Really hope someone can advise with this...!
At the weekend we removed a ground-floor internal non-loadbearing wall which technically needs to be in place to comply with the Building Regs Part B which apply to Fire & means of escape, as we have a loft conversion (wall formed a corridor between stairs & front door). We knew this would be the case and are prepared to live with this, as we feel satisfied that we have sufficient means to escape through other routes at every level of the house (yes, we know there is some risk here & building regs are there for a reason etc etc, but we do feel confident with our alternatives).
However, for some inexplicable reason we completely forgot to consider that the BCO will be visiting the property, possibly several times, in the next few weeks to inspect some separate internal/external plumbing works we are also doing....
Does anyone know if they are likley to comment on non-compliance in an area other than that which they are inspecting? If so are they likely to take action against us? We are considering leaving the studwork up & saying we are putting the wall up - the plans we originally submitted showed no wall present. We have always intended to reinstate the wall before we sell.
Alternatively we have an indemnity policy in place covering the loft conversion from when we bought the property (no approval was supplied although it does meet regs) - could we invoke this & claim the wall was never there?
I do appreciate we are deliberately contravening the regs here but we really really can't live with the wall up, and I have heard that a lot of people get approval & then remove the work etc.
Any ideas?