Help! Unsafe loft conversion

panther82

Hi

My boyfriend inherited a house from his parents a few years ago and we have just found out the loft conversion is unsafe. He thinks it was done in 1996 and it was never meant to be a bedroom so doesn't have all the building regulations. However, the builder who did it has removed some of the main supports for the roof. We are getting a structural engineer out to see what needs to be done to make it safe, but what we want to know is can we sue the builder who did it? If not can we claim on house insurance? Otherwise we're going to have a large bill to fix something that wasn't our fault and were unaware of until now.

Thanks

keystone

So you've had the property for a while so you've lived with it for some time already.

How did you find out its unsafe and when?

You have a conversion (of sorts) which was not meant to be a bedroom and at the time didn't require BRs? The inference is you now want to use it as such but of course you can't without remedial work as for the use which you intend to put it to is different to when the work was originally done.

Good luck sueing the builder on that one!

House insurance? Why would/should they pay out for a change of use? Now if the roof were to fall in that would be a different matter.

You are going to have a bill to modify the property to suit your curent requirements. Why should you not be liable for that?

Sorry if that all appears a bit harsh but thats the situation I've gleaned from the way that you have written about the "problem". If there is further information which shows that I may have misinterpreted your post then please provide.

Cheers

panther82

no we don't want to change the use of it. we want to sell the property (with loft storage not an extra bedroom) and one of the people viewing it said there was a problem with the roof. we had some builders look at it on friday and they said it was unsafe. They said it wouldn't collapse but the roof has sagged and the weight of the roof is pushing down on the rest of the house.

whether it followed building regulations or not they shouldn't have done work that was unsafe!

there is damage to the building so i would have thought that is what buildings cover is for

mildred1978

panther82 wrote: »

no we don't want to change the use of it. we want to sell the property (with loft storage not an extra bedroom) and one of the people viewing it said there was a problem with the roof. we had some builders look at it on friday and they said it was unsafe. They said it wouldn't collapse but the roof has sagged and the weight of the roof is pushing down on the rest of the house.

whether it followed building regulations or not they shouldn't have done work that was unsafe!

there is damage to the building so i would have thought that is what buildings cover is for

Buildings insurance won't cover shoddy bridge jobs from 16 years ago!!!

keystone

panther82 wrote: »

They said it wouldn't collapse but the roof has sagged and the weight of the roof is pushing down on the rest of the house.

I bought my curent house 25 years ago -its a 3 bed 1930s semi. Just down the road is a 4 house terrace built at approximately the same time. On one of them the ridge was bent like a banana and I though at the time - don't like the look of that. But 25 years later said roof still has same sag and from a visual inspection at ground level you would be hard pressed to say that it has moved even an inch in that time.

whether it followed building regulations or not they shouldn't have done work that was unsafe!

Maybe but you seem to be taking the word of one person that its unsafe. If its unsafe now its been unsafe for 16 years. Has it fallen down? Get a second opinion.

there is damage to the building so i would have thought that is what buildings cover is for

Not from what you have described.

Houses sell at the price people want to pay for them not what the EA says you should market it at. The viewer who raised the issue has looked for and found a reason to negotiate on the price.

Cheers

thorsoak

panther82 wrote: »

no we don't want to change the use of it. we want to sell the property (with loft storage not an extra bedroom) and one of the people viewing it said there was a problem with the roof. we had some builders look at it on friday and they said it was unsafe. They said it wouldn't collapse but the roof has sagged and the weight of the roof is pushing down on the rest of the house.

whether it followed building regulations or not they shouldn't have done work that was unsafe!

there is damage to the building so i would have thought that is what buildings cover is for

The work was commissioned by the parents of your partner ...therefore there should be some paperwork somewhere, detailing exactly what work was requested to be done - but I don't honestly think that you'll get anywhere going for the builder who did the work; he may not now be in business.

I would suggest that you have remedial work done to make the building safe/secure and then you will have the documentation which will enable you to sell it. Otherwise, you're going to have to drop the price considerably in order to sell it with defects - and it might be unmortgageable in its present condition.

System

panther82 wrote: »

Hi

My boyfriend inherited a house from his parents a few years ago and we have just found out the loft conversion is unsafe.

Do you mean his parents commissioned the unsafe work, or did they buy it from someone else?

gas4you

panther82 wrote: »

the weight of the roof is pushing down on the rest of the house.

Isn't that what all roofs do?

Avoriaz

panther82 wrote: »

..They said it wouldn't collapse but the roof has sagged and the weight of the roof is pushing down on the rest of the house......

That's gravity for you. :rotfl:

The walls are not just there to keep out the wind. They are also there to support the weight of the roof.

Leif

It might be that any Home Buyers Report would flag up this as an issue, in which case as said it is a bargaining point on the price. Find out what it would cost to make 'safe'.

I saw several dodgy loft conversions when looking for a house, and they scared me off.

Avoriaz wrote: »

The walls are not just there to keep out the wind.

You forgot about the big bad wolf too.

southcoastrgi

gas4you wrote: »

Isn't that what all roofs do?

well yes & no if the support timbers have been removed from the roof then there is nothing to support the purlings which could mean the roof will spread, that's why the support timbers go down onto supporting walls (the clue is in the name), unless of course it was "w" shaped truses then the weight is spread across the timbers & then yes the weight would be taken on the wall plates on the outside walls however if these were cut then the same roof spread could happen.

depending on what has been done would determin if it is dangerious although the buyer prob would never get insurance for the house.