Building Regs Query....

[Picklefeatures]

We live in a tall house that was previously 2 flats. The owner before us had it as one house as do we but we removed some French doors and an external wooden staircase that was used by the upper flat and replaced with a wall and window which a friend installed for us but hes not fensa registered or done to building regs. In fact it wasnt finished and we never got round to actually finishing it off so have a breeze block wall and a window sill waiting to be added and the bits around the window properly tiled and finished.
Now this wouldn't be so much of an issue if we weren't selling up asap.
But what do we do?? We have in theory put the house back to how it originally was like the neighbours next door who also just have a window but we don't have building regs or fensa cert. It was done around 5 years ago and we just put some stuff in front to disguise.

So do we
A) get it finished off best we can and say nothing til it comes up and then offer indemnity insurance
B) get it finished off best we can and offer indemnity insurance to potential new buyer up front
C) call building regs / fensa out and get done properly although not sure what that entails
D) leave as is in unfinished state so people can do as they please if buying (although not sure why this would appeal to anyone)

Any thoughts?

apply for retrospective building regs. - especially if unfinished as they’ll be able to see more. We had a similar but finished situation and it was £250 and then all sorted.

Get retrospective building regs and if they come out and spot an issue then fix it. It's likely to be fine.

How will you get Building control sign off unless it’s been built to comply?

@kirinm for this it would generally be seen as an improvement as it will naturally reduce drafts, and a wall and window will be of increased stability. Our inspector asked questions about how it was done, we provided receipts for materials and photos of it in progress and they were satisfied. A whole house is a bit different but a door to a window not so much.

Ive just sold my home - which coincidentally did involve converting a window into a door (so vice versa) but historically there had been a door there. We got building control sign off but the buyers solicitor still made a song and dance about everything. So be prepared for that OP unless you can get retrospective sign off for the window.

Ok so just to add to the confusion was digging through old emails from when we bought and realised that we had insisted on getting indemnity insurance for the loft - it's not a full on conversion in the modern sense it was done years ago and there's a proper sort of room with a spiral staircase up to it but wasn't sold as a proper room just a useful space. Looked at the policy and it just covers any lack of building regs and is invalidated if we speak to the council....so after reading your helpful replies I was all set to go to the council and get sorted properly but this might then mean we shoot ourselves in the foot as we have no intention of doing anything to the loft area and it was done well before our time and we've used happily for 7 years....the indemnity policy covers future owners too but only for work completed before the policy start date so bathroom wouldn't be covered so I don't know what to do 😫 get a new policy to cover the bathroom but risk it putting people off....speak to building regs but have issues with loft then....argh! Help!

So has the window gone in? Do you need planning permission to convert the flats back into a house? If you want to sell then do but be upfront because this information will have to come out. If you’ve done work you shouldn’t have done without planning permission or building control approval then it will likely impact your sale. It might not though.

here is a link to a house which is around my area. you’ll see says that it can only have cash buyers and to get building control sign off it’ll cost £48k. I’ve never seen something so upfront but at least you won’t get time wasters.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159853607#/?channel=RES_BUY

No the house was a house before we bought it. Think victorian house split in two. Then pre our time was back into one but had the hangover of the doors in a weird place where a window used to be. So it's not a planning issue.
The loft issue we got indemnity insurance for - i had completely forgotten about it - 7 years ago nearly 8.
The work we have done is pretty minor in the grand scheme vs others we put the building back to how it was in a way but its just the building regs we don't have. I'm now thinking due to the loft situation we get indemnity insurance for the window eg have two indemnity insurance in place and yes of course we would be upfront. Vs some other stuff I've seen it's not a huge project or oversight on our part but yes it will inevitably cause delays and much tooing and froing during conveyancing but as we definitely don't want to start getting into loft discussions as that wasn't even us, I don't think we can get building control involved now??