Buying an extended house - no final building regs sign off

[^woody^]

Am I correct in thinking that indemnity insurance is really not worth the paper it's written on? It does not cover you if the work is shoddy and falls down or needs expensive remedial work. It is merely for legal costs should the council discover this is not a legal build. Then you'll have to knock it down anyway at your expense.

It's a matter of perspective. As insurance then not worth a fig. But if it means a sale goes through, worth a tray of figs.

But I am surprised how these policies can actually be sold, they seem like fraud for the obscure amount of risk they supposedly protect against.

 

[Leofric]

Don't accept an indemnity insurance. Instead get the seller to get the final inspection done at his expense, and if there are outstanding issues to be rectified he can sort those out to at his expense, not yours.

- going back to post 3, that would sum it up for me.

 

[John D v2.0]

Indemnity insurance is a bit like nhbc guarantees, it only exists so that the house is mortgageable, nothing to do with helping the new owner, just to keep enough of the value of the asset the loan is secured against so they can get their money back if it goes wrong.

 

[Leofric]

Indemnity insurance is a bit like nhbc guarantees, it only exists so that the house is mortgageable, nothing to do with helping the new owner,

NHBC warranty covers the owner of a new house against defects in the first 2 years if the builder doesn't rectify faults or goes bust ,and covers structural matters up to 10 years, so it is not quite right to say it is nothing to do with helping the new owner

 

[Inky1]

Thank you all.

Update: The vendor has agreed to ask building regs to inspect and sign off the loft conversion. This is great news - if it actually happens.

However, as they won't apply for regulisation for the kitchen extension in case it invalidates an indemnity.