Is there any way to find out what is outstanding in a BR application?

23vc · 22 Nov 2019

Asking on behalf of my brother who’s trying to buy a house. Loft conversion done in 2002, can see the full plans approval on the Labc web site search, but no further info.
Seller is telling him it was all signed off apart from some issue with a door or something, but is there any way of validating that? Will BC provide that info from their files? Ie what actually got inspected and what’s outstanding.

Leofric · 22 Nov 2019

Does the seller have any paperwork from building control

23vc · 22 Nov 2019

Leofric said:
Does the seller have any paperwork from building control

Don’t believe so

^woody^ · 22 Nov 2019

Don't you pay a Solicitor to deal with things like this?

23vc · 22 Nov 2019

Yep, but solicitor doesn’t seem to even have got as far as the search button on the labc website, hence the question. Reckon the solicitor should be able to get this info from the council then?

^woody^ · 22 Nov 2019

Yes, not all the records are accessible by the public or on the web

23vc · 22 Nov 2019

Yeah, wasn’t sure if the council would release it to anyone other than the applicant though?
If the solicitor can get the info then great

oldbutnotdead · 24 Nov 2019

If the seller was issued with a completion certificate it will have been headed with big block caps 'Keep this safe, duplicates may not be available'. I don't understand why the local council can't keep records but if seller can't produce the completion certificate then assume the extension is non-compliant and offer on that basis

^woody^ · 24 Nov 2019

oldbutnotdead said:
If the seller was issued with a completion certificate it will have been headed with big block caps 'Keep this safe, duplicates may not be available'. I don't understand why the local council can't keep records but if seller can't produce the completion certificate then assume the extension is non-compliant and offer on that basis

There will be a site history for both planning and building regs, and a form of electronic diary for the inspections, with comments and results ... and if the works are complete and certified.

The old stuff would have been microfiched, but that should all be electronic now anyway. Whilst councils may not have been obligated to keep copies of certificates, almost all did.

23vc · 24 Nov 2019

There’s no completion certificate.
The seller claims that most of the work was signed off but never got completion due to some minor issues.
So they want to see evidence of this on the files, which apparently the owner has to request and can be done for about 40 quid. So they’re hoping the seller agrees to do so.

JohnD · 24 Nov 2019

oldbutnotdead said:
If the seller was issued with a completion certificate it will have been headed with big block caps 'Keep this safe, duplicates may not be available'. I don't understand why the local council can't keep records but if seller can't produce the completion certificate then assume the extension is non-compliant and offer on that basis

Absolutely.

Like buying a second hand car with no MoT

"Oh, it failed on some minor thing...."

But it could cost thousands to find out and fix.

John D v2.0 · 25 Nov 2019

when I called our council to find out what was outstanding (builder finished on site, kitchen to fit) they just said "everything" and didn't really expand on that.

23vc · 26 Nov 2019

Thanks all. Seller has now apparently said they will get BCO back out and get it properly signed off, should be interesting. At least they’ll only be satisfying 2002regs... maybe

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Is there any way to find out what is outstanding in a BR application?

Leofric

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