building regs for diy wall removal

[fircone]

Didn't want to hijack the similar thread on this.

About five years ago I got some local builders to demolish a wall between the kitchen and the breakfast room, to make it all one large room. The wall was a supporting one, but they fitted a rsj.

I had no idea that there was such a thing as building regulations for this. And the builders did not mention it.

Do I need to do anything now? Was this wall removal illegal? Help!

I think it would only be an issue if you were selling.

Do I need to get any paperwork now?

Not that we are thinking of selling in the near future, but I wouldn't want to be stuffed when we do come to sell.

The problem is that the building regs people won't sign it off unless they have structural calculations for it and a structural engineer will not now be able to tell what size the support used is (without chipping off the plaster covering) so will not be prepared to do calculations. So, getting bldg regs certificate for it will be messy and expensive. I would be tempted to leave it and if you decide to sell, go for indemnity policy mentioned in another thread. Most decent builders will know how big a rsj needs to be (but then most decent ones should also know about bldg regs...) so it's unlikely it's going to collapse after five years. I beleive that building control cannot pursue you after a certain number of years if you have failed to use them - think it may be about five years, you would have to check.

believe

I'm a building control officer.

You should have had regs for this, and you will need to have certificate if you sell.

You can apply to 'regularise' it, but as lala says you will have to provide calcs and uncover the work for it to be signed off. We will only go and inspect if they are uncovered at the ends iyswim.

elsie what happens if you just don't know when it was done?This happened to us re a loft room and we got an indemnity cert and things just went ahead

Yes, you can idemnify it if the buyer & solicitor accept that - I don't get involved in that side of things as it's a civil matter.

From my experience, sellers often have a bit of a nightmare with trying to sort out work that was done without regs - even minor work like putting a steel in. It's all a bit mad, esp if it's something that was done years ago and quite obviously hasn't caused a house to fall down!

How do they know you didn't do it iyswim?There was a room in teh roof in our old place and it had been there years but we decorated it and it could have been new as it looked it.We said it was there when we moved in and it was and that was the end of it.

On the quiet, I have been known to tell people to do this! Only works with minor stuff usually.

Now I feel sick.

What should I do? Tell the council? Ask a solicitor for advice? Ask another builder's opinion on the work?

Please don't feel sick, fircone!

You can contact your local council about 'regularising' it, in my area we would charge you £120 but if you need calculations you'll have to pay a few hundred for them.

Or - do nothing! You can regularise at any time and you might not need to if it doesn't get picked up when/if you sell.

Thanks, elsie.

You can always find the expert you need on MN!