Please help, really scared

bundance

I live in a privately owned leasehold flat.
A second bedroom was added into the roofspace by a previous owner.
I phoned the council to check if the previous owner had applied for building regulations and they had no record.

I am worried that my insurance claim may be invalid.

I looked on my lease etc documents, and the solicitor I hired knew there was a second bedroom.

The problem is, I made a claim on my insurance earlier this year, because my door got broken, and the insurance company honoured the claim, now I am worried that I will get into trouble for this.

Please help, really scared.

thank you

huckster

The problem re building regs has nothing to do with the claim that you made. So no worry there.

Your main worry is making sure you check out the situation with the second bedroom. Your solicitor who did the conveyancing should have checked about this at the time you bought the house. Suggest that you speak to the solicitor who acted for you, if they are still around. Perhaps if this is something they overlooked, they won't charge you for looking into it. You may be able to request retrospective consent for the bedroom with the local councils building consent people.

bundance

huckster wrote: »

The problem re building regs has nothing to do with the claim that you made. So no worry there.

Your main worry is making sure you check out the situation with the second bedroom. Your solicitor who did the conveyancing should have checked about this at the time you bought the house. Suggest that you speak to the solicitor who acted for you, if they are still around. Perhaps if this is something they overlooked, they won't charge you for looking into it. You may be able to request retrospective consent for the bedroom with the local councils building consent people.

Thank you for telling me that the building regs has nothing to do with the claim that I made.

I just looked at a letter from my solicitor from 2000 and it says that he was told that the plans were subsequently varied and a room was added, but he didnt have a copy of the variation and he would let me know when he got it. I cannot find a copy of the variation in my lease/deeds documents, and there is a floorplan of my flat, with the space where the room is coloured in blue.

I cannot remember what the solilcitor said about the room, as it was so long ago, I think he said it didnt comply with building regs and is not recognised as a bedroom.

I just want to know if my buildings insurance will be invalidated by this.

Thanks for your help so far.

bundance

I bought the property in 2000 and the work was carried out in 1990. It is not a loft conversion. Half of my flat is in the roof, the front side. The kitchen and bathrooom have velux windows and the space that was converted is next to the kitchen and bathroom. It was just a space in the roof boarded out with a velux window put in and a door on.

As Huckster says, your first port of call should be the conveyancer who acted for you in the purchase to establish whether this problem was spotted and, if it was, whether anything was done about it. If it was clear that the second bedroom was a loft conversion this should have rung alarm bells.

The conveyancer said that a room had been added, but was not recognised as a second bedroom, (I think because of building regs, but I cannot remember as it was 10yrs since I bought the flat)

Even if building regulations approval was not obtained for the conversion, it may well be possible to apply for a regularisation certificate under the Building Regulations 1991 (as amended by the Building Regulations (Amendment) Regulations 1994). There is a cost to this, and the inspector may require to inspect parts of the work to which there is not normally access - so be prepared for a certain amount of dismantling and disruption. Some of the questions the inspector will consider are:

The council said they could carry out an inspection, but they did not mention cost.
When you say dismantiling and disruption, please can you clarify?

I will try and answer the questions below

• Is the structural strength of the floor sufficient?
  

I don't know

• Has the stability of the property - including the roof - been endangered?

I dont know.

• Is there a safe escape route in the event of fire?

No

• Are the stairs to the conversion safely designed?

There are no stairs, as there was no conversion, just a bit of roof space boarded out, electrics put in, and a window.

• Is there reasonable sound insulation between the conversion and the rooms below?

I don't know, but I carpeted the space.

This is unlikely to affect your insurance, though it is equally unlikely that you will be insured for any problems caused by poor workmanship, faulty design or materials etc. There are good loft conversions and there are deathtraps - let's hope you have the former!

The work looks like it has been done by a cowboy.
Thank you for telling me that it is unlikely to affect my insurance.

I hope you can help with this post.

Many thanks

bundance

Selden wrote: »

In what respect is it not a conversion? It has walls, carpeted floor, window, door - and you even refer to it as a second bedroom.

Was your flat always in the roof space, or is that an earlier conversion?

Sorry to be unclear, what I meant is that it's not a loft conversion, the loft is separate, accessible by a hatch to the ceiling.

The kitchen and bathroom and airing cupboard were always built into the roof space.

Feel free to ask me for any more info, and I will be pleased to supply it, also.
I looked at the leasehold advisory service and it gave me the following scary information.

"If you change the physical layout of the flat the original lease plans will not correspond to the actual layout of the flat and so the lease will need to be varied. A deed of variation in this instance would normally take the form of an amended plan which is registered at the Land Registry. If you do not obtain a deed of variation you may experience problems when you decide to sell the flat."

Reallly worried.

Cant afford solicitors fees, is there any one else who could advise me please?

bundance

Selden wrote: »

Was this room or the space it occupies included on the Land Registry plan as part of the flat you were purchasing?

If not, is your real concern that you may not actually own the room?

No it wasn't included.

I phoned the insurance people and they said that the flat is insured, just not the room.

As for ownership of the room, I phoned the freeholder and they are going to look at the lease and get back to me on monday.

bundance

Selden wrote: »

So potentially you have at least three questions to resolve:
1. What rights, if any, do you have over the space occupied by the room?
2. If you do have rights over the space, or can now obtain such rights, is it possible to rectify the apparent absence of building regulations approval for the room?
3. What impact, if any, do the above issues have on your insurance arrangements?

If I were you, I would get together all the documentation you have relating to the purchase and head to a good solicitor to take advice on the first question. No-one on a website is going to be able to offer you detailed assistance on this, particularly not on an insurance forum!

I will try to answer the three questions as best I can

1. What rights, if any, do you have over the space occupied by the room?
Will find out on Monday when freeholder has seen the lease

2. If you do have rights over the space, or can now obtain such rights, is it possible to rectify the apparent absence of building regulations approval for the room?
If I find I do have rights, I can contact BC and they will inspect it, and let me know what needs to be done to comply.

3. What impact, if any, do the above issues have on your insurance arrangements?
I phoned the insurance people and they said the flat is insured, just not that room.

thank you

bundance

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bundance

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