purchase of house with loft conversion

ab7167

My point being is that you may not get retrospective consent if they are not Part P compliant. This, of course, does not mean that they are not safe - only that they don't comply with current regulations. I don't think it is possible to issue partial retrospective consent (although again, happy to be proved wrong!), so non-compliance with Part P may mean no consent at all. And it would remain a 3 bed house with a potential resale or future maintenance issue.

Alex

owen1978

nansenst wrote: »

I used to have a 2 bed terrace with a loft room - the insurance company was fine.
The house was sold to me as a two bed with loft room and sold on the same (with an indemnity insurance policy of £6). Apparently at the time i sold the house (around 2005) the area of the loft in square meters was below the threshold required for planning permission, therefore no fire doors etc were needed. But dont quote me on that - check with your solicitor and make sure they run all the relevant checks on the loft.

This sounds about right as they dont have any doors at the bottom of the stairs leading upto the loft room

ab7167

Planning permission and building regs are 2 very different things - just because you don't need planning permission for a loft conversion does not mean that you are exempt from Building Regulations - and it is BR that determines if fire doors are required or not. My mum's house had a loft conversion done in 1992 and we had to have fire doors as it became a 3-storey house. So this regulations has been in force for at least that long and possibly longer. I don't have access to superseded Approved Documents, only current ones so I can't trace when the requirement for fire doors in 3 storey properties became current. I was still at school in 1992, so this requirement predates my involvement with the industry :-)

jackieb

We also had to have hard wired smoke alarms to all 3 floors, so if one went off they all went off, as well as the fire doors with self-closers, on all the doors leading onto the exit route (apart from bathroom). We also had to have a fire escape window. Our electrics had to be signed off by the electrician too.

shem56

Just an update on the above topic. The Vendor has received a letter from the council to say that the dormer window and staircase would not have been passed had the rest of the conversion been satisfactory. Good news but unfortunately, the vendor has now pulled out of the deal. Very disappointing as it cost quite a bit of money to arrange the mortgage and the valuation.

rootjoose1

Reading this thread with interest as I am in a similar situation - buying a house with a new loft conversion described by estate agent and 'dressed' as a bedroom but now looking unlikely to have or be able to get appropriate buildings regulation compliance as a habitable space. Having already paid for the mortgage valuation survey and solicitor's fees etc, do we have any chance to recoup any of the money if we withdraw from the sale due to being 'mislead' etc?

poppysarah

Is it counted as a bedroom in the EA details? (And do you have a printed copy of that?)

shem56

I don't know the answer to that one but we have just decided that it is not to be and are now looking for another property. It is a risky business and we were always led to believe that nothing is certain until you have signed on the dotted line. In our situation, we were not mislead as the Vendor kept assuring us that everything was in order but however, we did require the paperwork were we ever to sell.

rootjoose1

Hi,
I do have a printed copy of the EA's description: "Two Bedroom + Loft Room"....and "......two / three bedrooom......". Also the loft room has a radiator, electrics, TV arial point (and 2 velux style windows). But the building regulations certificate we've just received says "...stairs up to loft for light storage only". Hopefully they can get retrospective consent, but I don't feel very lucky!