Query just before buying house

missyver

Hi

I'm looking for some advice.

We have agreed to buy house and the price has been agreeded. We had an engineer look at house and there was a question raised about garage.

Basically some work was done on garage to convert it into living area but it was never completed and isn't a garage either so it's kinda neither. The ceiling isn't high enough for it to be a living area and building work done isn't great - ceiling isn't straight and other things.

My engineer/solicitor has requested people selling house to provide planning permission for this and a cert of compliance with building regulation from local authority however they are refusing to provide this or apply for this. My engineer says this should be easy for them to apply for but they refuse.

Where does that leave us? Should we pull out of sale of house?

padser

missyver wrote: »

Hi

I'm looking for some advice.

We have agreed to buy house and the price has been agreeded. We had an engineer look at house and there was a question raised about garage.

Basically some work was done on garage to convert it into living area but it was never completed and isn't a garage either so it's kinda neither. The ceiling isn't high enough for it to be a living area and building work done isn't great - ceiling isn't straight and other things.

My engineer/solicitor has requested people selling house to provide planning permission for this and a cert of compliance with building regulation from local authority however they are refusing to provide this or apply for this. My engineer says this should be easy for them to apply for but they refuse.

Where does that leave us? Should we pull out of sale of house?

Your solicitor will give you the legal risks (if any), your engineer will give you the structural risks (if any). After that it's up to you to decide whether the price for what you getting makes it worth your while.

Unsure how someone else can answer this for you, especially given they wouldn't have the relevant info from your solicitor and engineer

handlemaster

Aggree with replier its a decision for you. No one can make it for u

missyver

Thanks for your response.

I guess my issue is that the seller could apply for these Certs however they aren't willing too and I just don't understand why they won't.

The solicitor is telling us to talk to engineer. The engineer says the seller should provide this info however they refuse to.

I guess I'm bit concerned about legal consequences. If there wasn't an issue, they would apply for these Certs surely?

handlemaster

By what u said the work is shoddy. Ceiling to low etc. Factor in cost of changing all of this. If its to much pull out. If not maybe ask for a price reduction. But that depends on the area etc Dublin vendor less likely to move on price.p

missyver

handlemaster wrote: »

By what u said the work is shoddy. Ceiling to low etc. Factor in cost of changing all of this. If its to much pull out. If not maybe ask for a price reduction. But that depends on the area etc Dublin vendor less likely to move on price.p

Already asked for price reduction and it was refused.

I guess I'm concerned buying something that mightn't have correct planning permission or building regulation and then, this will become our problem. There aren't any legal docs to confirm it so engineer says they need to provide this before we buy and that it shouldn't be a big deal for them to do it so not sure why they refuse to.

If we were to sell house or re-mortgage we were told we would have issues until this is resolved.

I just don't know what to do

handlemaster

What u describe is not livable in. So I Dont see the issue. It will have to be reworked. Revert yo my last post.

KK4SAM

Has the garage door been remove a replaced by a window?
Does ceiling seem low or has the floor been raised to match the rest of the house.?

I thought internal renovations were exempt from planning or is it in breech because for change of use ?

Apart from the shoddy work I don't think its a show stopper.

missyver

handlemaster wrote: »

What u describe is not livable in. So I Dont see the issue. It will have to be reworked. Revert yo my last post.

Ok but it's a garage - so was never liveable. They tried to convert but it's still not liveable and I would only ever use it as a garage anyways

missyver

KK4SAM wrote: »

Has the garage door been remove a replaced by a window?
Does ceiling seem low or has the floor been raised to match the rest of the house.?

I thought internal renovations were exempt from planning or is it in breech because for change of use ?

Apart from the shoddy work I don't think its a show stopper.

Yea the garage door has been changed and replaced by wall and front door.

The front and back elevation has changed too and the "use" has changed.

My engineer said it could be excempt from planning and if not, there should be no problem getting correct planning agreement from local authority but seller refuses to do this. I would apply only I can't cause I'm not the owner.

The second issue is compliance of building regulations. My engineer says they should apply for this or apply for cert of retention and he thinks there should be no problem getting this but they refuse to apply

whatnext

The seller is in effect handing on the compliance risk. For them not having planning or regs compliance cert is a bit of a problem, however being refused retention and compliance is a major problem.

If in the op's position I'd threaten to pull the plug on it unless you get what you want in relation to compliance or price. Make it known that you are in no doubt that they will have the same issues with other potential buyers lenders/solicitors/surveyors.

MouseTail

whatnext wrote: »

The seller is in effect handing on the compliance risk. For them not having planning or regs compliance cert is a bit of a problem, however being refused retention and compliance is a major problem
.

Not really. It is exempted development (unless its a listed building). It sounds like internally it doesn't meet regs,and was a DIY job, so a compliance cert is going to be impossible to get, but OP says he doesn't want to use it as habitable space anyway.

Not a show stopper for me either.

ted1

Plenty of people have converted garages by simple changing the door for a window plastering the walls. And putting down flooring. Ignoring regulations and Certs is the room useable?

Personal if its as above then I would not be worried as I understand what's being done.

They probably can't get Certs as it might be out if code but still functional.

Where is the house ? If its in Dublin they probably aren't. I there's spending money when the next bidder may offer more and look for no Certs.

missyver

ted1 wrote: »

Plenty of people have converted garages by simple changing the door for a window plastering the walls. And putting down flooring. Ignoring regulations and Certs is the room useable?

Personal if its as above then I would not be worried as I understand what's being done.

They probably can't get Certs as it might be out if code but still functional.

Where is the house ? If its in Dublin they probably aren't. I there's spending money when the next bidder may offer more and look for no Certs.

House isn't in Dublin and room is useable as a garage/storage area not for living in

missyver

missyver wrote: »

House isn't in Dublin and room is useable as a garage/storage area not for living in

Just to confirm - I never want it to live in, I'm happy to use it as garage.

However I have been advised that I mightn't be able to sell it in future because it doesn't have compliance of building regulation cert because they refuse to get it.

I was just wondering how that would affect me or whether I should pull out of sale

MagicMarker

How is it usable as a garage is there's a wall and window in place of the garage door?

GerardKeating

MagicMarker wrote: »

How is it usable as a garage is there's a wall and window in place of the garage door?

And Would planning permission be required to "convert" is back to a Garage.

missyver

MagicMarker wrote: »

How is it usable as a garage is there's a wall and window in place of the garage door?

Yea there is a wall, window and front door in place of garage door so can never be used as a garage to store a car. But the garage is quiet small so I think only a small car would ever have fit info it anyways.

You can also access this storage area from back of house so would be more used for storage space than anything else however they had tried to change it into a room to live in but it can never be lived in, at the level of work that has been put into it at moment

missyver

GerardKeating wrote: »

And Would planning permission be required to "convert" is back to a Garage.

That I'm not 100% sure about. I don't think so. However obviously some work will need to be done to convert back to a garage