Bought new house, extension has no foundation

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Nick_P

Registered User
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Hi all,

First post and its a big one and Im unsure of how it plays and and what course of action to take.

We bought a house in Dec which had a first floor extension over a garage.

We have started work to now convert the garage into a bedroom and low and behold, builder has discovered that there is no foundation under the extension.

Now we checked paperwork before signing for house as did solicitor (planning permission approved, compliance with building reg etc - only doubt i had was last piece was done 10 years after the build).

I am meeting with architect and building on Monday to see how to proceed but would appreciate any advice before this, what options I have and how it might play out?

Thanks in advance guys,

Nick
 
When you say there's no foundation under the extension i'm assuming you mean the garage?
 
thanks - I have builder, my architect coming out Monday to review. If the view is there is a breach of building regs, what are my options? Sue issuer of the Opinion of Compliance?
 
Nick_P said:
thanks - I have builder, my architect coming out Monday to review. If the view is there is a breach of building regs, what are my options? Sue issuer of the Opinion of Compliance?
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Whattt??? You won't have leg to stand in, Oppinion of Compliance is just that, an opinion, so full of Caveats, it would be like taking Donald Duck to task. You need a cert of compliance to sue anyone.
 
Nick_P said:
ah dont say that, so whats the point of it, if its not to ensure legal compliance?
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The hint is in the word ‘Opinion’.... It means that someone with experience might spot something obvious, better than nothing but not a lot.
 
so zero legal pushback then? What are my building options, Ive heard of underpinning?
 
Nick_P said:
(planning permission approved, compliance with building reg etc - only doubt i had was last piece was done 10 years after the build).
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And that 10 years is the issue here. As pointed out above, the cert you received was an opinion on compliance. There's a big difference between that an a certificate issued on completion of works that is it compliant with the planning granted and the building regs of the day.

Talk to your solicitor, is there any recourse against the person who signed-off on that cert where they didn't check on this?

As for building options, underpinning is expensive. Weigh the costs of that against knocking and re-building the garage section. At least with knocking it you get to add insulation underneath and to the walls to modern standards.
 
Leo said:
And that 10 years is the issue here. As pointed out above, the cert you received was an opinion on compliance. There's a big difference between that an a certificate issued on completion of works that is it compliant with the planning granted and the building regs of the day.

Talk to your solicitor, is there any recourse against the person who signed-off on that cert where they didn't check on this?

As for building options, underpinning is expensive. Weigh the costs of that against knocking and re-building the garage section. At least with knocking it you get to add insulation underneath and to the walls to modern standards.
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How much is underpinning ballpark? On the rebuilding garage, there is a bedroom and bathroom above it so is that doable?
 
How old is the extension above it. I assume a while and there's no sign of any movement yet.
 
That doesn't help you with compliance going forward. But it may influence the architect and builders approach.
 
noproblem said:
No, I would have written slab if that was the case.
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Fair enough, just not sure why you'd call out strip foundations then when that is the norm. Not exactly possible for a builder to miss a strip foundation.
 
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