Building regulations for moving bathroom upstairs

[bibi]

I would appreciate some advice for a property my daughter owns.

She bought the property in March of this year and decided to move the bathroom from ground floor to the first floor after sectioning off the larger bedroom in the front of the house. The plumbing was done by a gas engineer who also fitted the gas hob and repaired the boiler . He gave a gas safety certificate. When I asked the a certificate for completion of the bathroom he said that he was not registered as a competent person and could not sign that off.

We also had the house rewired and have got a certificate for that. My daughter as a result of getting another job has decided to sell the property and has now found a buyer. On the questionnaire sent by the solicitor, it clearly asks about any changes and we do need to inform them about the changes but they have requested certificate which we do not have. I subsequently tried to find a plumber, heating engineer who was registered as a competent person to check and sign off but no one was willing to do that as they had not done the work

What can we do?

With regard to the work.

The partitioning wall is 100mm studded and has sound insulation. The soil pipe runs from the front of the house under the joists to the rear of the property to join the stack. The total run is about 6.3m The stack outside is vented. The basin and bath are are connected to a separate 50mm pipe which runs parallel to the soil pipe. Both have access points at the rear of the property. The pipes drop about 20mm per metre and have got sound insulation around them.

We have also cut a new window for the bathroom which is double glazed and installed a fan.

Appreciate advice.

 

[Millwright]

You've had a gas safe certificate, so if he's issued that then he must be registered as competent? The gas work is certified so what else needs to be?

 

[Nakajo]

Can an indemnity be obtained in this instance?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You can apply to the council building control to get retrospective approval or buy a valueless indemnity insurance.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You've had a gas safe certificate, so if he's issued that then he must be registered as competent? The gas work is certified so what else needs to be?

Moving a bathroom is notifiable.

 

[^woody^]

You can't get anyone to sign off the bathroom work, and it's not covered in any competent person scheme.

It will need an application with the council for 'regularisation'. They will check it, and approve it, or let you know what needs to be done.

The problem with trying for an indemnity policy, is that if it gets surveyed by a buyer's surveyor, then he might question the safety and quality of the work, and longer term implications of the drainage system (blockages and leaks), and this will be beyond the scope of any policy, and will also put buyers off.

If the quality of the work is known to be satisfactory, then yes an indemnity policy might be an option. But be careful about relying on this option, only for sale to fall through at the last minute.

 

[bibi]

Thanks all
Gas cert is done that has nothing to do with bathroom being moved.

We have since found out that moving bathroom is notifiable and hence the questions.

The quality of the work does appear to be good but some have advised not to go through building control.

Have not yet talked to our solicitor as wanted to see if we could get a certificate.

I think we will fill in the forms and then let the our or the buyers solicitor decide if we can get away with an indemnity or go to building regs.

 

[Nakajo]

Where it's retrospective, you don't have a choice