Who is to blame? Me/Surveyor/Solicitor

smartpicture

When I last looked at houses, there were a few which said they had 2 bedrooms but actually had 3. I was told this was because they were converted loft bedrooms that didn't have building regs, so they couldn't be described as bedrooms - although obviously could be used as such.

Doesn't this indicate that the estate agent (or possibly the seller) has some sort of obligation to describe the property accurately? Or are the estate agents in my county just more particular than anywhere else?

Homersimpson

I think that the issue is whether its safe, not that it complies with current regulations. You really need the advice of a structural engineer who should be able to tell you whether its safe.

If it hasn't fallen down yet and its been done a while then your probably not going to be able to prove there is a problem because there isn't!

As an example I bought a 1920 bungalow for renevation where all of the timber floors were incredibly bouncy, I stripped them down and they were using joists that are massivly undersized for todays building regs but they lasted 90 years and were pretty rotten in the end and still the floors didn't colapse.

Depending upon how long ago the conversion was done building regs might not be able to enforce any regularisation but i'm sure someone on here will be able to provide more detail.

It does seem rather odd that you bought the property unaware that ii had been a bungalow originally, its usually obvious that a loft conversion has been added.

I am of the opinion that you won't get anywhere with the original surveyor, if you had a dirty great big crack in on elevation and subsidence then you might have a case.

Best of luck anyway though!

neas

Must admit you sound like a knowledgable chap i.e. with the structural changes required... why oh why didnt you fork out 250-300 quidf more for a homeybuyers survery.... when your likely aying 200k+ for a purchase... the 300 quid pales in comparison to the larger figure.

As others have said now you will have to pointthis out when you sell and get approval for structural works..

I got a homebuyers report and a valuation report, they got sent seperately the valuation was a simple 2 sided page with tick boxes indicating simple facts... age of contruction/bedrooms etc etc so the surveyor could value property to ensure its good to lend against.

Obviously if it wasnt good to lend against then you'd have a case but most likely the structural problems arent dangeours just borderline.

jenny74

Hello,

Firstly, you have my sympathy to some degree... Although I agree that had you paid for a more detailed survey, this could have been avoided.

A couple of things that come to mind, firstly, how did you find out? Did the vendor know? There are forms that included questions that ask if the property has been altered or extended when you sell a house. So if they knew, did they lie?

Secondly, I may have missed something, but are there not any windows in the upstairs rooms? If it has been converted from an original loft spce, then surely there would have been no windows? Is it not obviously these have been added?

Although I agree the 'blame' seems to fall on yourself (at least in part, maybe more) for not having a more detailed survey, I understand your anger and fustration. I'm not surprised it was a 'bad day'!

The only advice I can offer is to gather information about when it was done, if it indeed safe (as PP stated it is still standing!) and whether the vendor and EA knew about it.

Good luck with whatever route you see fit to take.

Jenny

Philkm

To give a bit more background as to why I didnt get a full survey:

I grew up on this estate while it was being built, my dad built our own house just down the road and I knew the builders of the estate. My uncle actually built this house as he worked for the builders. (before you ask it was 40 years ago and I didnt think to ask him if it used to be a bungalow). I knew how the houses were constructed, the standards they were built to and the age. I also know people still on the estate so know how the buildings are standing up to time and whch areas will need addressing.

I wanted to post an image of the property so you could see why you can't tell it isn't a house but I cant't seem to do it (not really a computer expert) - can anyone tell me how to attch it?

neas

got to imageshack.us and uploads picture, then copy and paste the url link here

Philkm

neas wrote: »

got to imageshack.us and uploads picture, then copy and paste the url link here

I can't get onto this site. Are there any similar ones?

jenny74

try photobucket

Philkm

As a new user I'm not allowed to post links (to stop spammers)

Can I send someone it and you post it?

kmmr

Why you didnt get a survey is somewhat irrelevant at this stage. focus on what you can do, instead of convincing this lot that you did the right thing!

the basic valuation should at least list number of bedrooms, so you could have some comeback. You probably paid for it as part of the mortgage, so the valuer does have responsibility to you as well as the bank.

Speak to a lawyer and get some clear advice, as the nature of the contract is important, as is what the report said.