Loft Room With no B Regs

noddynoo

We are about to buy a maisonette victorian 2 beds one of which is a loft room.We have now discovered that the room was done in 1980 and there are no plans or building regs.Subsequently our building society valuation valued it as a one bed 45k below price we have offered.This doesn't affect us in that we need such a small mortgage it makes no difference but we are worried about re sale.The Estate agent yesterday said they think the vendor is going to get an indemnity policy but we are unsure what this means and our solicitor is away for 2 days!We are wondering now whwether we should renegotiate the price as it is essentially a 1 bed plus loft room or will this indemnity cover us?There are a few things re fire doors etc which don't meet current regs so we are considering asking for a price reduction and getting these done.What do you think ?we love the place and have buyers for our current home and we were all expecting to exchange and complete and now this

AndrewSmith

Hi,

Get a local builder to give you a quote for bringing the conversion in line with building regs. Then simply request a reduction by that amount plus a bit more for a contingency fund (builder's lunch fund etc)

The Estate Agent could be on dodgy ground here. If he is marketing it as a 2 bed knowing that it does not comply with building regs he is mis-advertising (under the property mis descriptions act). He may, however, not have known in which case he has done nothing wrong.

At the end of the day you have agreed a price for what you beleived to be a 2 bedroom property which has now turned out to have 1 bedroom and a partly completed attic conversion. I think therefore that you are being more than reasonable to expect a reduction to cover the costs of completing the work to building regs.

Hope this helps

Andy

noddynoo

Thankyou That is what i thought The agent was unsure but believed the vendor when he said he bought it as a 2 bed in 1997 so unless he was a cash buyer I don't see how he could have got a mortgage.I am going to suggest a new price but I am not sure he will want to do that Fingers crossed

AndrewSmith

Well they will have this problem with any buyer so I think they will have to come down in price.

Dont forget you have a surveyers valuation £45,000 below the agreed price. I would think that is enough ammunition to go back with.

Let us know how you get on.

Andy

noddynoo

sorry one more quick question(if you know!)what is an indemnity.I have trawled the web last night and from what I can gather it will protect us from prosecution by the council for the room being unauthorised but still won't make it a 2nd bedroom Will keep you posted I am home today and preparing to get this sorted as it involves so many people in the chain Nightmare!!

silvercar

Indemnity policies cover you for the difference in value between the property as is and how it should be. When buying a property you expect to enjoy it as the current owners now do. The indemnity policy protects you against a theoretical possibility occuring preventing such enjoyment.

As I understand it, in this case, the indemnity policy would pay out if the council came along and insisted in you complying with building regs. The policy should then pay the costs of complying. The downside of doing it this way is that there will probably be a clause in the policy preventing you from asking the council to inspect. Really you want the sellers to sort this out and get a building regs certificate.

Apart from anything else you don't want to live with the fire risk.

robwend

"silvercar" Really you want the sellers to sort this out and get a building regs certificate.
. bang on!!! i wouldnt bother otherwise, not your job to run around ,and yes he will have this with everysale, and if it dosnt comply to regs and you try selling it boy are you gonna loose out! let him fix it or come down in price big style xxwendxx

noddynoo

Can't get retrospective certificate as it was done pre 1085 so i am thinking of letting it go trouble is we now lose our buyers and we have all had surveys etc

noddynoo

pre 1985 sorry!

robwend

its a hard call, but as you say when you come to sell it yourl be in same boat as current owner

robwend

and hold on to buyers go into rented<caravan or anything>i will if my sale goes tits up, and ive 2 kids and a dog! lol