Bungalow with loft room but no building regs

JustKeepSwimming_2

I've seen a 3 bed bungalow I like in which the loft was made into a bedroom about 9 years ago. It has a proper staircase going up from the ground floor, but no door to the loft room. It's been fully boarded & has wooden cladding on all "walls" & 2 Velux windows overlooking the rear garden.

It all looks lovely but wasn't done to building regs & the original joists haven't been strengthened. There is fibreglass insulation at top & bottom of the roof according to vendor.

Any ideas on how I could go about checking if this loft room is safe to use? The EA describes it as a loft room, but the picture clearly shows it is being used as a bedroom & I would like to use it as a main bedroom myself.

It's detached & not in a conservation area. Other bungalows in the same road have had dormer extensions done so I'm guessing planning wouldn't be an issue if required.

Owain_Moneysaver

The only way if you can check if it is safe is to have a structural engineer open up the floors, walls and ceilings and check the joist size and spacings and the form of roof construction. That is what a Building Control Officer would have to do as well if you made a retrospective application for building regs approval.

The house is possibly dangerously unsafe if roof timbers have been removed.

Either deduct £30-40k from the asking price to allow for having the works redone to current standards, or walk away.

mrcol1000

I viewed a house with exactly what you describe. Nine months later its still for sale and going for next to nothing. We liked the house and the "loft room" but were advised we couldn't get a mortage as no building regs were obtained. The EA admitted to us it was an idea bedroom but with no proof of building regs or even the council being informed they couldn't risk advertising it as a bedroom. I guess if your a cash buyer and can get the work done to make it alright then you could do it. Maybe take a builder with you to view and see what they think?