purchase of house with loft conversion

Richard_Webster

So can you ring the building control at the local authority of the place you're buying at - and ask them what they think of it - whether they have records of it being done and what requirements they have on it.

If you do that you can't get an indemnity policy. Although as Doozergirl says these only protect against enforcement (which is usually pretty unlikley).

Doozer's advice, as normal, is sensible. If your surveyor says that it appears safe then go ahead, and if necessary, obtain a policy to keep the lender happy.

If it isn't safe then get the price reduced.

This all has to be seen in context. My daughter lives in a terrace in Sheffield with very steep stairs to a loft bedroom that may well have been there since the house was built 100 or so years ago. There are thousands of houses like that and nobody bats an eyelid that they don't meet modern standards. Logically if they don't meet modern standards, they should be sold as 2 bed rather than 3 bed houses, but they are not.

poppysarah

Richard_Webster wrote: »

If you do that you can't get an indemnity policy. Although as Doozergirl says these only protect against enforcement (which is usually pretty unlikley).

So is enforcement likely if you've contacted the BCO?

Doozergirl

poppysarah wrote: »

So is enforcement likely if you've contacted the BCO?

If it's over twelve months old, it's still highly unlikely, but by effectively sticking a red flag on the house and waving it about, the insurance company is going to perceive it as a higher risk and not want to underwrite it.

I wonder what the % of claims is on policies like this. Next to nothing I bet.

Richard_Webster

Doozergirl wrote: »

If it's over twelve months old, it's still highly unlikely, but by effectively sticking a red flag on the house and waving it about, the insurance company is going to perceive it as a higher risk and not want to underwrite it.

I wonder what the % of claims is on policies like this. Next to nothing I bet.

I agree. I once talked to one of the indemnity insurer's underwriters who said that the problem with building regulation policies was they got so many people trying to make claims because of structural failure and they wasted a lot of time patiently explaining policy didn't cover that!

shem56

Thank you for all of your replies they have been very helpful. We are now awaiting a response via our Solicitor from the Vendor. Would it be acceptable to ask the Vendor to pay for a structural inspection do you think, if he does not have the required documentation.

Also we are now wondering if the floor of the loft is actually over a supporting wall and therefore, may not have needed additional joists.

Cozworth806

Actually can see this from quite a few sides.
Our first purchased home was a end terrace built circa 1901, with an attic, and obviously no BR's. Was a great space but the stairs would never have been allowed now, far too steep.

We got a quote recently to do an attic conversion for our current property, and was quoted £20k for full compliance and that would be assuming there is sufficient headroom (2.1m IIRC) but ours was about 2m before boarding etc so would have come up short, which may have entailed taking down all the partition walls on the first floor and rebuilding up, as well as steel joists etc.
Bloke knew what he was talking about, scared us off the idea. :eek:

Someone else reckoned that with four bedrooms close together and purlins replacing the W struts in the roof space that he could do it with a folding ladder for £8-10k but no mention of headheight or strengthening joists etc so would it have passed regs's??? No, but would have still been a very usuable space for us.

Taffyscot

poppysarah wrote: »

So can you ring the building control at the local authority of the place you're buying at - and ask them what they think of it - whether they have records of it being done and what requirements they have on it.

NO I just asked a general question about what would happen if we bought a place that did not have all the specs in order. We were told they didn't have the proper building specs but they told us it was only because they did not have the 2,000 cash to pay for it. I would not give out the address even tho the local authority asked for it. I did not think that would be fair to do.

WillowCat

No way would the building regs application fee and inspection fee be anything like £2000 for a domestic loft conversion. They would have been hundreds, not thousands of pounds, and in any case normally the same charge would have covered the entire conversion including windows and staircases.

You say there's no documentation, but have you questioned the vendors as to whether the work was actually carried out?

Perhaps you could say that if you are to proceed, you'll need to get them to expose the insulation (by removing some plasterboard perhaps) and lift the floor coverings and board so your surveyor can assess the build quality? If you can get photos at that point and a written report from your surveyor then I personally would be satisfied. It's destructive, but perhaps the only way to prove the issue now.

However, my money's on the vendors having skimped on the essential work - and if that's true then you should either walk away or value the house as a 3 bed.

shem56

update on current situation re loft conversion. The Vendor is now looking to obtain retrospective approval from the council. Has anyone any idea how long such things take as our mortgate offer runs out at the beginning of August.

*jobags*

Should only take a week or two and cost them a couple of hundred quid - cost is based on Sq meterage of conversion
We recently had a wrap around extension increasing our house size by 40% and BR only cost £660 (or thereabouts)

I am worried that if they didn't go for BR initially because of the costs, if something as important as BR was skimped on, what else did they skimp on?

Jo