the council plus indemnity insurance. Most importantly we got a structural report (paid for by vendor but for our reliance) which showed no defects. Yes they tend to be caveated a little but the conclusion will give you a statement of whether it is sound or not. We have now been here 6 years with no issue, and the lack of building regs will no longer come up in searches when we want to sell

Remember that building regs isn't just about structural soundness. It's about things like fire safety - for example, closed escape routes, fire rated doors etc.

You’re being dramatic, if it’s structurally sound what’s the issue?

@cheeseismydownfall

Remember that building regs isn't just about structural soundness. It's about things like fire safety - for example, closed escape routes, fire rated doors etc.

It’s a loft conversion not a newbuild tower block....

We bought a property with the same issue several years ago now and our solicitor requested the sellers took out indemnity insurance and provided them with the certificate.

I have repeatedly bought properties without building regulations. If the are the right one.

However you do have to have them to resell.

I'd be asking the building officer at the council, questions, he should be able to refer to his notes. He will know exactly what he needs to see to sign it off.

This will give you an idea of how much work needs undoing and redoing. It's not a case of him just signing it off as regulations change and it now has to conform with the latest specifications. Also things get boxed in and plastered.

Electrics come under different regulations and although are signed off as a whole by building regs they are registered first by the company who installs them and signs them off.

With this information I'd write a carefully constructed letter with this to offer a balanced reduced offer based on the work that needs doing to make it legal.

Remember the costs may not be straightforward, taking out to access and the redo can be more work than initially doing the work n the first place.

You may decide to carry the costs yourselves if this might need changing in the future. This is what I did with a badly converted bungalow and very illegal stairs.
We knew we would knock the inside of the place around and relocate the stairs so got building regulations fir the new stairs.

This would be a non-issue for me.

@SunsetOverEasterIsland this only applies if the council hasn't been involved. I believe abandoned building regs cannot be insured against.

So if they had done the whole conversation without ever notifying the council then yes, it could be covered by indemnity insurance.

I agree with the people who say that the risk looks very low and they would go ahead, but I'd also ask for indemnity insurance paid for by the seller. It is very common - every conveyancing solicitor organises this a lot - very cheap (usually less than a couple of hundred pounds) and will give you a pot of cash if there does turn out to be a real problem.

[quote purplebagladylovesgin]@SunsetOverEasterIsland this only applies if the council hasn't been involved. I believe abandoned building regs cannot be insured against.

So if they had done the whole conversation without ever notifying the council then yes, it could be covered by indemnity insurance. [/quote]
There’s nothing to indemnify. An indemnity policy covers the risk of enforcement action from the local authority and any subsequent costs arising from that enforcement action the LA have confirmed they won’t take any action. Indemnity policies are not a policy to cover for poor workmanship.

You can get indemnity policies where the LA are aware of a breach. They’re just more expensive and bespoke and obviously depend on the circumstances. We had a situ recently where the vendor did have BR for a conservatory and informed the LA. They said what works they’d need to do to make it BR compliant, but we wanted to press on. We got a policy but it was much more expensive than an off the self one.

Our old house had an attic conversation with no regs when we bought it, we had a structural survey & indemnity insurance, the new buyers did the same when we sold it not that long ago.

If the work was done that long ago I wouldn’t worry too much and I don’t think asking for a reduction is appropriate unless the structural survey has highlighted any real issues.

Ask the vendor to get the Council to issue the completion certificate so you can sell on without hassle (will cost them approx £100-200??). Assuming the survey's OK, that's it?

Sorry OP - have just seen that the Council won't issue the cert.