Conditional property sale

[vcfromhk]

Hi we are planning to buy a house where the vendor doesn't have final building regulation completion certificate for kitchen extension. The extension was done in 2014 so they say it's too long ago and hence enforcement risk is low. The vendors themselves bought it 2 years ago from the original seller who did the extension works. They want to pass on the indemnity to us and don't want to approach the council to check for duplicates as it will invalidate the indemnity they have. It does have planning permission.

In our case after buying we want to do loft conversion and have to approach the council and the concern we have is that the council may fine us for the missing certificate and if at all it was not done properly.

We have therefore reached a impasse.

The solution lawyers are suggesting is to retain some amount for sale and we approach the council for the certificate after purchase and release the amount after we receive the certificates.

Is this an acceptable practice?

How much should be retained for this?

How long should we retain for ?

Any other brilliant ideas?

Regards

Honestly? Planning and building control depts at local councils are so overstretched it's highly unlikely they'll do anything about past work. But building control have 10 years to act iirc so I would take your solicitor's advice on the risk and potential costs and see what you can agree.

Did the people who built the extension just miss getting the final inspection and certificate or did they not bother with building control at all?
If it Is just missing the final inspection/gas/electrical certificates someone needs to contact the council and just get the last bits done.
If they had no inspections, they council are going to want to inspect. They’ll want to see depth of foundations, correct insulation etc which can be done fairly easily, the issue is if for example the foundations aren’t deep enough what do you do then?

When they approached the people who built the extension they say they got it but it's misplaced. They have provided some interim inspection certificates while the work was being carried out and those are pass but they don't have the final certificate.

We got the survey done and overall the property condition is fine.

It's a 100 year old Victorian property but kept well.

If foundation was not deep enough then it would have emerged in interim visits?

Maybe we should retain like 50k for such unforeseen views by the council? We are 9 years since work was done so maybe retain that amount for 1 year more for effective periods to pass?

The planning department wouldn't have approved it if foundation plan was low?

The existing vendors are worried and don't want to approach the council as they fear loosing the indemnity they got from previous seller. So they aren't even going to them to get the copy. We are in dark if it's a matter of just missing certificate or it was never issued. The agent and vendor can't confirm either

If there have been some inspections then the council will complete it but I’d be suspicious as they don’t want to sort it before sale completion. The house I bought didn’t have a final cert and they sorted it before exchange

Did they use council building control or a private company?
If you know the builder you could ask them

The depth of foundation may have been correct in the plans but then they did something different. The planned depth may not have been enough when the building control officer inspected and he said deeper. An inspection may not have taken place for foundations

Yhey ask for test pits to dug to inspect the foundations which is straightforward but only if the foundations are sufficient.
Worst case how much would a rebuild be

We have been looking for a house for an year now and there is fatigue to look afresh if this doesn't go through. We have had a string of bad lucks so far. Yes it's suspicious that they don't want to get it done before selling but I think it's more of concern they will loose indemnity themselves I think than anything they are hiding cause the previous owner was the one who did the extension and not them. If they were aware that it's imperfect then they wouldn't have bought it themselves. They bought just 20 months ago. They are selling as they are moving out of town.

We have asked why don't they contact the builder but haven't received satisfactory answers so far.

If foundation was to be paid and kitchen to be build again I think it should be around 50-60k.

The risk of enforcement isn’t low, it’s nonexistent. The council only have 12 months after the work was finished to take any action.

However, that doesn’t provide you with confirmation that the work was done in accordance with the regulations.

if they’ve got some interim inspection certificates it should confirm the foundations are the correct depth, this would be one of the first things checked.

it sounds like they just didn’t get the final
inspection and sign off.

I really cannot see them agreeing to a £50k retention.

I would push to speak to the builder. You will need to know who did the inspections and the builder so why don’t they tell you. The builder can probably say what was inspected. I’ve never had any certificates issued apart from the final cert.
There will be an issue when you sell without building regs. I had an issue with my last property from an extension built in 1983! It was ridiculous but they wanted building regs. I couldn’t provide a certificate but did have a record of building regs being complied with.

That sounds like a very picky buyer and/or solicitor. There is absolutely no point in worrying about building regs from 40 years ago. I'm not even sure all local authorities issued completion certs in 1983.

Most buyers and their solicitors wouldn't make a fuss about that.

Could you get the vendors to get a structural surveyor out to check the foundations are of the required depth, and that the build would satisfy the council, and supply you with his /her report? That way at least you'd know if it would pass or would not pass. And the fact the councils are so busy I cannot see them taking action.

If it’s a case of a missing certificate it will be referred to in the local search results. Then it’s a case of getting a copy.

if the work was partially inspected but did not get final inspection and sign off this also will appear on search results. Then it’s just a case of getting building control out to do final checks. But this would invalidate indemnity.

if there’s no record at all on the search then you’ve got to decide on how you proceed. The council won’t take any enforcement action, it’s too long ago. But you won’t have anything to say the extension was built in accordance with the regs.

Thinking about my kitchen extension there’s no way to check the depth of foundations without ripping the patio up and digging a great big hole!

They were, but the house I sold before and the one after had just as picky buyers. I’ve moved a lot recently. It seems it’s becoming a bit of thing with buyers now and solicitors seem to be more cautious as well.

I would just get a structural surveyor in and leave it at that. There is no way they are going to go ahead with you retaining £50k - I would assume this would stop their onward purchase anyway and the chain would break down .

If your concern is that foundations etc are not compliant you need a structural survey. Enforcement is unlikely bit indemnity is as much as you can expect. Enquiries to the council or applying retrospectively will invalidate it.