House Survey - Advice Needed

skerry

Hi folks, Im hoping someone here can help. My partner and I are sale agreed on a property and are at the point to organising the survey of the property.
Initially, my solicitor recommended to have a structural and boundary survey done. I priced around and this came in at E500 plus VAT, which is kind of what I expected.

We then received a letter from our solicitor to have the surveyor check that any extensions carried out to the property, would comply with Planning Permission and Building Regulations which were enforced at that time. I mentioned this to the surveyor and this doubled the cost of the survey so its now coming in over E1000 plus 23% VAT which is way over what we budgeted.

My questions are as follows:

- My solicitor has requested Planning Permissions and a Certificate of Compliance from the vendors solicitor. Surely the provision of a Certificate of Compliance with planning would negate the need for a surveyor to have to do any additional checks on this, or am I missing something?

- Do people generally get a surveyor to offer an opinion on compliance with building regulations (E250 plus VAT) or do they generally just get structural and boundary?

Obviously want to do the right thing here so we are definitely getting structural and boundary done but don’t want to be throwing another E500 on additional surveys if they are not needed.

Askthe EA

skerry wrote: »

Hi folks, Im hoping someone here can help. My partner and I are sale agreed on a property and are at the point to organising the survey of the property.
Initially, my solicitor recommended to have a structural and boundary survey done. I priced around and this came in at E500 plus VAT, which is kind of what I expected.

We then received a letter from our solicitor to have the surveyor check that any extensions carried out to the property, would comply with Planning Permission and Building Regulations which were enforced at that time. I mentioned this to the surveyor and this doubled the cost of the survey so its now coming in over E1000 plus 23% VAT which is way over what we budgeted.

My questions are as follows:

- My solicitor has requested Planning Permissions and a Certificate of Compliance from the vendors solicitor. Surely the provision of a Certificate of Compliance with planning would negate the need for a surveyor to have to do any additional checks on this, or am I missing something?

- Do people generally get a surveyor to offer an opinion on compliance with building regulations (E250 plus VAT) or do they generally just get structural and boundary?

Obviously want to do the right thing here so we are definitely getting structural and boundary done but don’t want to be throwing another E500 on additional surveys if they are not needed.

Your solicitor is being extremely cautious. Effectively, one could have planning for x size and the extension could be x +10m2 making it look compliant but it actually isnt. To me, that sounds like something the surveyor should have done dayone to be honest.

skerry

Askthe EA wrote: »

skerry wrote: »

Hi folks, Im hoping someone here can help. My partner and I are sale agreed on a property and are at the point to organising the survey of the property.
Initially, my solicitor recommended to have a structural and boundary survey done. I priced around and this came in at E500 plus VAT, which is kind of what I expected.

We then received a letter from our solicitor to have the surveyor check that any extensions carried out to the property, would comply with Planning Permission and Building Regulations which were enforced at that time. I mentioned this to the surveyor and this doubled the cost of the survey so its now coming in over E1000 plus 23% VAT which is way over what we budgeted.

My questions are as follows:

- My solicitor has requested Planning Permissions and a Certificate of Compliance from the vendors solicitor. Surely the provision of a Certificate of Compliance with planning would negate the need for a surveyor to have to do any additional checks on this, or am I missing something?

- Do people generally get a surveyor to offer an opinion on compliance with building regulations (E250 plus VAT) or do they generally just get structural and boundary?

Obviously want to do the right thing here so we are definitely getting structural and boundary done but don’t want to be throwing another E500 on additional surveys if they are not needed.

Your solicitor is being extremely cautious. Effectively, one could have planning for x size and the extension could be x +10m2 making it look compliant but it actually isnt.  To me, that sounds like something the surveyor should have done dayone to be honest.

Sounds like that to me too and I appreciate she is being cautious but I'm just conscious that every time she mentions the word 'survey' in a letter its another 200-300 euro.

To my inexperienced eye, surely if a certificate of compliance with planning is provided then we shouldn't be expecting any surprises on that front? Besides that, the extension was built in 2003 so the 7 year rule should apply for any slight discrepancies.

Regarding the building regs, the vendor is a builder so I'd hope he built his own house in compliance (I know that could go the other way too). But surely any surveyor worth his salt would highlight if a wall was at a 45 degree angle or made entirely out of paper mache.

We wouldn't even think of proceeding without structural and boundary survey but the rest is just starting to get way too expensive. Where do you draw the line between being cautious and throwing money away.

skerry

So we finally got the survey done. Turns out the vendor got the planning and building regs survey done so lucky we didn't go rushing off to fork out cash for them.

One thing that showed up in the report is that the window in one of the bedrooms is too far up off the ground according to fire regs. Think its 1.3 m off the ground versus 1.1 m specified in the regs.

Anyone know if that's a big issue to get sorted as we're near the stage of signing contracts and need to figure out if its something that we need to investigate getting the vendor to cover.

Also, can it be advertised as a bedroom if its not fully compliant with fire regs?

Any advice appreciated.

Askthe EA

skerry wrote: »

So we finally got the survey done. Turns out the vendor got the planning and building regs survey done so lucky we didn't go rushing off to fork out cash for them.

One thing that showed up in the report is that the window in one of the bedrooms is too far up off the ground according to fire regs. Think its 1.3 m off the ground versus 1.1 m specified in the regs.

Anyone know if that's a big issue to get sorted as we're near the stage of signing contracts and need to figure out if its something that we need to investigate getting the vendor to cover.

Also, can it be advertised as a bedroom if its not fully compliant with fire regs?

Any advice appreciated.

Hmm. I'm no engineer but I suspect this is a fairly major issue unfortunately. The bank won't lend on a non compliant house. You're correct, a non compliant bedroom isn't a bedroom (common issue with attic conversions).

I had a similar issue with an extension. The window was too close to boundary wall. The purchasers got a quote from a builder to rectify which was agreed with their engineer. This was knocked off the purchase price and the work was done after the sale closed (with agreement of the purchasers bank).

Perhaps this is something you could look into?

skerry

Askthe EA wrote: »

Hmm. I'm no engineer but I suspect this is a fairly major issue unfortunately. The bank won't lend on a non compliant house. You're correct, a non compliant bedroom isn't a bedroom (common issue with attic conversions).

I had a similar issue with an extension. The window was too close to boundary wall. The purchasers got a quote from a builder to rectify which was agreed with their engineer. This was knocked off the purchase price and the work was done after the sale closed (with agreement of the purchasers bank).

Perhaps this is something you could look into?

Thanks for the reply.

We are meeting with our solicitor this week and plan on discussing it with them. Solicitor only got the report this evening so haven't got their feedback on it yet so I'm not sure if they will highlight any issue the bank might have with this so will wait and see.

Regards a possible resolution, we would be hoping for something similar to what you outlined above as we are pretty far along in the transaction now and it seems like that might be the easiest resolution for all.

Askthe EA

skerry wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

We are meeting with our solicitor this week and plan on discussing it with them. Solicitor only got the report this evening so haven't got their feedback on it yet so I'm not sure if they will highlight any issue the bank might have with this so will wait and see.

Regards a possible resolution, we would be hoping for something similar to what you outlined above as we are pretty far along in the transaction now and it seems like that might be the easiest resolution for all.

Good luck with it. Keep us posted as this kind of hiccup is common and you're outcome will guide others.

Askthe EA

I think a lot of conveyancing experience was wiped out in the bust and a lot of the newer solicitors are risk adverse.

budhabob

When was the house built?

skerry

budhabob wrote: »

When was the house built?

House was originally built in early 90's and extended in early 2000's.
I think what happened with the room in question is that the plans originally were drawn up so that the bedroom was to the front of the house and the bathroom to the back hence the smaller window. Looks like after external work was done they decided it made more sense to have the bathroom to the front and the bedroom to the back but the window was in at that stage and it was never rectified.

antoinolachtnai

It may actually not be as big a job to rectify as it sounds. The lintel providing support above the window is in place already after all and won't need to be moved.

skerry

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

It may actually not be as big a job to rectify as it sounds. The lintel providing support above the window is in place already after all and won't need to be moved.

That's what I'm hoping but would like to get it sorted anyway cos between the work and a replacement window it will be over a grand to get it sorted anyway.

It was mentioned above that the room may not be classed as a bedroom if not compliant with regs and the bank may have an issue with this so hoping that's not the case. Bank have never requested structural survey or to see the results so I'm not sure how they would even know about it.

skerry

Askthe EA wrote: »

skerry wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

We are meeting with our solicitor this week and plan on discussing it with them. Solicitor only got the report this evening so haven't got their feedback on it yet so I'm not sure if they will highlight any issue the bank might have with this so will wait and see.

Regards a possible resolution, we would be hoping for something similar to what you outlined above as we are pretty far along in the transaction now and it seems like that might be the easiest resolution for all.

Good luck with it. Keep us posted as this kind of hiccup is common and you're outcome will guide others.

Just an update on this as promised. We asked our solicitor to request that the vendor rectify the issue but we got a reply of a big fat no. We were never going to let the sale fall through because of it but no harm in asking. We did get the house at a good bit below asking so we were basically told the house was 'as is' and if we had paid asking price they would have rectified any and all issues (which I've no way of knowing if they would or not).

Bank never asked for survey results so no issue there. The window currently in there is one of the windows where the top quarter or so of the window opens (kind of like a bathroom window). We will look into replacing with a normal window after we move in and that will be enough for us as we won't be selling the house for a very long time, if ever.

Just got the call that our keys are ready to collect this evening so we are delighted to finally be at the end of it and to get started to work in our new home.

antoinolachtnai

Congratulations! I hope all goes well.

If you are changing the window, you might be as well making the opening larger and getting the house fully compliant. The extra cost will not be much when you are changing the window anyway. It might make the room more comfortable, which would be the main reason to do it.

skerry

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Congratulations! I hope all goes well.

If you are changing the window, you might be as well making the opening larger and getting the house fully compliant. The extra cost will not be much when you are changing the window anyway. It might make the room more comfortable, which would be the main reason to do it.

True, I'm getting a lad to price up some minor bits that came up in the survey also so I'll get him to price dropping the window too. All depends on how much cash is left after appliances etc. but makes sense to get it done right even if it means waiting a couple of months until we have the funds.