no planning permission for extra bedroom - what happens now?

doberryfirkin

Thanks to all for the responses so far. Two points: It has been suggested that since the conversion is in the loft then fire doors would be needed all the way down the stairs - that would be expensive and also mean replacing some attractive solid wood doors. Also another thread suggested that indemnity policies weren't worth the paper they are on, and in fact can be a gagging order and therefore not suitable in the long term. I was hoping that if the conversion was done x years ago then current regs wont apply.

MortgageMamma

Why did your solicitor not identify this earlier. The most important thing now, is for you to leave this in the hands of your professionals to get the job done asap, and for you to RELAX as its not healthy for you or your unborn child to become stressed and panicky so late in your pregnancy. Its difficult enough moving house when you are expecting without things like this happening I know, but everything will work out in the end. Now go and put your feet up and watch the eastenders omnibus and eat chocolate, you deserve it.

Best of luck and keep us updated

MM

BobProperty

doberryfirkin wrote:

..... I was hoping that if the conversion was done x years ago then current regs wont apply.

The current regs won't apply but the question is did it comply to the current regulations when it was done? My suspicion is it didn't. It is probably true that no action can be taken in retrospect by now but it is arguable that the room should be descibed as a bedroom if there never was any indication of any compliance in the past. This is a regular topic on forums and to some extent it may be up to your conscience if you would want one of your family using it as a bedroom when the fire regulations that should apply have been ignored. It also leads to the question, if they weren't bothered about the fire regulations for the loft, what else weren't they bothered about? Strength of the floor being one classic. Electric wiring? Insulation?

clutton_2

if you install fire doors, you generally need to replace the frames also, as fire doors are thicker than normal doors. You can get a fire for for £40-£50, but not very attractive !

Sapphire

So what do you do if you are selling a place that doesn't have special fire doors (whatever they are)? For instance, many older properties have lovely old doors, which presumably aren't fire doors? Also, aren't fire doors supposed to be ugly, and wouldn't they spoil the appearance of a period property?

I ask because I have recently changed all seven doors in my apartment for wooden Victorian ones, which are more in keeping with the place than the very ugly, cheap-looking hollow doors with wonky moulding that were there before.

silvercar

To get building regs consent on our house the previous owner had to replace one door with a fire door. It's the door between the back of the garage and the utility room. To be honest it looks like any other plain door, but it is heavier.

Doozergirl

Sapphire wrote:

So what do you do if you are selling a place that doesn't have special fire doors (whatever they are)? For instance, many older properties have lovely old doors, which presumably aren't fire doors? Also, aren't fire doors supposed to be ugly, and wouldn't they spoil the appearance of a period property?

You have different grades of fire door for different purposes, so they don't all have to be big heavy industrial fire doors. You can certainly buy 30 and 60 minute fire doors matching those of the period of property you have. Admittedly, they probably don't sell them in antique stripped wood, but you get the idea.

silvercar

Its not always necessary to have every door change for a fire door. I don't know all the rules but often there just needs to be fire door(s) in place to enable one exit run.

Sapphire

My question was really whether you absolutely have to have any fire doors, even in an old period property. I know plenty of people who have sold such properties, yet have never had to install fire doors. :cool:

Doozergirl

You need fire doors in a three storey property, so if a house has had a loft conversion it will need some fire doors in order to comply with current building regulations. A block of flats or a period conversion will need fire doors as front doors and a fire door to the kitchen in order to comply with current regs, as well as other measures.

But, it depends on when the property was built/converted as to whether it needed fire doors to comply with the regulations as tehy were then. Building Regulations aren't retrospective, so most people don't need to panic. If your flat was converted a while ago, then you wouldn't really need them.

But Building Regulations are there for good reason and that is safety. If you replace doors in your house, you would be wise to install a fire door in your kitchen and keep it closed at night, for safety's sake. Just like it would be wise to hard-wire in your smoke alarms.