Unfinished house build with no paperwork

bray_wanderer

A house is being sold with no papers, sold 'as is', 'what you see is what you get' according to the auctioneer.

It is an unfinished build, roof on, windows and doors fitted, not plastered, plumbed or wired.
It's dry inside, has not been affected by years lying idle. House build started in 2007.

It is being sold for the price of agricultural land so essentially, the house is costing nothing to buy.

The advice of the auctioneer is 'knock it'. He is operating on behalf of the bank.

The house had planning but the finished house is somewhat different to the plans, mostly on the interior [room layouts] but also a couple of doors to the outside in different places.

Most involved in the build are no longer in business/emigrated.

The surrounding agricultural land [15 acres] which comes with the house is of interest to me either way, but I also have the cash to finish the house.

The house is huge and an eyesore. It's in the country with no neighbours close.

I have looked at it with an engineer with the possibility of knocking 50% of it and finishing with a nice modest house. The engineer is happy this can be done.

My question involves issues with paperwork/planning.

I will apply for retention or whatever planning is necessary. I will simply be downsizing the eyesore to a normal sized house and converting a long time building site into a finished home for myself.

My understanding is that the only time I will hit problems with lack of paperwork [BER etc] from buying a house that is 'as seen - no paper' is if I wanted to resell it.

As I will be buying all surrounding lands, I will not be reselling this house anyway.

What other issues would I be likely to run into with a no paperwork build?

BryanF

bray_wanderer wrote: »

My question involves issues with paperwork/planning.

1. I will apply for retention or whatever planning is necessary....
2. My understanding is that the only time I will hit problems with lack of paperwork [BER etc] from buying a house that is 'as seen - no paper' is if I wanted to resell it.
3. What other issues would I be likely to run into with a no paperwork build?

1. possibly permission for demolition, retention and extension
2. for me it'd be about

• structure
• building regulation compliance
• building control compliance to complete
• BER and actual energy comfort/performance
• planning compliance

3. have you discussed the employment conditions & provisions of the engineer (& and ideally architect) for the duration of the build?

• what paperwork they would provide upon completion, for the above list?
• is the fact that part of the building would be demolished adequate for them to be confident of the build quality and the below ground materials that were previously installed?

bray_wanderer

Thanks for your reply.

The visible structure is good, engineer is happy with that. As for anything else such as foundation, at this stage it's only guesswork but I am aware of the history behind the house and I would expect it should have been to a very high standard.

I'm still at a very early stage, I have made an offer but haven't gone sale agreed yet. I am gathering a list of what questions/issues I need to consider before I proceed.

4Sticks

bray_wanderer wrote: »

What other issues would I be likely to run into with a no paperwork build?

A sensible certifier would wish to at least expose some area of foundations and drains for inspection together with some level of opening up of the external walls to see how well or poorly they are built.

At the same time a sit down with the local planner would be a vital step. See how that goes.

If both proceed well it is like a clean slate i.e. the new start point is the new application to partially demolish and re build - all correctly documented from then.

bray_wanderer

Thank you for the reply 4Sticks.

My fear would be that the latter step [meeting with planner] would not go well after spending money on the former, and that makes me question if it's worth the bother of tearing into someone else's unfinished leftovers.

I have to weigh up if it would be better/easier/cheaper to start a build on another area of land from scratch and have it exactly to my spec, avoiding the extra costs of demolition etc. And I suppose that is why the country is littered with unfinished shells as others have weighed up the same and found it is more trouble than it's worth.

4Sticks

So meet the planner first !
The planner may be very well disposed to you taking an eyesore and improving it.
Less so letting you loose onto a virgin site.