Advice needed, wall removed, need council to sign it off.

[DanC123]

Hi,

I'm selling my 1930's mid terrace house and the buyers survey has alerted the buyer to the fact that the wall between our kitchen and dining area has been removed. It was done before I bought the house 10yrs ago, so I have no paperwork or knowledge about it. They are now insisting that i get the work inspected and signed off by the council.
I've removed a bit of the plaster on the beam and it looks like its a concrete lintel. Directly above is an internal wall between bathroom and bedroom and the lintel runs parallel to the rafters. The visible beam (including plaster is just over 100mm square and spans a gap of 2080mm. Its supported at one end by an external wall and at the other by a remaining part of the original wall.
Does anyone know if this will be accepted and signed off by the council's building control?
If I need to replace it, what would the cost be (roughly)?
Can I just insert a suitable I-Beam beneath it and then plasterboard and plaster around the two?

I appreciate any help you can give.

Dan.

 

[^woody^]

Get your conveyancer to set up an indemnity policy. Don't involve building control.

 

[DanC123]

Get your conveyancer to set up an indemnity policy. Don't involve building control.

Thanks for the response, that was the intention, but their solicitor has advised them not to accept an indemnity policy. They want building control approval in case they need to sell in the future.

 

[^woody^]

They wont be affected in a future sale, as they will already know about the issue and will put it on the market based on that.

If an offer has already been made, you will be out of pocket now.

You could either advse them that you will need the offer upped to cover the cost, or take it as is with an indemnity else you will accept another buyers offer. You conveyancer should be doing this on your behalf.

Or yeah, drop a big 9" beam below that, get it signed off and see if they like it.

But TBH, if that has been in all this time and there is no distress, then it should pass a building regs inspection.

 

[John D v2.0]

<the buyers> want building control approval in case they need to sell in the future.

Surely the buyers have a keen sense of irony to make that statement!
If it hasn't fallen down in 10 years I'm not sure what the big panic is.
If you really need to sell to them and they're really being unreasonable, you'll have to get an SE to calculate whether what's there is suitable. That would involve working out what the beam is and what the bearings look like.
If it were me I'd say it's original and leave it to them
Our surveyor picked up on a lintel for the patio door and said it needed checking for building control and opening up to confirm suitability. Of course there was none because building control records don't go back to the 1920s when the house was built. the sellers wouldn't have been impressed if I delayed things with that...

 

[Doggit]

Unless you're desperate to sell, then tell them to go take a jump; any work your solicitor has done will go towards the next buyer, so you're not really out of pocket. I can't say for certain about the indemnity, as you didn't do the work - and as it's been there for 10 years, then what's the issue. You bought it as is, and it's been fine, so what are they bitching about.

If they're are really worried, then they can take the concrete beam out, and install a steel one instead. This is an unreasonable fear on their part, and they're using a pedantic solicitor.

Woody would know better, but I suspect that if you were to contact building control, they would ask for the beam to be exposed, and then ask for a structural engineers calculations before they'd sig it off - but they might also tell you that they won't get involved as you're not actually doing any work. And if you were to call a structural engineer in to prove it's okay, what would you do if they said it's not up to spec.

 

[^woody^]

I don't think that they would (/should) ask for an SE to get involved for this, but it's a possibility.

Exposing the beam should only involve lifting a floor board. But if the plaster needs to come off for a look at the underside or bearings, then I'd be inclined to leave it off too

 

[Mottie]

Looks the same as mine after I had my wall removed. Mine was done over 15 years ago. I know they put a RSJ in there as I saw it done. I don’t remember building control getting involved and I have no certificates etc. Been fine since it was fitted - no movement or cracks and there’s a wall above it. I suppose I’ll have that aggro if and when we ever sell?

 

[tony1851]

The problem with getting an SE involved is that, being a concrete beam, the SE will be clueless about the loadbearing capacity because he won't know the type/sectional area/position of reinforcement or whether it is pre-stressed.
Only the manufacturer of the beam will be able to give its load-bearing capacity over any particular span,
so you need to find the manufacturer first........... and good luck with that....................
Otherwise just tell the prospective buyer to take a running jump - it's been there for ten years.