Non-motoring > House sellers - for crying out loud Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Fursty Ferret Replies: 19
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 09:14 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - Fursty Ferret
Them: "We're really keen to complete quickly".
Me: "Great. Looks in good condition, here's the [asking price]".
Them: "Apparently your pesky solicitor is asking for annoying things like building control certificates. We think it had one but we've lost it. That's not a problem, right?".
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Thu 17 Mar 22 at 09:16
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 09:29 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - Boxsterboy
Copies of Building Regs certificates can be easily obtained from Local Authority, assuming there was one in the first place...

Alternatively an indemnity policy against LA enforcement action, depending on how significant the matter is.
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 09:39 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - bathtub tom
I'm selling at the moment. Buyers sent a surveyor who wasn't interested in receipts for windows and cavity insulation. Solicitor has planning permission approval and building regs certificate for all work since I've been here.

We then had questions about FENSA certificate for windows (they pre-date that) and CIGA for cavity wall (it pre-dates that). The receipts would have shown that. They also asked what we'd done about supporting the floor above when we knocked the lounge through to the dining room. There never was a wall between.
They now want to have the gas and electrics examined. The back boiler's over twenty years old, a fact they were made fully aware of. It would fail current regs on several points, but it met all the regs when it was installed.

House buyers - for crying out loud!
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 09:45 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - Fursty Ferret
>> Copies of Building Regs certificates can be easily obtained from Local Authority, assuming there was
>> one in the first place...
>>
>> Alternatively an indemnity policy against LA enforcement action, depending on how significant the matter is.
>>

Unfortunately in the first case the sellers and their solicitors don't appear willing to do this, because if there isn't one then you can't get an indemnity policy.

I'm not sure indemnity policies are the way forward anyway, as they do nothing to prove it's built safely and a surveyor wouldn't be able to confirm this without tearing it apart.

>> They now want to have the gas and electrics examined.
It's their own money, I suppose. Surveys bit pointless in this respect because they always have level 3 findings for electricity and heating.
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Thu 17 Mar 22 at 09:48
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 10:25 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - bathtub tom
>>level 3 findings for electricity and heating.
Is not a phrase that means anything to me. Can you explain it please?

I did local authority search for planning permissions and building control certificates for the property I bought. Local authority were very helpful, even to the extent of copying their fiche and emailing it to me for the planning consent. Had to pay (£10 - £20) for a copy of building control regs.

Are you aware you can get a flood risk assessment for free from the environment agency? Solicitor wanted to charge for this!
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 10:35 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - Fursty Ferret
Interesting. I know some councils have the certificates available online but mine is adamant that it's personal data and won't give anything away.

I'd argue that it's in the public interest to know if housing developments have been built without appropriate sign-off. Maybe they just couldn't be bothered. It is a council, after all.
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 10:38 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - Fursty Ferret
Surveys grade problems on a level of 1 to 3.

Level 1: "The customer is paying quite a lot for this so I need to find something."

Level 2: "Would get this fixed quite quickly if it was my house."

Level 3: "DOOOOOOOOOM."

Because they don't test or inspect the electricity or gas side of things it automatically gets level 3 to cover their backside.
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 12:16 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - Zero
Its a sellers market, tell them to eff off and it will go to the next buyer.
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 15:00 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - smokie
Daughter is looking to sell/buy at the moment. If it's still so, I think the "sellers market" might apply further up the food chain but she's barely had a nibble at a decent well priced 1st time 1 bed buyer's flat in leafy Crowthorne, and quite a few of the 2 bed newer build places she is looking at to buy have been on the market a while now, despite having been reduced.

In fact I think the sellers market time has passed for now down our way.

Also I read that more companies are moving back to office working and therefore demand for "a place in the country" is reducing.
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 16:04 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - CGNorwich
Rampant inflation then recession is just around the corner. No need to reminisce about the Seventies we are about to relive them.
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 16:23 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - Dog
>>No need to reminisce about the Seventies we are about to relive them.

Good, petrol was 35p per gallon in 1972, and we only had 3 channels on the idiots' lantern.
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 16:53 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - CGNorwich
"Good, petrol was 35p per gallon in 1972,"

Not really

24 months later it had gone up over 100% to 73p per gallon

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New Thu 17 Mar 22 16:55 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - Zero
>> "Good, petrol was 35p per gallon in 1972,"
>>
>> Not really
>>
>> 24 months later it had gone up over 100% to 73p per gallon

And we had ration books for it
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 17:03 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - CGNorwich
Saved over from the Suez crisis I believe
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 17:03 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - PeterS
73 p in 1974 is worth £8.09 according to the BoE calculator, so at the moment it’s still cheaper in real terms than it was then. :)

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New Thu 17 Mar 22 16:53 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - Zero

>> In fact I think the sellers market time has passed for now down our way.

My estate agent cuz in kent will disagree, Feb = 3 x the number of instructions than normal, and every property going for or more than asking price and under offer in less than 2 weeks
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 17:46 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - Fullchat
When you think that in the height of Lock Down 2020 petrol nearly got down to £1 /Ltr.
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 18:07 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - zippy
>> When you think that in the height of Lock Down 2020 petrol nearly got down
>> to £1 /Ltr.
>>

And oil prices went negative.

Some Essex guys made a fortune on the back of that and now are being sued with some law agencies looking to see if they did anything illegal (poor losers).

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9087947/Essex-traders-491m-one-day-face-legal-challenge.html

I recall at the time wishing that I knew where to store several hundred thousand barrels of oil and being paid to take it!
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New Thu 17 Mar 22 20:44 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - R.P.
Copies of Building Regs certificates can be easily obtained from Local Authority, assuming there was one in the first place..

Easier to take for the seller to take out an indemnity during the process.
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New Fri 18 Mar 22 07:29 
 House sellers - for crying out loud - RichardW
LA can only take enforcement action for Building regs for 1 year. It is 10 for planning. So there is no chance of getting prosecuted, the only question is will it fall down? If it's been there 20 years, then the answer is probably no....
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