4th Bedroom - Liveable Space Snag

tommer82

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Although it is not the EA's place to get upset, you have made a bit of a mistake here which has implications reaching further than your offer.

One possible way of addressing the issue of lack of BR approval is indemnity insurance. You have certainly made that impossible for yourself by approaching the council. What I am not sure of is whether you have ruled that out for all potential buyers of the property - but at the very least, by telling the agent, you have compromised his position because in telling him, you have also in effect, told the seller, which might leave the seller unable to get indemnity insurance.

When you do your research, don't busybody on your own account. Get your solicitor to deal with it. The solicitor will approach the vendor's solicitor and if there is no BR approval, you will find out if only by a lack of response or a suggestion you buy indemnity insurance. Make your choice to accept insurance, to insist on regularisation or to walk away.

thanks.

Surely by getting the solicitor involved that early it would be costing me off the bat, so I could have solicitor fees to pay even if it doesn't go ahead.

DVardysShadow

tommer82 wrote: »

thanks.

Surely by getting the solicitor involved that early it would be costing me off the bat, so I could have solicitor fees to pay even if it doesn't go ahead.

When you make an offer, it is normally 'subject to contract and survey' - which is exactly where you need to be. It gives you the freedom to withdraw. Now if you don't want to spend money on the buying process, make an unconditional offer [foolish if you need a mortgage].

The reason you spend money on solicitors is not because they do legal stuff and you can't. It is so that you can use professionals to investigate whether the property you put an offer on is everything you thought it was. Money spent on solicitors and surveyors on a house you walk away from is money well spent. More so than on a house you actually buy.

If you cannot get your head around the possibility of spending fees on a house you ultimately decide not to buy, then buying is not for you.

BitterAndTwisted

Penny wise: pound foolish.

In my opinion spending a hundred quid or so on solicitor's fees on an aborted purchase could prevent you from making an extremely risky and potentially expensive one. Money well-spent in my book.

tommer82

thanks, i see what you're saying its just as it was early days (2 working days on) and an obvious show stopper I wanted to get it checked before proceeding/walking away.

DVardysShadow

If something like this is an obvious show stopper, ask the solicitor to resolve it before proceeding further. And tell the agent what you are doing and why. If the agent is dim, it will be a waste of time, but any switched on agent will alert the vendor which will put it firmly in their court.

tommer82

Thanks for the advice.

Well building control have visited and as predicted it failed miserably (i've condensed these):

1) stairs are greater than 42 degrees
2) headroom of staircase is less than 2.0m
3) no landing at the bottom of the stairs (i think he means its too small to be class as a landing for regs)
4)ventilation and insulation to be investigated
5) window in attic too small to escape through
6) no firedoor
7) 4x2 used instead of rsj on the front of the house
8) no interlinked smoke alarms.

...pretty much no chance of passing regs, may as well start again.


He also said this:

9) structural report/investigation required to include opening on the ground floor between the kitchen and dining room.

... There is no record here either of building regs/pp so chances are whoever did the loft did this and used a wooden lintel

The floorboards downstairs have obvious signs if woodworm but on first entering the property the ea girl said that they recently have had word worm treatment however... i'm still waiting on the paper work 3 weeks later.

With the loft conversion now a posh loft its nowhere near the bargain it was originally.

How would any of you guys proceed?

ruggedtoast

I would probably offer what I thought a 3 bed house with a semi converted loft was worth.

martinsurrey

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I would probably offer what I thought a 3 bed house with a semi converted loft was worth.

less than that, as now that building regs are involved it looks liek the house has other remedial work to do.

Given the amount of work done without regard for the rules, I would walk away, who knows what else could be under the floor boards (wiring/plumbing?) and given the tight time table for completion would you have time/the will to get everything checked out?

JimmyTheWig

tommer82 wrote: »

7) 4x2 used instead of rsj on the front of the house

How would any of you guys proceed?

I would proceed, very quickly, in the direction _away_ from this house.

Find another one.

hcb42

Just withdraw the offer until the correct planning permission/building regs is received.

I accidentally fell foul of planning permission once, when moving into a self build house which had not been quite finished. Unbeknown to me, the prev owner had amended his plans and changed what was supposed to be the upstairs bathroom to a "cupboard". As it had plumbing in it, we assumed all was per our plan. Only came to light when we tried to sell, we gained retrospective planning permission quite quickly, although hubby was down there every other day trying to get it through quickly.