Buying property with load bearing wall removed

you can get what is called retrospective planning permission. basically any work already done would need to get checked out by the local authorities to make sure it is done to the proper standard and they will sign it off. one drawback however is say somebody had a loft conversion 20 years ago for example and you applied for retrospective planning now then you will have to update all the specification to todays standards! for example 20 years ago you could have probably got away with 100mm loft insulation but by todays standards that would be nowhere near good enough. fortunately in the case of knocking down a load bearing wall it shouldn't be too difficult to satisfy the local authorities. firstly talk to them (L.A) telling them the situation. they are there to help and will offer plenty of advice. they will tell you how much they will charge you for their inspection. secondly you will need a structural engineers report. this will tell you the recommended size of padstones, minimum end bearing and sizes of any RSJ needed. when you have the information then it would surely just be a case of exposing the ends of the RSJ to check the measurements to the structural engineers requirements. it is beyond me why anybody would want to cut corners and do major work on the cheap. like you said in your post it is going to be an issue if you come to sell, like the owner of this house now! I am assuming they told you that it wasn't a structural wall and didn't need planning permission to throw you off the scent as it were. surely they should at least be willing to meet you halfway with the costs instead of trying to pull the wool over your eyes, and trying to bury their heads in the sand hoping the problem will go away hope this has helped regards graham