You bought the house. Your mortgage went through. Years later, you put it up for sale.
Now the buyer’s solicitor is asking for a building regulations certificate for the extension. You cannot find one. Your buyer wants answers, and the sale is slowing down.
The obvious question is about the missing certificate. The more uncomfortable question is about your purchase.
If this matters now, what happened when you bought?
The problem may be older than the sale
Missing building regulations paperwork can come to light when a property is sold or remortgaged, even where the work was carried out before the current owner moved in.
An extension, a converted loft or structural alterations may prompt questions. So can replacement windows, heating installations or electrical work, where the relevant certification depends on the work and the route used.
Building regulations approval is also separate from planning permission. Having evidence of one does not establish the other. GOV.UK’s guidance on building regulations approval explains that distinction and warns that missing certificates can become an issue when selling.
But a missing document does not, by itself, establish that the work was never approved. A certificate may have been issued and lost. Relevant evidence may still exist in the original purchase file.
The first task is to establish what is missing. The next is to understand what was done about it before you committed to buying.
A completed mortgage does not answer every question
It is understandable to think that, because a mortgage lender funded your purchase, the paperwork must have been satisfactory.
That does not tell you what enquiries were made, what evidence was supplied or whether a particular solution was accepted. It also does not establish what another lender would have required.
This is where mortgageability becomes a question of marketability. If your next buyer needs a mortgage, their lender’s requirements can affect whether the sale proceeds.
The relevant questions therefore reach in two directions: what will satisfy the buyer’s lender today, and what did your own lender require when you bought?
When I Bought’s guide to missing building regulations approval when selling or remortgaging brings those questions together, including why the identity of the original lender and the purchase date can matter.
Why the date of your purchase matters
Looking at a lender’s requirements today may not establish what its instructions said several years ago.
When I Bought is a Lexsure service. Its guide draws on an archive of historical lender-specific conveyancing requirements maintained since April 2007.
According to the page, 22 lenders within its covered archive population have had express building regulations requirements recorded. That figure describes the material held; it is not a count of every lender that ever imposed a requirement.
The value of the historical record is specific: where coverage permits, it can help establish what a particular lender’s written instructions said at the relevant time.
That evidence needs to sit alongside the original conveyancing file. It does not, on its own, establish that the purchase was mishandled.
What were you told about the missing paperwork?
Knowing that a certificate was unavailable is one thing. Understanding the consequences is another.
The purchase records may help answer questions such as:
- What did the seller disclose about the work?
- Which certificates were supplied, and which were requested but never produced?
- What did your conveyancer explain in the report on title?
- Was an indemnity policy, allowance or retention arranged?
- What were you told about the possibility of the issue returning on a future sale?
An arrangement that helped the original transaction proceed still needs to be understood on its own terms. The existence of an insurance policy, for example, should not be treated as confirmation that the building work was inspected and found satisfactory.
The practical question is whether you understood the position you were accepting—and whether knowing more would have changed your decision.
Start with the records
If your sale or remortgage is now being held up, gather your purchase report, survey, any certificates and any indemnity policy. Ask your current conveyancer to identify precisely what remains unresolved.
There may be a route to obtaining missing evidence. In some circumstances, retrospective approval may be available, although alterations can be required before a regularisation certificate is issued. GOV.UK explains the regularisation process.
Before approaching the council or applying, take advice about the implications for any existing or proposed indemnity cover.
If the work predates your purchase and you are questioning the advice you received, visit When I Bought’s building regulations guide. It explains the records that may matter and offers a way to arrange an initial conversation.
You do not need to decide that someone was at fault before asking what happened.