Buying a timber frame

Duncan31

Im buying a timber frame house 6 years old. ITs quite cheap at the minute. Im having an Engineer inspect it and the site boundary and the planning file as advised by solicitor.

Solicitor has given me a file to pass to engineer that includes energy data and site map and house plans. Engineer mentioned that he would be looking for a cert about the timber frame design as that would be outside of what he could inspect at this time or something along those lines.
Should I have this cert for him? Should solicitor have this and what is it called?

mrgaa1

the company that supplied the timber frame kit will be able to do this as an engineer has to sign off on the initial design.

Duncan31

Hi
This is still ongoing. Engineer has visited the house, its perfect. I gave him compliance cert and foundation cert. There doesnt appear to be any detail available on the timber frame. He is saying that although the building is fine, he cannot comment on building regulation compliance (i think) as there is nothing to say that timber frame has been professionally designed & signed off.
He is being overly fussy or is he correct? Its odd as many houses have been sold in the estate before.

BryanF

Duncan31 wrote: »

Hi
This is still ongoing. Engineer has visited the house, its perfect. I gave him compliance cert and foundation cert. There doesnt appear to be any detail available on the timber frame. He is saying that although the building is fine, he cannot comment on building regulation compliance (i think) as there is nothing to say that timber frame has been professionally designed & signed off.
He is being overly fussy or is he correct? Its odd as many houses have been sold in the estate before.

what has your solicitor said on the matter, should he/she not be expected to have such things on file?

re engineer: its his/her insurance on the line so yes not supprised at the fussy'ness, remember its only a visual defects report that he can prepare (unless he can go knock holes in the wall:))
as the other poster said, its only 6 years old, find out who the original timber frame company was and the certifying engineer/architect and hassle them for the certs.
you could pay him to do this for you! but check back with solictor first, as the sellers should really oblige in this instance.

Duncan31

Thanks for reply.
Ive no intention of paying for anything tbh. I will just walk away. Anyway, it appears the timber frame company no longer exists. The Engineer has said off the record that he is 100% confident of the suitability of the structure from his knowledge of who built them etc but speaking to him again. he is saying he can now only give favourable comment on planning compliance, general condition from the survey & that the site is located as per planning etc.
He says he will have to highlight that there is no structural cert for the frame as this is a serious issue and even if my solicitor/myself was happy to buy it on those conditions, it would likely come back to bite him if I was selling on in future if he didnt make it clear that this cert was not present. He seems to be saying that the building cannot meet the building regulations without this although I dont understand how that works.

martinn123

Perhaps I am missing something here, but is the Vendor, not responsible for supplying all the necessary Certs....I can understand the OP having a survey, and checking planning etc, but the Cert required should have been provided 6 yrs ago, when the house was built....Unless it was built without a mortgage, the original solicitor would not have signed off on the Title, to the Bank, and without a mortgage, same care was required to ensure Title was clear....So rather than the OP running around looking to fund Certs, refer it to the Vendors Solicitor....Or am I being too simplistic?

galwaytt

You're right, it is a vendor issue.

But, herein lies an opportunity for the buyer, if he's prepared to do a little leg-work, and 'charge' appropriately for it (i.e., adjust your offer to compensate).

Go to one of the neighbours, find out who the company who built the frame was. They should have a cert for their house in any case, signed by someone.

Then, find out who that SE was, and ring them up, and see if you can get a new cert issued by the same engineer. Many TF's use self-employed SE's to do Cert's, so it's possible that engineer is still out there practicing.

Just a thought, is all.

Peter Sweeney

Some timber framed houses, especially, apartments, semi-detached or terraced house may have serious issues with their party wall structures, not to mention ventilation. Proceed with care.