Building Control

[Set of Tracksuits]

Anyone know anything about this?

We need to find out if an extension added to a house we are buying has been approved by Building Control. The seller doesn't seem to know and the only way we've found of checking is by doing a Freedom of Information Request which can take up to 20 working days.

Anyone know of a quicker way to get an answer?

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Ask the building control department at the Council?

 

[Mutts Nuts]

Anyone know anything about this?

We need to find out if an extension added to a house we are buying has been approved by Building Control. The seller doesn't seem to know and the only way we've found of checking is by doing a Freedom of Information Request which can take up to 20 working days.

Anyone know of a quicker way to get an answer?

Try the local council Planning department

 

[CP 0 3 BHA]

Make sure you keep this as the vendors problem rather than yours. The Building Regs people at the council should be able to help but it could take a few days. Don't take a punt on it!

 

[Garage_Doors]

Isn't this one of the checks that your solicitor or conveyancer does as part of what you pay them for?

If they as saying they don't know, did they build it or was it there when they purchased it? If they built it I would hazard a guess they do know and it dosen't.

 

[Greyrun]

Isn't this one of the checks that your solicitor or conveyancer does as part of what you pay them for?

If they as saying they don't know, did they build it or was it there when they purchased it? If they built it I would hazard a guess they do know and it dosen't.

Agree this is down to the seller.

 

[Emily's Mum]

It's what everyone else has said. Your solicitor is being paid by you to find out this information.

If the vendors built the extension and they don't know if it was passed by Building Control, then the chances are they did it on the cheap and didn't get Building Control to inspect the work and issue a certificate.

Your solicitor should be on to the Building Control department at the local council to find the answer to this. However, most local council departments are under pressure staff wise and there's not a lot you can do to speed up the process. Some authorities will let you go and check the records yourself, but the trouble is, any mortgage lenders involved will want the searches done by an individual not employed by the solicitor, as they won't have any personal indemnity insurance.

A lot of solutions like this are sorted by the use of an insurance policy. Someone can purchase an insurance policy to protect against the consequences of there being a lack of certain paperwork. In my experience it should be the vendors that pay, afterall it might have been their fault in the first place. However, many buyers pay the premium simply to get the buying process over and done with. I could be talking of sums of about £500.

 

[Set of Tracksuits]

Thanks very much for all the replies.

The extension was built prior to the current owners buying the house. We made the FOI request to the local planning office as we thought it might be quicker than waiting for our solicitor to find out and we wanted to know where we stood. We're probably just being impatient really.

Thanks for the tip about the insurance policy, I reckon we could get them to pay as they are desperate to sell quickly (hopefully not because the extension is made of cardboard or something).

 

[Norman Potting]

Thanks very much for all the replies.

The extension was built prior to the current owners buying the house. We made the FOI request to the local planning office as we thought it might be quicker than waiting for our solicitor to find out and we wanted to know where we stood. We're probably just being impatient really.

Thanks for the tip about the insurance policy, I reckon we could get them to pay as they are desperate to sell quickly (hopefully not because the extension is made of cardboard or something).

I agree with what has already been said. Many councils have their planning records "on line" - they are public documents so if they are you should just be able to go into the relevant site and have a look. Which Council is the Planning Authority - it is usually district unless you live in one of those strange unitary authority places?

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

If it is a recent extension then all you need to do is enquire with the Building Control department at the Local Authority your house is located in. They should have a record of it. If not (and it's unusual that it may have been missed) then your seller can take out insurance to cover any potential losses that may arise if the extension doesn't comply with Building Control. Solicitors make a big thing about this but if it's a ground floor extension and it has stood the test of time you could take a pragmatic view that it is ok. If it is a roof extension, then main issues will be that most of the lower floor doors will need to be fire rated. Countless people get door closers fitted when the have roof extensions done to get Building Control approval and then take them off afterwards.

Anyone know anything about this?

We need to find out if an extension added to a house we are buying has been approved by Building Control. The seller doesn't seem to know and the only way we've found of checking is by doing a Freedom of Information Request which can take up to 20 working days.

Anyone know of a quicker way to get an answer?

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

Should have read "...it's not unusual...." sorry!

If it is a recent extension then all you need to do is enquire with the Building Control department at the Local Authority your house is located in. They should have a record of it. If not (and it's unusual that it may have been missed) then your seller can take out insurance to cover any potential losses that may arise if the extension doesn't comply with Building Control. Solicitors make a big thing about this but if it's a ground floor extension and it has stood the test of time you could take a pragmatic view that it is ok. If it is a roof extension, then main issues will be that most of the lower floor doors will need to be fire rated. Countless people get door closers fitted when the have roof extensions done to get Building Control approval and then take them off afterwards.

 

[Emily's Mum]

Planning records are public records, but Building Control might not be. Shout at me for being pedantic. The records are however available to anyone who has a reasonable reason, i.e. if you are buying a house. This sort of thing will become more common as lenders now let customers look after their own title deeds - as per another thread!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

We have a "loft conversion" for which there is no building control documentation, probably completed in the 1970s/1980s. It didn't bother us when we bought the house and we have no insurance policy for it - nor do we intend to waste money on one.

when we bought the house, our solicitor wrote to us that "the alteration was made some twenty years ago, therefore too old for the Council to have any further interest in it". We did need a structural engineer to look at it and some remedial work which the vendor paid for (£2k? as lintel not up to current standards), but after that the issue went away. It diodn't cost us anything other than the engineer's fee of about £80 in 1999.

Talk to your solicitor but it's probably not a real issue any more...


PS. An FoI won't speed this up - it may even delay it.
Most FoIs are regarded by local Councils's as simply annoying as they distract staff from their day jobs - which in this case would include answering your solicitors query about building control approval.