No building regs sign off

[Hairydogmummy]

So we were close to exchange on a house we're buying when I (not my solicitor) noticed there was no building completion certificate for the extensive renovations completed in 2018 by a previous owner showing up on the searches. The house is being sold following probate by a beneficiary living abroad. Even the guy who died never lived there. The vendor/their solicitor is offering an indemnity policy but it would only cover us against enforcement action by the council and not remedial action if it turned out to be needed. They have refused to actually check with the council if there is a certificate in existence as this would invalidate the insurance. My solicitor has not given any advice on this other than to tell us the terms of the policy and ask if this is acceptable to us and would we like to complete next week. We have said we won't proceed until they have ascertained whether there is one and got one sorted if there isn't. Is this what you'd do? We can't afford to proceed however if it goes beyond end of March due to stamp duty offer ending.

Can you not ring the council?

Second BlindStupid (who clearly isn't!). If you ring and ask the council and they say there is a certificate then hooray, proceed. If not, then pull out or put in a reduced offer / request for a further survey to check all is above all.

If you can't afford to proceed at the end of the stamp duty holiday anyway what do you have to lose?

I've tried that. The council refused to give me the info. Would only give it to the vendor or his solicitor unless I had written permission. I asked them to make the enquiry about 10 days ago but they are refusing to and offering this indemnity instead.

Thanks brown ... did a quick name change after a thread where others really WERE!

I would go back to your solicitor and insist he contacts the sellers solicitor for the certificate - tell him you don’t want to accept an indemnity policy, the sale/purchase is off without this certificate.

Fwiw contacting the council does then invalidate the indemnity policy they’re offering.

If it was me, I would want the certificate, not the indemnity.

Surely if it's showing up on the searches then a certificate was issued?

Is it just that they cannot produce the certificate, but the work was actually signed off? Your solicitor will be able to tell you as they have the precise info of what is recorded on the search.

Essentially an indemnity is pretty pointless, as the chances of enforcement action being taken are roughly zero.

What you do want to know is that the work was done to a decent standard, and the certificate goes some way to confirming.

I wouldn’t accept an indemnity against missing BR on such recent work. You have no information about whether the work was carried out in a satisfactory manner and you could end up with an unsellable house/with a costly problem. The communication to the solicitor is that you will not be completing until the status of the works is established, and that could mean investigations by a structural engineer and BR sign off being given retrospectively. This is the seller’s issue, not yours.

"What you do want to know is that the work was done to a decent standard"

This is all that really matters. What i'd do is get a surveyor/structural engineer in there to inspect everything, compare against any plans that can be found (2018 is fairly recent?) & if it all checks out as being ok, take the indemnity policy in order to get the purchase moving.

Also, what were the renovations exactly?

There was another similar thread. In my mind there is only 1 reason why a householder or builder choose to avoid building regs and that is because they want to rush the job and potentially reduce costs.

If you want the house I would phone the council to ask if building regs applied for and checked. At least you'll know.

Thanks all. The certificate was missing from the searches. It's not just that they can't produce it, we don't know if it ever existed. It's also tricky to match what's there with the planning permissions because there are quite a lot of planning apps made and granted and amended from 2014 onwards and I can't tell which one or ones they went ahead and did. It was extensive renovations to the point where it's unrecognisable from the original building.

It's a complicated issues. The plot that the house now has used to be twice the size. Half was taken away and a new build added at the same time this one was renovated. Initially they were going to demolish this house and build two new ones, only later changing to a renovation and big extension. There is a garage mentioned which is not there so wondering if that has something to do with why it wasn't signed off. I don't know. It's all really odd. Why didn't the previous purchaser in 2018 notice there was no sign off when the renovations were first done? All I know about this purchaser is that he was a wealthy old man who lived down south. He rented it out. Then left it empty for 12-18 months after tenants neglected and damaged it and then his son who lives in the USA put it up for sale in December.

Surely your solicitor should sort through all this and match it up ... that’s his job.?

We didn't have any either for works done around 2016. (The day before we were due to sign this came to light) we know a builder so sent him round to check all was to a decent standard. Which it was. The sellers took out indemnity insurance.

Sorry x post. So yours is a huge extension. See ours is only 1 level and hasn't messed with any load bearing walls. Basically an orangery I think they're called. I'd be more cautious if it was big works.

We're going through exactly this! My solicitor has requested a higher level of indemnity (£450 very vaguely) that would cover a rebuild if required. Our vendor is paying for this. Good luck!

There's a chance the building department paperwork is with the deeds for the new build next door. Try the current owners. Even if there is completion certificate,it's no guarantee of quality. I'd be looking for the supervising architect's certificate and indemnity insurance details too. I understand that building warrants are a matter of public record and if you visit the council office they'd have to let you look at them. Covid restrictions allowing. They are unlikely to let you copy them but it should give you details of the architect. Your best bet might be to employ your surveyor to check the papers at the Council office. He or she would be able to tell if the warrant and plans matched what was built.