Purchasing a house without Building Regs

[the_wave_rider]

We have found a house, got mortgage, appointed solicitor agreed purchase price and everything ready to go. Our solicitor kept pushing for us to sign but as we had not had a Home buyers survey done I refused to sign

Survey comes back everything ok but the guy asks me if we have seen the Building Regulations Completion Certificate for the 34m2 extension. I ask the solicitor who says no she did not find it in her searches. (These were done 3 weeks before our survey but she forgot to tell us )

I've done a bit more digging and found out that as he has knocked a bedroom thro to make a giant bathroom he should have had building regs involved in that as well as he fitted and moved sanitary hardware.

Now the solicitor is saying that the council will not ask for retrospective building regs as the extension has been standing for the past 20 years and I agree. However part of buying the house was that we were told that the foundations for the extension were built to take a second storey which sold us the property.

Our options it seems are to buy the property, hope the extension stays good which in all honesty it has for the past 20 years but if we decide to build upon it we would have to have the footings dug out to ensure if they are suitable and if not the whole lot would have to come down and be redone if we wanted to build a two storey building

We don't know if the bathroom floor has been reinforced to take the whirlpool bath but he says that everything has been inspected. The surveyor says it looks ok but unless you start ripping it apart you will not know.

What would you do considering we have already spent £1500 so far on mortgage, surveys? We are stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment

[Aidi]

The wife and I are starting the house buying process and starting to look at all the ins and outs.

Remember, that a house is the most expensive thing you will ever buy after a car, and if you goto look at a car and something is not right, then walk away.

Ok, you have got £1500 invested, but if you have doubts in your mind, and something crops up after you have bought it - it could potentially cost you ££££'s to rectify the situation.

I can understand your predicament, and it must be a sick feeling knowing you might be flushing £1500 down the drain, but are you prepared to take the risk mate?

[John Bishop]

The wife and I are starting the house buying process and starting to look at all the ins and outs.

Remember, that a house is the most expensive thing you will ever buy after a car, and if you goto look at a car and something is not right, then walk away.

Ok, you have got £1500 invested, but if you have doubts in your mind, and something crops up after you have bought it - it could potentially cost you ££££'s to rectify the situation.

I can understand your predicament, and it must be a sick feeling knowing you might be flushing £1500 down the drain, but are you prepared to take the risk mate?

You could end up with a money pit. Cut your losses and run.

[soulman]

I would get the footings checked before you go any further ,as this seems to be your point of the purchase in being able to make a second floor extention

[marly]

I checked the footings on our house (which was a bungalow, now added a new floor on top) before we bought it. I made an offer conditional on it. Once I opened up a few test holes around the house I then got a structural engineer to come for a couple of hours and he said it was all ok. Once he cleared off I filled in the holes, mainly in flower beds but I also lifted two slabs in the patio.

Was a bit unusual but the guy selling the house had it on the market for a while so he was OK with it.

Planning permission for the new upstairs, now that's an entirely different mater....!

Good luck!

[marly]

double post, was using chrome

[Exclusive BV]

Never be afraid to pull out if you have reservations.

I 've been trying to move into a particular village around these parts for the last 8 years.

between chains falling through and surveys highlighting issues, i've lost around 5 grand mate but that's still cheaper than having a house i cant resell

[Exclusive BV]

same here using chrome. it's a PITA

[bigdave1701]

Have you informed your mortgage company that the property has an extension without building regs?

[the_wave_rider]

Thanks for all the replies. I think we will go down the route of saying we will proceed once the footings have been checked by the vendor. If they are ok then we will proceed if not we will walk

There are other areas where he has had work done and not consulted building regs but again these have stood the "test of time" which seems to equal the building regs in the legal world. The finish is also of a very high quality just he never got it checked but I suspose after 20 years and nothing gone wrong the proof is in the pudding.

bigdave1701 I have not informed the mortgage company and I can only think they would suggest an indemnity insurance against the extension which is not ideal.