Conveyancing

[Agri-Hire]

Can anyone help me with this query?

A friend of mine and his fiance recently bought a nice three bed terraced house in the next town to me. They went through all the legal proceedings, surveys, etc. No problems with the service and very happy with the house.

However, one of his neighbours said that he was glad to see the back of the previous owners cos they were always doing DIY day and night. It turns out that they converted a large bedroom into two smaller ones using a non load-bearing partition wall and some rearanging of the landing and an upstairs wardrobe.

Don't get me wrong, the job is very well finished, almost professional. You wouldn't know it had been done by a DIY'er.

But anyway, my mate is a bit miffed because it looks like this conversion was done about two years ago and was never approved by buildings regulations.

So here's my question: Why did his solicitor not discover this point during the conveyancing process? If the title deeds say '2 bedroom house' and the buying prticulars say '3 bedroom house' then wouldn't that ring alarm bells, or do title deeds not contain details of the actual rooms?

Secondly, can't they sue the previous owners for not declaring this work at the point of sale?

Interested to know.

[Jayne]

Hi,

I don't think it matters as long as the structure is safe..I do know if you convert an attic to a bedroom you need planning, but not for to be made into a store room...Is the house listed with the council rates as a 2 or 3 bedroom..If it's listed as 2 and sold as a 3 I believe the estate agents and the previous owners are at fault for not stating this. I don't think a surveyor would be at fault here, as he only checks the structure.

There's a site called the landlord zone, these may be able to help, lots of property experts on there.

Jayne :D

[Rob Holmes]

Hmm IMHO it's not up to the Estate agent or surveyor to check with the council about how the house is registered (for Council tax I presume?)

By the sounds of it (from what you've put which may not be the whole story) you wouldn't need buildings regs.

Rob

[autolycus]

Do councils even keep a record of how many bedrooms a house has? For council tax purposes, all they need to know is the council tax band of the property. The banding is based on a valuation from about ten years ago, rather than on no. of bedrooms.

[Agri-Hire]

Quick update;

We have both been looking on 'tinternet' to see what the rules are about partition walls. Apparantly it has to be made with 12.5mm platerboard in order to give it 30 minutes of fire resistance, it must have it's own exit, ie not going through another bedroom to get out, and have a window large enough to escape from in the event of fire.

The conversion is fine on all counts, and I don't think Stevo is going to make too much of a fuss, it's just that is a bit miffed that there is no way of knowing the history of a house unless the owner actually admits the work at point of sale.

(He's sat next to me and I would get him to write all this himself but he can't spell)

Legally, is the house insured for fire if this wall was not checked out by building regs, why did a search not reveal anything and can he sue the previous owners for not mentioning the work when he sold it?

Agri and Stevo.

[Jayne]

Hi,

When we re-built the flat above the bakery we had to get the rates valuation office out (not council), these are the ones who band the properties, we also got a copy of the original flat plans from the council, so they should have the original plans. (Council Planning Section)

If you friend is worried over anything to do with fire regs, the local fire service are good for info.

As long as the main retaining walls haven't been touched and serveyor wouldn't say anything. I do believe the people who sold the house to your friend, should have told the estate agent...as a 2 bed house is cheaper than a 3, so personnal I would blame the previous owners for not stating this when they sold it.

You may want to give your solicitor a quick ring and tell him.

Jayne :D

[WendyAnne]

We are buying a house and have received the Contract Pack etc. from the vendor.

In the Contract Pack they list however that they have no Company registered at the address. However, they do, they are listed on Companies House!

I pointed this out to our solicitor but when we saw the enqueries they sent out to the vendor's solicitor, nothing of the kind was mentioned.

1. Why would the vendor list that there is no company registered at the property, when there clearly is? Are they trying to hide something, and if so, what could it be? (I can't imagine anything that would affect us as buyers though, so I don't understand)

2. Why would our solicitor not bring this up with their solicitor? (I have tried to ask our solicitor, but have not received a reply in the last 3 days, now our contact a the solicitor's office all of a sudden has an 'out of office' reply saying she's on holiday)

[Antonia @limeone.com]

So here's my question: Why did his solicitor not discover this point during the conveyancing process? If the title deeds say '2 bedroom house' and the buying prticulars say '3 bedroom house' then wouldn't that ring alarm bells, or do title deeds not contain details of the actual rooms?

The charge or land certificate at Land Registry would not contain details of the actual rooms so it would not show up on a search. In preliminary enquiries an asute lawyer would ask these questions and prompt the vendor's solicitor to provide information as to the building regs requirements.

The main concern here is does the work require either planning or building regs now and if not then what loss has been incurred by the solicitor not picking this up? If no loss and everything is in order then there is not an issue but you probably would not want to use the same conveyancer again!

[Neilmlp]

I am an independant mortgage adviser and i have come across this problem a few times where the previous solicitor was at fault for not checking. So in any instance it is the conveyancer that is at fault and potentially liable.