Owning your own home

I thought it all depended on when the work was done? Think if the work was done a certain number of years ago you would be able to get an indemnity policy against building control rocking up and forcing you to tear it down, which unless it is dangerous they can only do within 12 months of the work being completed. http://hoa.org.uk/services/ask-an-expert-2/ask-an-expert-i-am-selling-questions/selling-without-building-regulations/

Obviously this all assumes that you are happy with the quality of the work...

Oh and don't contact the council, as you then can't buy indemnity insurance

^good advice thanks @Sam_w . I shan't contact the council.

Last question: assuming they haven't got BC sign off and it is required, but they have got all the evidence to support the fact that the work was done to standard... any ideas how quickly I can expect to get sign-off?

We had this issue when we had a dodgy builder who did some work for us. It all comes down to getting a friendly inspector. We had two:

First one came out looked at the windows, said they looked fine and signed it all off.

Second one was a massive pain, wouldn't believe the pictures of the foundations so forced us to dig trial pits on each corner, to prove the depth etc.

So it really does depend on how building control are feeling at the time, but they can be a real pain,but as I said unless it is dangerous they can't do anything if it is older than 12 months old. Do you know when it was built?

It's hard to say but I think the extension is new. It's only a small shower room and toilet at the back on the lower ground floor. The removal of interior walls is also new, done as part of conversion from two flats into a single house. It's bit of a conundrum as to why the guy doesn't have the docs or if he does why he hasn't made it clear. Could be that the solicitors just haven't found the correct bits of paper yet... here's hoping. Giving them until 4pm before I start pestering again.

Would be massively helpful if the seller was just clear about they do or don't have though.

Yes, that is odd, hopefully just disorganised rather than deceptive. A lot of the time people rely heavily on the builders so don't realise what bits of paper they need to have upon completion

if it was signed off by the council, it will be searchable. if done by an approved inspector, it won't be.

If you want me to have a pat butchers, let me know

Would be massively helpful if the seller was just clear about they do or don't have though.

It could be any number of combinations of them and/or their solicitors being shit.

What documents should your solicitor send you post completion?

"My question is; if this is all in evidence, do we NEED building regs sign off"

Yes. You do.

If there were engineering calcs done they can be sent to the local authority and the work can be signed off immediately, dunno about LDN but round here it's generally less than a week, often next day.

I know you're excited and you potentially could get an indemnity policy more quickly but beyond impatience there is no reason not to sort it properly. As @Zerostar says there's also a good chance your mortgage lender won't accept an indemnity for recent work.

The point of building regs is to check the structural engineer has got the calculations right. Without that you've got no certainty the build is sound.

Also, I'd be questioning the motives / skills / knowledge of a developer that fails to do the absolute basic paperwork.

"My question is; if this is all in evidence, do we NEED building regs sign off"

Yes. You do.

If there were engineering calcs done they can be sent to the local authority and the work can be signed off immediately, dunno about LDN but round here it's generally less than a week, often next day.

I know you're excited and you potentially could get an indemnity policy more quickly but beyond impatience there is no reason not to sort it properly. As @Zerostar says there's also a good chance your mortgage lender won't accept an indemnity for recent work.

The point of building regs is to check the structural engineer has got the calculations right. Without that you've got no certainty the build is sound.

Also, I'd be questioning the motives / skills / knowledge of a developer that fails to do the absolute basic paperwork.

What Hefty says. I'd be suspicious about walls being removed with no building control notification.

@Velocio - sell LFGSS, buy house...

don't hate me people

I have so missed that boat... twice.

The first time when I was offered £150k and 2 years employment at £100k per annum.

The second time when I was offered a range figure between £100k and £175k.

I declined both because I believed that Microcosm would yield more, and be better for the community. It's been the latter, but yielded far far less.

Oh well.

As it stands now, without us running adverts and everything... we are probably not an attractive target for a buy-out any more.

One needs to prove sustainable revenue, and the affiliate model has largely failed, and we don't do display adverts.

Oh well.

But I will get a home regardless. It will happen.

Good luck with all that VB.

Thanks for the advice all. It now transpires that the seller definitively does not have building control sign off for the work. They have offered indemnity but I have said i'll only accepted it if they can provide evidence that it was checked by a structural engineer. I've found a local engineer willing to do this for a fee within a week if they can't provide. I don't think that is unreasonable.

I agree it's very strange that they haven't fulfilled this basic requirement given the trouble that they've gone to in other areas. They had an architect on the job and fit and finish appear to be to a good spec. I've asked the question as to why not and await and answer on that the other questions.

The only thing I can think is that as the guy owns and has renovated at least one other property on the street, in which he currently lives. Perhaps he originally planned on living in this one and having done the work himself to the architect's design decided not to bother with BC. Perhaps he then decided to change tack and live in the other property and flog this one which is why is has no sign off? I dunno. It's all a bit odd.

*edit. I've re-read the waffle they sent me and they state that the work was carried out "with a structural engineer".

The thing is, it's all very well getting structural engineers and architects involved, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it would pass building control. My girlfriend is an architect and designed our small extension, but the original wall cavity did not meet building control's specifications and so was revised. They also visit at various points during construction to make sure that you are following what was specified on paper.

The existing small extension which we demolished before building the new one didn't have building control sign-off or planning permission. Our builder asked me to dig down to see how deep the existing foundations were. They were only 0.4m whereas building control demand 1.2m (although this is circumstantial).

A friend of mine moved into a house nearby me with an existing loft extension. The previous owners didn't bother having things done properly, and when it reached winter my friend found that the attic was unusable as there was no insulation installed!

Have a look at the last name of the 'architect' and 'engineer' too.

Anyone had ikea install a kitchen?

Anyone know much about monitored alarm systems (with guard response)? I'm of the impression that standard bell-only systems are pretty useless but we had an attempted break-in whilst on holiday and Mrs Hammer is pretty freaked out...

I had someone from Verisure round today and it's pretty pricey (but nice) and the main downside is that you're tied to a 3-year contract, which doesn't really fit with our travel plans.

I think there are systems where if there is an attempt, you'd be alerted then you can do whatever you want? Like call the polica... I can't remember where I saw it but it's linked to your mobile phone or something. I will have a look after dinner.

@BRM I've asked to see all of the supporting docs they're provided. No response from the seller yet.

Bells only is a fairly decent option. Touch wood I've not seen any attempts on alarmed houses in London. One advantage of guard response is you don't have to have a key holder for the inevitable false alarms. ADT do a system where they call a list of numbers when the alarm goes off to check the situation. It's a step up from bells only.

Sorry! I know this is old ground but I have a question about recommended solicitors.

I'm at the beginning of purchasing a property (offer accepted etc) and a decent amount of our funds are tied up in a government 'Help To Buy ISA' (the kind where you get a 25% bonus on your savings). I know these funds can't be used towards a deposit but can be used for Stamp Duty among other things a bit further down the line.

I gather they require a bit of work on behalf of the solicitor to get the funds released swiftly and at the correct stage of the purchase but our current solicitor has zero experience of doing this so I'm looking at other options.

TL:DR - can anybody recommend a solicitor who did a good job, for a decent price and dealt with successfully releasing your Help To Buy ISA and the attached government 'bonus' on a timescale which didn't mess up your transaction?

TL:DR - can anybody recommend a solicitor who did a good job, for a decent price and dealt with successfully releasing your Help To Buy ISA and the attached government 'bonus' on a timescale which didn't mess up your transaction?

I found this a bit of a ball-ache. My partner and I were putting the max £200 per person per month into our H2B ISAs and annoyingly our simultaneous exchange/completion fell on the first week of a new calendar month, therefore me being a greedy bastard, I wanted to deposit another £400 for a little extra free money, but we were required to close our ISAs so that our Sols could process the funds in a timely manner prior to completion.

I'd advise you to not be so greedy and close down the ISA as soon as you know the potential exchange/completion date - You may lose out on a little extra free money, but it was more stress that could have been avoided. If (God forbid) the sale falls through, you can always re-open the ISA with the same level of funds and you wont lose your bonus.

My Sols were 'BPL Solicitors' who handled the whole purchase efficiently, but I'm based down South, so might not be suitable if you've got a complex purchase and need face-to-face time like we required.