Thanks for the speedy response! However, I would be interested to know if
the building warrant situation (or lack of) can be addressed post-purchase.
It's a bit easier to call an attic 'floored loft space' than move a bathroom
or windows.

Because this is in Scotland (where a building warrant appears to be required
for practically any change), I would have thought there would be a higher
occurrance of 'post build' warrants than anywhere else. Time to cross post
to UK DIY I think and see if anyone there has experience with building
warrants.

Leigh

"!Speedy Gonzales!" wrote in
message ...
"L Reid" wrote in message
...
Hi Guys,

Hopefully someone out there been through the same stuff can advise.
snip

Don't really know too much about the council angle but I have heard of
scenarios where people buy properties without the various warrants as they
don't really need them to buy the property but there has been problems
when
they in turn decide to sell. Happened to two people I know, one was a
converted attic, the other was an integral garage turned into a playroom.
Both parties, like you, were very anxious to buy the properties in this
'heated' market and didn't want to lose out. My friend with the
playroom/garage managed to sell again 'property as seen' but the other
with
the attic had to sell as 'floored storage space' which was reflected in
the
sale price!
Personally, I would make sure all planning permission has been granted for
all changes and modifications.

--

!Speedy Gonzales!

Take out the 'OBVIOUS' to reply

I've got a relative who works for building control in England, when i
was looking at knocking down an internal wall I asked his advice, and he
said that realistically i could knock it down - as its not load bearing,
however if I knock it down without prior building warrant I could have
problems when it comes to selling.

He said if I did follow this method, and then the new owner required the
building warrant it would be possible to get one post event - but only
if it would be possible to get one pre event at that time (if that
makes) sense. Ie suppose I want the work done in 2000, I don't get the
building warrant (and do the work anyway) although the building control
would have given one, and then in 2002 the legislation changes and
building control decide that I now could no longer get the work done,
when it comes to selling in 2003 I will not be able to get the warrent
even though the work was done in 2000, however if the legislation didn't
change in 2002 then i could get the building warrant post work no problem.

Thus if the changes that have been made meet current regs there would be
no problem in either them or you getting the warrant.

Do you like the changes? If so I'd probably just keep my mouth shut,
you can always change them back prior to selling if necessary - very
unlikely!

L Reid wrote:
The full story (or rather, the original post). Flat is in Edinburgh, for the
purpose of locality legislation. Fortunately, the district council has lots
of info on this on their web site.

Hi Guys,

Hopefully someone out there been through the same stuff can advise.

Buying an upper colony flat (abbeyhill - not conservation area I think) and
currently at 'exchange the missives' stage. However, their solicitor wants
to remove the clauses requiring them to produce building warrants for the
double glazing and a possible change of bathroom room. I suspect this is cos
they dont have them.

Can I get these building warrants 'post works'? If so, how much do they
cost? What's the best / worst scenarios that can happen? Can they (council
planning dept) force the windows to be replaced with single glazed units?
Don't really want to walk away from this as it's a nice flat, but not so
nice if it's going to cost us £20K to get the legal shenanigans sorted out.

Thanks,

Leigh

"BigWallop" wrote in message
...

"L Reid" wrote in message
...

Thanks for the speedy response! However, I would be interested to know

if

the building warrant situation (or lack of) can be addressed

post-purchase.

It's a bit easier to call an attic 'floored loft space' than move a

bathroom

or windows.

Because this is in Scotland (where a building warrant appears to be

required

for practically any change), I would have thought there would be a

higher

occurrance of 'post build' warrants than anywhere else. Time to cross

post

to UK DIY I think and see if anyone there has experience with building
warrants.

Leigh


Hi Leigh,

Not knowing the full story is a pain but, if I get the gist of this, you
must have building warrants on any additional construction or change of

use

to a property. If the situation is that you've added additional toilet or
bathroom facilities, then all water drainage from and supply to the room
must have building consent from the local authority building control
department.

If you've constructed a loft or attic room which is said to be habitable,
then it must be shown to meeting fire safety regulations and ventilation
control requirements on a building warrant before it can be classed as
liveable.

Could you post the full story so we can go over it with you ?

Regards

BigWallop

snipped


---
BigWallop

http://basecuritysystems.no-ip.com

Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.497 / Virus Database: 296 - Release Date: 05/07/03

You fancy popping up to have a look at these windows then?!!! Hehe will get
back to them at the weekend methinks.

Leigh

"BigWallop" wrote in message
...

"L Reid" wrote in message
...
The full story (or rather, the original post). Flat is in Edinburgh, for
the
purpose of locality legislation. Fortunately, the district council has
lots
of info on this on their web site.

Hi Guys,

Hopefully someone out there been through the same stuff can advise.

Buying an upper colony flat (abbeyhill - not conservation area I think)
and
currently at 'exchange the missives' stage. However, their solicitor
wants
to remove the clauses requiring them to produce building warrants for
the
double glazing and a possible change of bathroom room. I suspect this is
cos
they dont have them.

Can I get these building warrants 'post works'? If so, how much do they
cost? What's the best / worst scenarios that can happen? Can they
(council
planning dept) force the windows to be replaced with single glazed
units?
Don't really want to walk away from this as it's a nice flat, but not so
nice if it's going to cost us £20K to get the legal shenanigans sorted
out.

Thanks,

Leigh



Have you had a look through this site:

http://www.highland.gov.uk/plintra/d..._questions.htm

It has all the questions and answers I think you'll need.

Good Luck with it Leigh.

I'm in Sunny Leith, so I know which part of the town your flat is in.
Only
restrictions I know of in Abbeyhill are car parking ones. :-))


---
BigWallop

http://basecuritysystems.no-ip.com

Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.498 / Virus Database: 297 - Release Date: 08/07/03

Cheers James.

At the moment I'm trying to get the seller's to get the work warranted as
part of the conditions of sale, primarily 'cos I'd like them to pay for it,
and I think the planning dept's more likely to give them it than me (old
couple / bigger sympathy vote), plus they did it so if the guy asks
questions about the install they can answer them for him. As we're paying
64% over the o/o price for the property, I want the paperwork done and above
board before we buy it.

Leigh

"James Horlock" wrote in message
...
I've got a relative who works for building control in England, when i
was looking at knocking down an internal wall I asked his advice, and he
said that realistically i could knock it down - as its not load bearing,
however if I knock it down without prior building warrant I could have
problems when it comes to selling.

He said if I did follow this method, and then the new owner required the
building warrant it would be possible to get one post event - but only
if it would be possible to get one pre event at that time (if that
makes) sense. Ie suppose I want the work done in 2000, I don't get the
building warrant (and do the work anyway) although the building control
would have given one, and then in 2002 the legislation changes and
building control decide that I now could no longer get the work done,
when it comes to selling in 2003 I will not be able to get the warrent
even though the work was done in 2000, however if the legislation didn't
change in 2002 then i could get the building warrant post work no problem.

Thus if the changes that have been made meet current regs there would be
no problem in either them or you getting the warrant.

Do you like the changes? If so I'd probably just keep my mouth shut,
you can always change them back prior to selling if necessary - very
unlikely!

L Reid wrote:
The full story (or rather, the original post). Flat is in Edinburgh, for
the
purpose of locality legislation. Fortunately, the district council has
lots
of info on this on their web site.

Hi Guys,

Hopefully someone out there been through the same stuff can advise.

Buying an upper colony flat (abbeyhill - not conservation area I think)
and
currently at 'exchange the missives' stage. However, their solicitor
wants
to remove the clauses requiring them to produce building warrants for
the
double glazing and a possible change of bathroom room. I suspect this is
cos
they dont have them.

Can I get these building warrants 'post works'? If so, how much do they
cost? What's the best / worst scenarios that can happen? Can they
(council
planning dept) force the windows to be replaced with single glazed
units?
Don't really want to walk away from this as it's a nice flat, but not so
nice if it's going to cost us £20K to get the legal shenanigans sorted
out.

Thanks,

Leigh

"BigWallop" wrote in message
...

"L Reid" wrote in message
...

Thanks for the speedy response! However, I would be interested to know

if

the building warrant situation (or lack of) can be addressed

post-purchase.

It's a bit easier to call an attic 'floored loft space' than move a

bathroom

or windows.

Because this is in Scotland (where a building warrant appears to be

required

for practically any change), I would have thought there would be a

higher

occurrance of 'post build' warrants than anywhere else. Time to cross

post

to UK DIY I think and see if anyone there has experience with building
warrants.

Leigh


Hi Leigh,

Not knowing the full story is a pain but, if I get the gist of this, you
must have building warrants on any additional construction or change of

use

to a property. If the situation is that you've added additional toilet
or
bathroom facilities, then all water drainage from and supply to the room
must have building consent from the local authority building control
department.

If you've constructed a loft or attic room which is said to be
habitable,
then it must be shown to meeting fire safety regulations and ventilation
control requirements on a building warrant before it can be classed as
liveable.

Could you post the full story so we can go over it with you ?

Regards

BigWallop

snipped


---
BigWallop

http://basecuritysystems.no-ip.com

Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.497 / Virus Database: 296 - Release Date: 05/07/03

I've not been involved in the Edinburgh property market for
a good few years, I'm worried by this....

L Reid writes:
Subject: Building Warrants - Buying Flat Without
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 18:35:19 +0100

:
:
As we're paying 64% over the o/o price for the property, I want
the paperwork done and above board before we buy it.

Is this a typo?

You are paying 64 percent over the offers over price?

So (all but) two thirds more than they were asking?

Is this the way of the market at the moment? Did you deliberately go
over-the-top to land a unique gem, or do you believe that others
bidders weren't (going to be) too far behind?

When I were a lad (or some such) the offers over price was meant to be
a reasonably serious statement of what the sellers thought the
property was worth. It would be round about where the valuation
ought to be. Properties sold at around a 10% premium on that.

What sort of valuation did you get?

In another message, you say....

Thankfully the days of having to survey every property before
putting in an offer seem to be behind us, as our solicitor
recommended against getting any surveys done before getting a
place, and just made getting a satisfactory survey a condition of
the offer. Out of the last three properties we bit for (2 colonies
and a comely bank flat), one had 7 notes of interest, 6 offers and
no survey done prior to offering, one had 12 notes of interest 7
offers and no survey, and the latest had 6 notes of interest, 6
offers and 1 survey (valuation). When we got it, we got a
homebuyer survey done, rather than buy a copy of the valuation.

I'm not surprised that people are reluctant to survey if o/o prices
are barely half what they should be!

Robert.

--
__ To avoid the spam trap, mail me
|_) _ |_ _ ._ |- | _ _| _ ._ at bcs.org.uk, not deadspam.com.
| \(_)|_)(-'| |_ || |(_|(-'| '
Best viewed in Ebriated.

Craig Cockburn wrote in message ...
In message , Robert Inder
writes

I've not been involved in the Edinburgh property market for
a good few years, I'm worried by this....

L Reid writes:
Subject: Building Warrants - Buying Flat Without
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 18:35:19 +0100

:
:
As we're paying 64% over the o/o price for the property, I want
the paperwork done and above board before we buy it.

Is this a typo?

You are paying 64 percent over the offers over price?

gasp

So (all but) two thirds more than they were asking?


When I were a lad (or some such) the offers over price was meant to be
a reasonably serious statement of what the sellers thought the
property was worth. It would be round about where the valuation
ought to be. Properties sold at around a 10% premium on that.


In the last 8 years, buying 3 properties in Edinburgh and the Lothians,
I've never paid more than 8% over the upset price for a property, even
in highly desirable areas in a buoyant market (like prices moving about
30% a year). Having set this target however, I've also been unsuccessful
on every multiple bid situation since there's usually someone willing to
go to 20%+. In my case, this has been a bit over half the time. The
trick is to be the sole offer, to find fixed price properties or to have
very wide search criteria and to go for nice but unfashionable areas.

Surely all that this discussion tells us is that the o/o price is a
complete game played by selling agents and surveyors. When looking
for a new flat all that a buyer knows is that they will pay more than
the asking price.

Once you have found a property that you are interested in, most
solicitors worth their salt should be able to tell you what properties
in the same street/ postcode went for in the last few years (all espc
solicitors have access to the database of o/o and selling prices), add
whatever their magic number is depending on how much the most recent
neighbouring property went for, and so give you a fairly good estimate
of where the valuation would come in at. Then it is up to you to
decide how much to put in on top.

So with a good agent you effectively get the seller's survey that
would allow buyers to only survey the property that they end up
buying.

Or, alternatively, hunt out fixed price properties, especially
scanning the espc website on a Wednesday when they tend to change.

Ford

"Crawford Buchanan" wrote
| Once you have found a property that you are interested in, most
| solicitors worth their salt should be able to tell you what properties
| in the same street/ postcode went for in the last few years (all espc
| solicitors have access to the database of o/o and selling prices),

The most recent date (of registration) and price achieved by house sales
(for Scotland) is available online at www.myhouseprice.com Checking the
date is free, it costs GBP 1 per house if you want the figure emailed to you
(for 2 or more searches in one report)

Owain