House purchase - no building regulations

[beachranger444]

Some sensible advice would be great please, as we just do not know what to do, but are tempted to walk away. as it's just such a lot to deal with.
We are in the last few days of buying a property. Finally got a load of paperwork today from our pretty useless solicitors and have now discovered the vendors do not have Building Regs for the kitchen extension, built 40 years ago, nor a Buildover Agreement related to it. (There is a sewer within 3 metres of the extension, no manhole cover.)
They have taken out an Indemnity Policy to cover any issues that may arise in the future relating to this extension, ie the Council force us to, in the worst case, demolish it and a second policy to cover the lack of a Buildover Agreement.
We are concerned about the standard of the build, considering it was never inspected by the Council Building Inspector. Also, if we sell in a few years time, will the buyer be able to get a mortgage on the house with these issues, or will we have to sell to cash buyers only? Selling to cash buyers only will obviously limit our market and the issues will probably mean a lower asking price.
To cap it all, we also found out today that the environmental search states that the property is at risk of ground instability - sandy soil near the coast, a common problem in the area we think.
What should we do? What would you do?

Sorry, I would walk away.

If it's been there 40 years presumably the build quality was fine. What did the survey say about that? The indemnity policy is quite standard and enables mortgages, I had this with where I live now.

Again, what did the survey say about ground instability? Any sign of movement, historic or recent?

If you can prove it was 40 years ago then it will be before the cut off date in the 80s and is now part of the structure of the house. Lots of properties wouldn’t meet up to date building regs but are fine.
Didn’t all this come up on your survey?

I wouldn’t care about building regs at this point. What did your survey say?

If your survey says it’s ok, then is structurally fine. It might mean it’s not had planning consent either, but again likely ok given length of time and indemnity policies.

How much of a discount are they offering because of this issue?

did they need building regs 40 years ago?

the indemnity policy is ok

The extension was built over 40 years ago, surely it was well built if it’s lasted this long. They also have indemnity policies to cover any council action which is unlikely to happen anyway after all this time. This won’t be too concerning for me, however ground instability would be.

I had my house extended in 1992 and in process of selling. I didn't have copies of the building regs for the extension. I was advised by my conveyancer that this is not an issue as building regs are only enforceable upto 10 years from the build. With regard to build over agreements for drains - these didn't come in until the 2000s so the property you are looking to buy won't have one.

No one would ever buy anything if we all walked away from situations like this. You have to be pragmatic - is it sound survey wise? Can you get an indemnity?

Our house is 200 years old. And has an unknown number of additions. Am I supposed to provide building regs for something that might have been added in 1910?

The council will not be chasing you about the extension - they really do not care. I would recommend a proper survey though.

It’s pretty normal that a 40 year old extension won’t have had building regs. The indemnity is there for arse covering but obviously it was well built if it’s stood that long and you’re long past the point of any enforcement. Build over agreements also didn’t exist 40 years ago so it would be impossible to have had one. The environmental search is talking about the area as a whole, it doesn’t relate to this specific house and it sounds like it’s an older property if just the extension is already 40 years old so that should be reassuring. Ours said something about clay soil and the risks of that but that applies to the whole of London so it wasn’t something to worry about. Presumably you’ve also had a survey done if you’re at the end stage of buying and that didn’t throw up any major issues? Assuming that’s the case I’d accept the indemnity and carry on with the purchase. If you haven’t had a survey then get one and go from there.