Newly converted flat has 1 inch gaps?

Hi Vicki,

The leasehold advisory service are right in so far as the condition and guarantees that come with the property should have been picked up at the time of purchase by your surveyor, mortgage provider, solicitor etc.

However, I would personally take the advice you have been given to pay for a structural engineer if for no other reason than to put your mind at rest.

If there are big issues with the building then these will need to be fixed by the management company, but the costs are likely to be shared with you.

This is not timber joist shrinkage! If the materials were several years old this would be more likely, but either this is all new material in an otherwise older property or the materials were retained from the old property. In the latter case this would have been sorted during the conversion.
Possibilities:
1. New local subsidence (Unlikely).
2. Whatever is supporting the beams has dropped (Easily rectified).
(I and three of my neighbours have exactly the same problem at the moment in 48 year old properties which we are addressing).

I think any remedial works now will be disruptive & expensive as flat below will be fully finished. Builder is not telling the truth, no builder can insure against defective work as not available from insurers as they would quickly go broke. They only have employers, public & third party cover. Perhaps builder is talking about a 12 month guarantee on his work? You could still claim as you did notify during the 12 months but I suspect another reason will be given to avoid liability.
There is specialist non negilence cover available but that is expensive and would not cease after 6 months - this won't have been taken out.
Building control have no liability as they are only liable if something breaks that they have approved and an injury is caused -yes I know what is the point of BC?
My guess is that an existing floor or beam has been overloaded as a result of the conversion and you need an SE to find the cause.
If there was an SE engaged by the builder you may have a claim against him/her as we are the only ones in this situation who are insured. Chances are though builder did the conversion without an SE and did not follow the building control officer's reccomendations because this was too costly.
I guess the remedial work will have to be funded by the lessees, suing the builder is possible but will go insolvent before it gets to court.
Building insurers won't pay (NHBC though would) as only subsidence cover included in most policies.
I'm sorry my assessment isn't more positve.

Reply to the comment left by Wyn Burgess at 19/01/2019 - 08:55
There is always Project Insurance, but it is very hard going to get it.

Hi I think that shrinkage is highly unlikely as an explanation to why you have a one inch gap under your skirting. There is not enough info to diagnose but any leaseholder or free holder should want to resolve this issue asap. You and or your Freeholder maybe invalidating any building insurance cover
Who was the contract with the builder between ? The answer is the route for rectification and I would suspect its the builder who is at fault . The Freeholder needs to pursue the builder along these lines. Was notification of the defect put in writing by anyone ? There may be a justifiable claim against buildings insurance but only if the freeholder notified their buildings insurance company.
the gap could be caused by deflection of timbers ' settlement of a floor , settlement of foundation , timbers being wet and then loaded so they distorted , unseasoned timber etc etc.
If you dont have a contractual link to the builder then notify the freeholder asap and then confirm it in writing and ideally by email to and refer to all your conversations with the builder list them with dates and summarise what was said. Send it registered. If freeholder does not respond go and see them and get them to see that you will have to go formal ( solicitors ) . What if you had to sell the property ? This needs sorting.

Thanks all for your replies. I am unable to attach pictures to show you what it looks like. I have since written to the freeholder who is basically reiterating what the builder has said but has referred to them as "professional advisors".

The problem is in the room which is a new extension so they have had to lay down new flooring with the joist timbers. This was the FH's reply:

With regard to the gap between the skirting board and the floor along the south-east corner wall, the structural detailing has been double checked. This is a new element of structure with 2.0m foundations and new brickwork. We believe
that there are no signs of cracking or movement externally. The new internal floor is constructed using traditional suspended floor structure. The floor joists are 200 x 50 c24 tanalised soft wood members. The floor deck is 19mm WBP ply which has been screw fixed. This is a perfectly sound structural make up and is not considered to be defective. My advisors feel that the gap between the bottom of the skirting board and the floor surface is nothing more than natural shrinkage. They do not consider it to be a structural issue. In terms of remedy, if the gap is unsightly, it can either be filled or the skirting board lowered.

I haven't replied yet but it certainly cannot be filled because at the start of my investigations that was the solution I was looking for and the man in the DIY shop happened to be a timber specialist and when I showed him the photos he basically said there was something else going on and no filler would fill that gap! My brother being an architect thinks it is movement in the joists and despite the SE drawings looking all good it's likely to be defective building work. I suppose my best course of action is to raise this with the FH again and highlight the seriousness of this and ask that she investigates further? The contract with the builder is with the FH. She retains 3 of the flats in the builder and I already know of 2 other leaseholders having the same issue.

Thanks again

Reply to the comment left by Christopher Marsden at 21/01/2019 - 17:28
I've just measured the gap that I can get access to and the measurement to be more exact is 1.7cm so not quite an inch but there are other parts of the wall I can't get to where the gap does look slightly bigger. Do you know how much is normal timber shrinkage?