I bought a house in 2003, with existing extension from 1988,but It was never signed off by building control.?
Question:I bought a house in 1988, with a small kitchen extension. The conveyancer had the plans in the conveyancing pack and said it was all in order. I have had some other work done and there are faults with the extension build. It did have planning permission granted, but it was never signed off by the building control. Where do I stand in terms of getting it fixed? Is my conveyancer at fault for not checking?
Answers:
Sounds like the seller may have incorrectly answered the question about building control consent in the legal enquiry into the property made by the purchasing solicitor. The seller may have confused Planning Authority and building control consent.
Ask your solicitor about these enquiries made to the seller at offer stage.
I wonder if the problems are relating to regulations which have been superseded?
Building Control can issue a "letter of comfort" which acknowledges that the build is compliant with the regulations. Check fee for this with Building Control.
You need to have the build assessed against regulations current in 1988 since regulations have changed enormously since that time and it would not comply if assessed against current regs.
If in fact the building had a submisssion to building control in 1988 and did not get a completion certificate from building control,
(signing off as you describe it) then as a long shot it may be possible to request a completion certificate based on the drawings submitted in 1988 if the Local Authority still hold these drawings in their archives.
Have you asked the building control officer /inspector what he could do to assist you here and what would the cost be? Cheaper,quicker and possibly more effective and useful than trying to sue your lawyer which could take forever and cost a small fortune which you might lose if you are unsuccessful.
You can complain about a solicitor via the complaints procedure at the Law Society.
Good luck
If you're not changing any details then it will only be a formality to get it signed off.
when you say...getting ti fixed.getting it fixed by whom? As the build was almost 20 years ago, it would be pointless going back to the builder..if you could find him. The conveyance however, should have found out any problems with plans etc From my experience - do your own conveyance - you end up doing most of the work yourself in any event
I just went through a similar situation but with a furnace. What you can do is have the county (or your country's equivalent) do the final inspection and if they find any faults, it must be remedied by the contractors who did the initial installation at no cost to the current homeowner. At least that is how it worked here.
Get hold of your conveyancer and tell him to sort it out. But it will be you to pay, To put right what the building control officer says is wrong
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