house purchased

[crabman1]

i purchased a house one year ago that had a garage converted into a bedroom, i later found out that building control passed the conversion retrospectively, while doing a refurbishment on the room i notice that the lentils above a window that was inserted in the old doorway are not to B/C standard, the roof above is being supported by these lintels and may be in danger of collapsing, can anyone tell me if building control may be liable for failing in there duty letting the previous owner get away with this mess, i spoke to a building control officer about it in the Council and asked him how can they pass work retrospectively, the original officer who passed the work was not present his colleague replied well he must have been able to see what had been done or he would not have passed it, it is obvious that the original B/C officer has not done his job properly, in the event of a structural collapse on that part of the building can the Council be held responsible for damages and costs,

thanks in advance for any replies

jsm

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Photos?

 

[crabman1]

Photos?

sorry do not have any photos freddy, i have had the area dry lined and replastererd now and did not think to take any,

 

[TheVictorian]

OK, so what is wrong with the 'lentils'?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

So you've drylined over something you think is structurally unsound?

 

[^woody^]

What evidence is there that the lintels are inadequate?

You will have no claims against the council anyway

 

[noseall]

Tell us more about these 'lentils'.

Like size, span, material...?

 

[crabman1]

Tell us more about these 'lentils'.

Like size, span, material...?

thanks all for your replies, yes i did mess up , the origanal garage opening was about 6 ft wide (1960 build) reading the posts above if anything were to happen one reply said " i would have no claim against the Council anyway" so it really answers the question for me, what i will do is come the better weather remove all the lining and recheck the job, if necessary i will redo it, the room is not in use and stands at the end of the building so if it it was to fail it would be a mess but not impossible to fix, this old bungalow stands well away from any houses, i will put a warning sign up to tell people to keep away until further notice the building is not in use at this time i plan to start work again come the summer its to darn cold at the moment , thanks again for your quick response to my question

 

[mfarrow]

You'll find that a majority of structures in this country are not compliant to modern building regs. This does not mean that they are about to fall down.

As woody has asked, what makes you think that your lintels are so inadequate as to warrant their immediate replacement? You only usually put warning signs up when condemning a building. Surely the BCI didn't get it that wrong?

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

Tell us more about these 'lentils'.

Like size, span, material...?

If the lentils are not upt o scratch they will need souping up thats for sure