O/T Building regulations

[redrobo]

My daughter and son in law are in the process of agreeing the sale of their house in Preston.

Today the proposed purchaser had a survey undertaken of the property (built in 1973) but the surveyor is of the belief that an extension built in 1974 does not comply with current building regulations as the structure is of timber frame with an external skin of brickwork to match that of the original build.

In his opinion the extension is sound structurally but has warned my daughter and son in law that he will have to make his findings aware to the purchaser. What is annoying is that the firm of surveyors who undertook today's survey are the same firm who undertook a survey 3 years ago when my daughter bought the property but that the surveyor at that time did not make any reference to building regulations that in his opinion did not comply.

Both my daughter and son in law are not sure what to do now. I have advised them to consult their solicitor but have been warned that the sale may not go ahead with the current purchaser or anybody else due to the failure to comply in the surveyors opinion of the building regulations.

If anyone on this forum is familiar with the regs we would be grateful of their opinion of what can be done to resolve the situation.

Thanks on behalf of my daughter and son in law.

[KenH]

Very common for alterations made years ago to not comply with current building regulations. Most buyers are fine with it. Building regs change regularly over time. It's more of a "heads up" rather than a deal breaker.

The real problem is when an alteration didn't comply with building regulations in force at the time the alterations were done - now that really is usually a deal breaker, the more recent the alteration, the bigger the deal breaker.

As to why the surveyor didn't highlight at the time your daughter bought it is something for the surveyor firm to explain. It's possible that the blds regs have changed in the last 3 years or that the current proposed buyer has bought a "better" survey than the one your daughter bought. (From memory, I think there are 3 levels of survey, a basic valuation one, a more typical one or a top level survey - as you pay more, then more aspects are covered).