Why would you not bother getting building regs approval?!

[YourSpleenIsDamp]

Buying a house, all going swimmingly, then found out that the owners never got building regs approval for a two storey extension and loft conversion! Lots of concerns about structural integrity raised by our surveyor, so an indemnity policy won't be enough. The work was only done in the last fifteen years - why the actual fuck wouldn't they have got building regs approval? We're going to have to pull out, aren't we? We'd never sell it, might not even be able to insure it 😭FFS. Back to Rightmove I go 🙄

That's insane!
Huge sympathy OP

Some people are idiots! Good luck on the search

The only other option is to ask the owners to get the work regularised, i.e. retrospective building control approval, at their cost before you go any further. How much concealed work needs to be revealed for this to happen varies depending on what the inspector can see or work out, access, flooring type etc so might also incur some costs making good after they have checked joist or beam sizes etc. Far from ideal but it's an option if you really want the place.

Have they had any involvement with building regs, for any part of it?

We sold a relative’s house that we knew didn’t have building regs sign off for the loft conversion but it was only for a couple of bits that we retrospectively fixed. We were able to do that as the main bits had been signed off at the time. There was approx 20 years between the build and the sale.

Think you've answered your own question - the lack of structural integrity meaning they wouldn't have got approval for the extension and conversion.

Looks like absolutely no involvement with building regs at all 😵We asked for a copy of the structural engineering calculations for the builds - and they've sent us some plans for a different extension which they never built! Considering our options with getting it regularised - if they'll agree to it: there's so little for sale in this area that's big enough for all of us (blended family of 7!) that it's going to be hard to find anything else, and I'm worried about losing my buyers. We can't compromise on size or location, so I'm currently looking at something awful and wondering whether we can make the garden usable!

Ask them to get retrospective planning permission

Because cheapskate dumbfuckery

😂😂Innit

I ask THEM to get retrospective planning, OR, work out the cost to knock it all down and build it again and take that off the cost of the house. They will likely refuse to discount it- but its worth asking for their stupidity.

Are they builders? Did they do the work themselves or get contractors in? I wonder if the original builders have any plans for the extension?

A relative is a builder and removed a chimney from his house. They lived there for years and it was only when they came to sell it- that it was questioned why he hadn't got approval. He paid either an indemnity or 'something' that was about £800 at the time and the house was sold without issue.

I’m building an extension now and not sure how you can get retrospective building regs as so main is to do with calculations eg of the heat loss and also the structural steels. There seems no end of paperwork and amendments eg the U values of the glass and the additional insulation in the floor / ceiling to carry it out.

Yeah builders don’t think they need to get the relevant permissions/approvals. How annoying for you op you’ve obviously spent money on searches, survey and legal work 😡

Our sellers were like this but did get retrospective approval before we exchanged.

I couldn't imagine WHY they wouldn't have done it at the time but having now spoken with our new neighbours and in light of how the buying process went the sellers were extremely shambolic and not at all on top of paperwork so maybe not a massive surprise!

I wouldn't have exchanged without the paperwork in place though, and them paying for it all. Wouldn't have accepted an indemnity.

The owner is a builder! I have a mental image of him scribbling some vague drawings on the back of a fag packet and going "ah, it'll be fine" 😂

Ooooh - thanks! How long did it take to get the retrospective approval?

Absolutely stupid! Selfish to allow you to waste money too when they know they don't have the correct paperwork. However, the concerns about structural integrity are even more concerning!

Conveyancing solicitor here.
It is actually much more common than most people realise. The main thing that would concern me is the structural integrity of the property. The likihood of the local authority taking action is minuscule and an indemnity is usually sufficient. If not, I would ask the seller for retrospective planning. However, if the works are not structurally sound that is a massive issue and depending on your surveyors recommendations, I would likely advise you to pull out.

It'll probably be very area dependent but it was only a few weeks to get it sorted.

It may depend on the extent of the works though and whether they've not done something correctly during the building work (we had an unsupported structural wall!) ie shoddy building work or building work ok just couldn't be bothered with the paperwork.

We did get our own detailed survey done for our peace of mind.

We paid a chunk of money to a building inspector who approved every stage of our small extension (via physical visits and photos), up until final sign off when he stopped responding. No rush we thought, he literally just needs to check the finished project and we're not selling anytime soon. We have all the photos and emails. 12 months on, turns out the firm went into liquidation, "cancelling" our notice and hundreds of others as part of the process.

It has just reverted to the local authority which now has to start the inspection from the beginning. We have to pay the full fee all over again and we may be asked to expose parts of the building... 🤦‍♀️

This is a how long is a piece of string question. I did buy a property without but my solicitor didn't pick up. I had to get retrospective regs and it took 3 years and the council kept changing the goalposts!! Fortunately for me all costs were paid by the negligent solicitor/their insurers.

I would walk away.

Definitely area dependent! over 3 years of my life and very stressful!

Sometimes it can be because people know there are parts of it that wouldn't get building regs, but they are happy to live with - some of building regs can be a bit jobsworthy about floor-levels, ceiling heights etc. Personally I would be fine to accept indemnity on something like that as long as a surveyor confirmed the crucial structural stuff was sound. However, I'd expect a vendor to be honest about it - if they could explain what the exact non-compliance was and why they made that choice, I'd feel comfortable that they had built fully knowing regs and understanding them.
In this case it sounds like it's come out because the structural parts are wrong, in which case it implies it was done by someone who couldn't be arsed to do it properly. Dropping out seems like the best option.

This might not actually be that bad. If he's a builder and he's used to doing loft conversions etc for other people, working to drawings and complying with building regs, then it's quite likely he's got things like beam sizes, joists, insulation, fire protection etc as per standard construction for something of that size, so unless there is something non standard about the design or he's decided to cheap out on his own property, hopefully regularisation will go ok. If that structural stuff is fine and the inspector just pulls up things like no fire doors fitted internally or no interlinked smoke alarms, it's probably easily fixable.

Yep. My neighbours have done7 two extensions without building regs, one a loft conversion where the key issues are electrical and fire safety. And they were shocking during the build, no party wall act notice, repeatedly damaged our property but expected us to agree to their builders sorting it out without going through the proper process.

All to save money. And the local authority are in no way interested in enforcing the regs.

If you're a conveyancing solicitor, I would expect you to know the difference between planning and Building Regs. The OP said the property hadn't got Building Regs approval. Retrospective PP isn't going to help with that!