who can tell me if loft can be converted before I buy the house?

scarletjim

I'm thinking of buying a house, I've seen it 3 times now myself, and I like it but would need the loft converted in order to have enough space. I can't really send a builder round to do a quote while the house belongs to someone else, is there some other way to do this?

If I get an offer accepted, can I give the surveyor a specific request to confirm whether or not the loft can be converted, and roughly what size of living space can be achieved there?

Any other bright ideas?

scottishblondie

You can ask the vendor to allow you to view with a builder, I don't think this is an unreasonable request to make if your purchase would be contingent on the conversion. TBH I expect they would prefer it to you making an offer then later withdrawing it.

You should also check with the local planning department first to find out whether or not you would need/be granted planning permission to do a conversion.

The_Drama_Llama

I had the same issue recently, and know a couple of things you need to check:
1. You need 2.3 metres clearance at the highest point of the roof. Go up and measure.
2. If there is an open plan kitchen, then you might not be allowed to have an official loft conversion (ie. a new room you can market as a bedroom when you come to sell). I was looking to buy a house with an open plan kitchen in the lower ground floor and was told that I couldn't do a loft conversion on the second floor, due to the need to escape safely in case of fire.

I see no probelm in viewing with a builder. If your purchase is dependent on being able to convert the loft then it's much cheaper to do it at this stage than wait til you have your survey done.

Wyndham

We had someone to view our house (for the second time) who brought a builder with them. We really didn't mind as we'd rather they did that then make an offer than not do that, make an offer, then withdraw it.

It may not be 'polite', but this is a business transaction and different rules apply. Good luck.

poppysarah

Have any similar houses been done? (Look on council's planning permission listings and google maps for evidence)

googler

poppysarah wrote: »

Have any similar houses been done? (Look on council's planning permission listings and google maps for evidence)

...and look at the neighbouring houses themselves for signs of additional dormers, Veluxes, ventilation, etc.

tyllwyd

The_Drama_Llama wrote: »

I had the same issue recently, and know a couple of things you need to check:
1. You need 2.3 metres clearance at the highest point of the roof. Go up and measure. ....

But remember that if you have to strengthen the joists for the floor, and add in extra insulation above, you will probably lose some of the current headroom so allow for that as well.
http://www.loft-conversion-uk.com/modernloftconversion.html

JQ.

The_Drama_Llama wrote: »

2. If there is an open plan kitchen, then you might not be allowed to have an official loft conversion (ie. a new room you can market as a bedroom when you come to sell). I was looking to buy a house with an open plan kitchen in the lower ground floor and was told that I couldn't do a loft conversion on the second floor, due to the need to escape safely in case of fire.

I don't think that's correct, although I'm not 100%.

There needs to be a fire route through the house from the loft conversion to an exit point which means installing fire doors along the route. We have an open plan kitchen diner, soon to be an open plan kitchen diner lounge. So long as we have a fire door closing off this room meaning their is an escape route to the front door from the loft room this is acceptable.

The_Drama_Llama

Yeah - it's something like that. The surveyor explained that you need to be able to escape fire - the house I was looking at had a lower ground kitchen and the only place for a fire door between it and the loft conversion would have been if there was a door to the new room created by the loft conversion. Kitchen had staircase to ground floor, with no fire door, and there were no other doors, or space for them. He explained that for the first floor it was OK cos you could jump out of the window and survive...but you couldn't from the second floor.