Changing my offer for a house after it has been accepted

star1_2

Building Regulations stipulate the following :-

A room that is not used for habitable purposes does not require building regulation approval - the only two rooms that this includes are a bathroom/shower room or kitchen. Every other sort of room requires approval - this includes, bedroom, living room, study, play room etc.... Unless it has building approval - it only be referd to as a store room - how every nice it is .....

The main things to look for cosmetically, (to know if it would meet regulations) would be ....

a) is the staircase leading to it a proper flight of stairs, spiral staircase or an alternator type (if yes - thats ok), if it's accessed by a loft ladder (even if its fixed) - then it's not a habital room.
b) next check to see if there are firedoors?, there either needs to be one imediatlyt at the bottom of the flight of stairs leading to the loft, or alternativly have all the other doors in the house that lead off the landing (ground and first), all being changed to firedoors? (if the answer's no to either of these - then it's not an approved extension).
c) is there an alternative means of escape from the loft? (ie. a velux window with opening apature suffiecnt for someone to escape), and is this between 600-1100mm from the ground? (if not, then it's not an approved room conversion).

There are plenty more things to look for, although this should give you a general indication, aside from that you would need to get the professionals in to see if the roof has been adequatly strengthned? and if it has been insulated etc....

Good luck ....

BobProperty

biting_the_bullet wrote:

....I'm so mad the house is still being advertised as a 5 bedder!! If anyone interested makes an offer and only gets a basic survey, then surely the whole thing must be against the law, trade descriptions and all that......

I'm surprised they bought it only a year ago without this coming to light or being questioned. I'd phone Building Control, give them the address and ask them if they have any records for the conversion. Then phone the EA and tell them it's a 3 bed house with 2 storage rooms if the situation is as you suggest. And remind the EA that's what it is and describing it as 5 beds is wrong and here's my offer for £180k.

star1_2

Specifically remind the agent of the "Property miss-descriptions act" they are governed by. Don't bother quoting sales of goods acts etc - as this is not applicable to EA's or property descriptions....

Although - personally, I would just walk away from this as the though of a bodged conversion which the current owner claims is 2 extra bedrooms - could hide a multitude of sins .... spend your time looking for a better alternative....

biting_the_bullet

Ha, this farce goes from strength to strength. I've spoken to one of the girls in the EA office after the survey and builder confirmed the poor quality conversion. I've told her that its morally wrong to advertise the house as 5 beds when its obviously a 3 bedder, but it seems they have no morals. Why i'm surprised by their actions i don't know, it seems the E.A. trade certainly live up to their reputation. ie crooks!!

Anyway, today i used a local e mail service that sends the same property enquiry to all local Estate Agents. Basically telling them of our desire to find a property in the area we are looking at, price band and description. I've reserved my mortgage and am good to go, having the reservation for 3 months before we lose another £399:00 (Nationwide Fixed Rate fee) So its in our best interest to find a home soon. 3 hours after the email was sent, guess who rings me on my mobile, only the same bloody E.A. trying to sell me the same house, again described verbally as a 5 bed property. I could hear her jaw drop over the phone line when i told her it was me who'd been sold subject to contract on the same property. What a totally stupid, un-professional and f**k witted thing to do!! I then, more forcefully this time rammed into her how shockingly poor it is to still be selling the house as 5 Beds, when both my surveyor and builder friend condemmed them as attic rooms. "Bloody death trap" as the builder said.

Estate Agents, i wouldn't s**t on them at the minute. If someone else views this house, gets a basic survey carried out, and houses children up there?? In the event of fire or the floor falling through, i hope it would sit fairly and squarly at the E.A's door!!!!!!!

Rant Over, for now.

mi-key

This is one of the things I really hate about the current system - every buyer who has an offer accepted has to pay for their survey, and if they all got full ones that told them about the conversion, they would pull out, and all lose the money on their surveys.

Personally I think all sellers should have to pay for a FULL survey, which is then lodged with the agent selling the house - that way any potential buyers could check the survey before making an offer, and would know exactly where they stand.

Once a sale is agreed and going ahead, the buyer would pay back the seller the survey costs as part of the sale, rather than having their own survey done. If the survey had to be done by a surveyor who was independent of both the seller and the EA, this could cut down a lot of problems and wasted money.

It does sound like both the EA and seller have no morals in this case though - the seller knows that the conversion wasnt done properly ( otherwise they would have a certificate for it ) and the seller knows any full survey will show up that it has 2 bedrooms less than advertised, and is worth nowhere near the price they are asking. Both seem to think saying nothing to potential buyers is morally acceptable, and they are no doubt hoping someone will come along and get a quick survey done, and get conned.

You have to wonder if this seller would sell their car to a family with young kids if they knew it had a potentially fatal problem with the brakes or something like that.

Descartes

mi-key wrote:

Personally I think all sellers should have to pay for a FULL survey, which is then lodged with the agent selling the house - that way any potential buyers could check the survey before making an offer, and would know exactly where they stand

Totally agree. I am beginning to think HIPs maybe a good thing.

biting_the_bullet

Would be excellent for the buyer, i'd not be out of pocket by £550:00 and i'd be fully aware of the 3 bed versus 5 bed situation/knackered roof/gutters/fascias etc.

But why would the Estate Agent industry happily go along with this option, when the present rules allow them to lie/cheat and falsely try to sell a product thats not worth the money they are trying to achieve. The line they used against HIPS, about the costs being pushed onto to the buyer is pure fantasy imho.

One thing that keeps my pecker up during all this, is the way that house prices seem to be going. Down. If the BOE increase the base rate today, i reckon my former vendor will be in a right pickle. That 40K below asking price offer i've given him may just start to look more favourable. Heres hoping:beer:

mi-key

I'm a great believer in treat others as you want to be treated - hence I would never get involved in gazumping etc...

I think a lot of overly greedy sellers are going to find themselves with no buyers, and the only offers a lot less than they were getting a few months ago if things carry on the way they are ( esp if the BOE put the rate up 0.25% which seems 50/50 according to most ).

hethmar

Re the failed double glazing unit - Im gobsmacked - sorry but if someone offered on my house and then fussed about this tiny problem I would tell them to get lost. If you give the impression that a tiny problem like this could be a deal breaker then what happens if something (and they often do) more serious rears its head as the process goes on.?

BobProperty

mi-key wrote:

.....Personally I think all sellers should have to pay for a FULL survey, which is then lodged with the agent selling the house - that way any potential buyers could check the survey before making an offer, and would know exactly where they stand.

Once a sale is agreed and going ahead, the buyer would pay back the seller the survey costs as part of the sale, rather than having their own survey done. If the survey had to be done by a surveyor who was independent of both the seller and the EA, this could cut down a lot of problems and wasted money.

It does sound like both the EA and seller have no morals in this case though - the seller knows that the conversion wasnt done properly ( otherwise they would have a certificate for it ) and the seller knows any full survey will show up that it has 2 bedrooms less than advertised, and is worth nowhere near the price they are asking.......

So the vendor and the estate agent "have no morals" but you will rely on a survey organised and paid for by them?
The principle is "buyer beware". This is currently being discussed in one of the recently bumped HIPs threads. If we adopted the Danish system there would be a guarantee that the place was OK for 20 years, we don't have that in the UK.