Loft Conversion Query

paulieham

I'm ftb in the process of buying a 2 bed house which has a loft room. The conversion has a dormer window at the rear of the property overlooking the garden and a vedux window at the front, and has a staircase leading up from the first floor landing.

The conversion was put in by a former owner of the house and I believe it to be between 15 -20 years old.

My solicitor returned some information to me yesterday and it looks like, as expected, there was no planning permission sought for this (though this may not have been required), but nor does it look like building regs / building certifcate for it.

I've asked my solictor to do some more digging around and am awaiting the survey report back in the next couple of days, but I imagine there won't be any building regs for the conversion.

I know I can apply for retrospective building regs, and I would not use nor market this room as a bedroom should I ever sell the house on, but the question is really whether there is anything in particular that I should be concerned about with this?

Thanks

Paul

Fire_Fox

Welcome to MSE! Run a search on the board, this issue comes up weekly.

Two bedroom house plus loft room or two bedroom including loft room (i.e. one bedroom)? If you want to go ahead, ask permission to remove some of the surface coverings and get a full structural survey completed - the roof timbers may have been weakened during the conversion, the ceiling/ floor joists may not have been strengthened sufficiently to take the weight of a room. Worst case scenario bits of the house might fall down! Retrospective building regs will be a nightmare as they can't see what has and has not been done, so you may end up having to rip the entire thing out.

Hopejack

Another issue is, you don't seem 'too' concerned about it but another buyer might be i.e. your buyer if you buy it now and then intend to sell on later.

A friend of mine is selling her 3 bed house right now (3rd bed is a loft conversion). It's been in donkies of years and she is the 3rd buyer to have bought the house since it was done. No building regs or planning permission or anything. All 3 buyers have just accepted it. But imo people are becoming more and more aware about things like this and she is now having probs selling as all potential buyers are put off by it.

So, think carefully. If it's definately the house for you then great, but just think you could be stuck down the line if you want to sell later on.

Hope this helps

Doozergirl

Having building regs or not is not what makes a room a room. Being structurally sound and safe is what makes it a room.

If the conversion is deemed sound by a surveyor then it doesn't matter that building regs haven't been obtained; it is a room. If it hasn't been converted properly and the joists aren't sound etc then it is not. Much of the housing stock in this country didn't have any formal kind of building regulation to adhere to - they certainly would'nt have had completion certificates, yet it isn't an issue for the house, just subsequent extensions

If it is safe, then a copy of your full structural survey report showing that it is adequate, plus an indemnity policy arranged now to cover all future buyers is probably enough to make the issue go away if you pop it into any paperwork you give to your solicitor when you sell.

patman99

I remember something from 'Grand Designs' & a 'neighbours from hell' program, which both covered aspects of planning permissioin. According to 'NfH' if something is built without pp, and no one complains to the Council, afer 4 years, the Council looses the right to enforce any compliancey orders.

However, as for the job being done properly, they should have strengthened the roof with an RSJ running from one end of the loft to the other. I'm sure if you asked your surveyor, I'm sure they will tell you wether they have checked this.