Building Regs. not provided

[trautigan]

Our builder completed a major pice of work (apart from snagging) in April '08 converting a bungalow into a 2-storey dwelling, adding a bathroom and toilet.

since that time we have been trying to get the building regs. documentation from him but with no joy.

We spent a lot of time chasing the electrician and the plumber to provide the necessary certification for their parts to him, but we haven't seen any documentation apart from the registration certificate for the boiler.

Is there a trade body, reliable website, that I can go to in order to get help to produce these regs? I'm thinking that we'll have to get an independent competent professional to sort this then try and reclaim the cost from the builder, with whom there have been other issues.

Unless anyone has any other ideas?

thanks in advance.

 

[kentish123]

You can get a copy of the building regs from the LA for a fee

 

[gday2uk]

a plumbers work will not require a certificate.

Unless the gas (or oil) boiler / hot water cylinder was replaced. This is notifiable under Part L 1.
Certification of compliance can be made by a CORGI engineer or can use building control notice. Either way a log book should be kept of work undertaken.

 

[noseall]

oh bother and fiddlesticks i've deleted my own post now.

it read thus:

a completion certificate is obtained from the building control officer or the official body that oversaw each relevant stage of the build.
when ringing building control you must state it is a completion visit so that they can gather together all the relevant information from each passed stage of the build.

you will need to provide him with the relevant certification from the electrician and gas fitter. if the electrician is not self certificating then the officer will need to inspect and test the electrics in order to do so.

trv's, condensing boiler, extractor fans, sanitary ware etc, will all need to be in place for a completion visit.

generally speaking the plumbing does not require certification but the sanitary ware needs to be installed so as to establish that the given room is being used for the purpose of design. i.e. a toilet would maybe need an extractor fan but a storage cupboard of the same size would not.

 

[trautigan]

Thanks - this is extremely useful.

Given the flakiness of the builder when it comes to paperwork and due process I am not sure he has had the required inspections completed whilst he was doing the work [we were not on site, and there have been various problems subsequetly discovered which have lessened our confidence in him].

In this case is it better to get an independent inspector from this site
http://www.cic.org.uk/services/AIregister.shtml
to come and have a look?

We've been talking to the builder for 9 months trying to get this completion certificate organised and feel we need to take independent action now

 

[jeds]

Independant BIs will not normally take on projects that are allready complete.

Have you paid the builder?

 

[trautigan]

unfortunately we have paid the builder

 

[Richard C]

You can get a copy of the building regs from the LA for a fee

You can download them for nothing from the ODPM Planning Portal website!

 

[trautigan]

er thanks but don't see how that helps - it's the completion certificate that I'm after, and having trouble getting the builder to provide it.

surely this has happened to someone before? Is the only way forward to talk to the planing office at the local council?

 

[Richard C]

er thanks but don't see how that helps - it's the completion certificate that I'm after, and having trouble getting the builder to provide it.

surely this has happened to someone before? Is the only way forward to talk to the planing office at the local council?

Er I didn’t say it did ! It's not specifically relevant to your completion certificate problem, I was just correcting kentish 123; many don't realise you can download them for nothing.

The builder doesn’t provide the completion certificate, it’s your LABC or approved inspector (if you had employed one) who is responsible for that. Unfortunately, the onus is on the property owner to ensure that all building work is carried out in accordance with BR’s & that the necessary compliance certificates from registered trades are available for inspection by LABC when they come to issue a completion certificate; some work cannot be certified retrospectively but there are ways around this.

Did your contract with the builder state that he would be responsible for LABC notification (either a building notice or full plans submission) & obtaining the necessary scheduled inspections?
Do you know if your builder ever made a submission?
Did you complete any forms & pay a fee to your LABC?
Did any inspections ever take place?

 

[jeds]

Probably the best start is to call the BC department and ask them the current status. It may be that you just need a final inspection and they will issue a completion certificate to you. Give them a call.

 

[mikric]

Yes I am with jeds on this one

 

[trautigan]

Apologies to Richard C, didn't spot the post you were answering.

Thanks to the rest of you for your suggestion which I will do and get back to you