Where to find previous building regs/approval for house alterations?

[CatAndHisKit]

And also how long should it take?
I'm selling and the buyer's solicitor seems either clueless or maybe the process is slow. The loft conversion was done before I bought, and when I was buying I can't remember it being an issue as my solicitor would have flagged it up surely? But otoh the sellers then must have provided them as they did the work. I know it was done absolutely properly as I was careful to ask them / and it's also obvious from the type of people who lived there and by the look of the work.

It seems it's a stumbling block now and agent now pestering my solicitor for possibly getting imdemnity. But I know the buyer's solicitor only started looking into it last week, to get coipes from council. It's supposed to be all recorded at the Council, as I understand.

So how long does it take to apply for copies? Could there be a reason that they are not recorded with council?
If they really can;t locate these, would a mortgage provider accept indemnity - and who pays for it?

pilates is this not enough for the mortgage provider? I'd haev thought that building control pass by the council is more than enough for the bank? (that's re loft, which I did find the pass for)

Re conservatories, this one was done 14 yrs ago - so alsso quite old. I will check with the solicitor (it's a different one from the one I'm selling with) next week - I hope they do IF the approvals werer needed back in 2007.

They will want to see a paper copy of the approval. Because your buyers solicitor is acting for your buyer and their lender he has to do this as part of his job. As you mentioned there is one is existence it’s not a big deal obtaining a copy and your solicitor can do this on your behalf.

I vaguely remember the previous owner saying they didn't need permission/building regs as no walls were altered and is not disproportionately big for the house. Did you somehow prove it wasn't too large?

Again back to the planning dept of your local council. They should have a clear policy of what sizes of extensions/conservatories need or don't need planning permission. It's usually based on cubic metres, if I recall. The size of the conservatory is what it is - just measure it.

My council has a web portal for planning.
For info on extensions (inc roof and conservatory):
www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200234/home_improvement_projects

And past planning applications:
publicaccess.westberks.gov.uk/online-applications/search.do?action=simple&searchType=Application

thanks, pilates and fika. I'll also phone my previous solicitor as possibly they have more on file than what I could find. But if copies aer enough, not the original certificate, that's a relief.
I know the size was right re conservatory - prev owner explained that.

We are going through this same thing atm
I was told that these things were not on line

We had to email building control for the “certificates” who said they would deal with it in 5 working days.

5 working days was last Monday.
Called Tuesday and was told it had been done but then the woman I spoke to realised that no email was sent and what they were going to send didn’t cover all the work we had done.
Apparently everything was on their screen but without the go ahead from someone else they can’t send it to me.
Problem is the person who gives the go ahead is always busy.
I think I have called and pestered so many times that they are sick of me ringing.

All starts again Tuesday

Bythemillpond is it your council you are dealing with? I've found out from the co who did the work that they use a private BC company, phoned thenm and they said they log copies with the council. But I've found what seems to be a separate search entry in the papers when I was buying with council ref number and 'passed' and brief description.
So are you asking for that BC pass reference number with council, or do you need to produce a full BC certificate - and email to your mortgage provider?
And is that an original or a copy of the final cert that's enough? I will call my previous sols tomorrow to ask if they have more on file as I can't find all the papers (or hey were not there in he first place).
It is all a ridiculous process really! Good luck with yours.

I am the one selling. It is the buyers solicitor who is asking.

I have the reference numbers which I found on line. They were in copies of the form requesting building regs for the work I was having done (major house remodel)

I am going through local councils building control.
The people I speak to can see everything on their screen but until a certain person gives the go ahead they can’t email me a copy.

So frustrating but I have taken to calling every 30 minutes and I think they are so fed up with me that one of them said they were going to go and tell this guy to make me his priority tomorrow at 9am.

Otherwise it will be a phone call every 20 minutes then every 10 minutes. I haven’t anything better to do than try and push this house sale through

Haha, that's a good tactic if you can stand it - just wear them out!
What I meant was, wouldn't just the ref number not be enough for mortgage provider as it shows there is a BC approval by council? I think they ae being too fussy asking for coipes unless they just want to see details of the work bing done.

No the reference no.would not normally suffice
The purchaser/ lender wants this bottomed out so they don’t have the hassle in the future

I thought it would be a simple thing to do as there was nothing to physically check. Just 3 certificates or pages to copy and paste or attach to an email.

In the meantime I was also asked about the replacement windows. I didn’t realise I had to have them fitted by a FENSA certified window fitter or get building regs to certify they had been fitted correctly.
It would have been so simple to add them to one of the forms at the time and get them signed off.
Instead I had to pay out £380. Building control came to look at the windows, took a few picture and within 24 hours they had signed them off and I sent the email off to my solicitor.

The one thing I thought would take the time took hours and the easy thing is taking weeks.

It would have been easier /cheaper to get indemnity insurance but of course now you have been in touch with the Council that is not possible

Hi @CatAndHisKit. I’m selling currently and have had exactly the same situation. The extension on our house was signed off by a private Building Surveyor. They do log the sign off with the Council here (a London Borough) but the Council don’t retain the certificate, you can just see a reference number. We tried to contact the building surveyors to get a copy of the certificate and they ignored us. Fortunately my DH found a copy of the certificate through the conveyancing solicitor we used to buy the house.

user and maybe, yes, thankfully the same has worked for me today - found it (a copy of the cert) through my previous solicitor! Though surely the council ref has that attached to it once you lokk - otherwise what's the point...
That's ok now but also found the entry from prev owner stating on a form t hat no permission / BC cert was needed or conservatory as no walls altered. He did supply electrics approval.

So I hope Bythemillpond that the whole glass part doesn't need fensa cert like yours did! It's good though you could pay 380 for retrospective - at least it was quick, and not TOO much in he general scheme of things, but yes, when builders/installers do any work they really should tell people about these things!
Could it be that pre-2010 it as ok not to get BC for conseratories with no wall alterations?

Rang first thing this morning and got straight through to the guy I needed.
I have paid £35 for the building certificate for some of the work but then he said the rest of the work hadn’t been signed off and I needed to pay a further £392 or something ridiculous.

At this point I hit the roof and demanded that if the previous building regs guy hadn’t done the job I paid him to do then I would pay again after they had refunded all the fees I had paid in 2015

I know the guy had come round and done a full inspection on everything (multiple times) and said everything was fine. I remember the conversation about a beam in one particular wall and I remember him coming round to inspect the new flat roof we had replaced on our stable block because we were laughing that my cats had used the newly gritted flat roof as a giant litter tray.

The guy I called today said they needed to come round to inspect the chimney breast that had been removed and the garage roof and a few other walls that we removed.
I pointed out that there was nothing to see as there wasn’t a chimney or a wall or any remnants left of anything and the roof seemed to have been satisfactorily replaced as it was holding up ok,

In the end he has agreed that I can take photos where things were and the stable roof and see if his boss says it would be ok.

but yes, when builders/installers do any work they really should tell people about these things

The problem for me is it seems quicker and easier to get retrospective building regs than go through everything at the time, pay for it all then find someone didn’t do their job correctly and have to go through it all again.

The saga continues

oh gawd, Bythemill what a headache! so if the photos aer enough they'll give you the retrospetive ones? have they agree to refund you for the incompolete ones though?
Do you know if it's te mortgage providers who demand these and would not grant a mortgage otherwise, or is it just buyers being careful / need this for a BTL?

I think it is part of the mortgage providers needs.
I have sold a house years ago before computers or the internet and when the surveyor came to do the mortgage survey I mentioned that all the building regs were on the side in the kitchen for them to see. I had even made copies for her to take with her.

The surveyor said the house was worthless as it didn’t have building regs for the work we had done.

When I pointed out that we did have building regs and she was informed that the building regs original certificates were on the side in the kitchen and there were copies for her to take away her reply was that she was a surveyor and that didn’t cover reading documentation provided by the seller.

The buyer ended up having to pay for another surveyor who would look at the building regs.

Having bought and sold a few houses I think a lot of things are a scam to get money out of the buyer, the seller and anyone in between and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.

The whole process of selling or buying a house is bad enough without everyone you come across putting roadblocks in your way.