For those looking to buy or rent commercial property, previous alterations or additions to the property can be a particularly thorny issue if the correct investigations are not made before contracts are exchanged or the lease is entered into. For the buyer or tenant the key considerations should be that the works were carried out to proper standard and that any required approvals were obtained for them. Failure to ‘bottom out’ these issues before going ahead will often leave the buyer or tenant with liability to resolve any problems even though the works were not carried out by them, under the general principle of ‘let the buyer beware’.

If the property has been substantially altered or extended, most people will as a matter of course be looking to the current owner/landlord for evidence that any relevant planning and building regulations approvals were obtained. However, less significant works (such as internal alterations) may have required building regulations approval even if they did not need formal planning permission. Mezzanine flooring may have been installed to increase floor space, or alterations made to form offices within an industrial unit or warehouse.

There is sometimes a tendency for a buyer/tenant either to assume that these less significant works did not require approval or if they did, to ‘take a view’ and still proceed even though the current owner carried out the works without approval. This is a risky and potentially expensive strategy. It leaves the buyer/tenant at risk of enforcement proceedings by the Local Authority and (just as important) with the possibility of expensive repairs to rectify works not carried out to proper standard.

Building regulations are not limited to structural matters. If meaningful alterations have been carried out to the property the chances are that they will have needed to comply with the regulations requiring the works to have been to an adequate standard for health and safety purposes. For example, fire safety, ventilation, drainage and electrical safety. This will usually have involved inspection by a local building control officer who will have signed off the works as being of the required standard.  The officer will issue a Local Authority building regulations completion certificate.