buying a house - quick ? re building regs!

snowmaid

We are buying a house with a loft conversion which has planning permission. Someone on here very kindly suggested that I find out if it has building regs. I have asked the agent to find this out for me. What happens if it doesn't have building regs? Can I ask that the seller get a certificate before going ahead with the sale and what do I do if they are not prepared to get a certificate? The conversion does look very beautifully done though.

Doozergirl

You can ask them to get a certificate which is what I would do if the conversion is recent.

Otherwise the other way to go about it is to have them purchase an indemnity policiy, but personally I'd want this backed up by a surveyor that says the conversion is structurally sound.

If they've gone about it the right way and it's looks professionally done, I'm sure they'll have Building Regs too

Woody69_2

Yes or you can ask for an indemnity insurance.

snowmaid

Thanks for that. What does the indemnity insurance do? Who does it indemnify and what does it cover?:o

Doozergirl

It indemnifies you against the council coming back and telling you to either put it back as it was or make it comply. (An unlikely event)

It doesn't cover you for falling through the floor as a result of shoddy workmanship.

snowmaid

Doozergirl wrote: »

It indemnifies you against the council coming back and telling you to either put it back as it was or make it comply. (An unlikely event)

It doesn't cover you for falling through the floor as a result of shoddy workmanship.

Oh !!!!!!!! :eek: Will a structual survey reveal if it is shoddy workmanship and will home insurance cover this should a problem develop further down the line?

Doozergirl

snowmaid wrote: »

Oh !!!!!!!! :eek: Will a structual survey reveal if it is shoddy workmanship and will home insurance cover this should a problem develop further down the line?

The worry is the reason why, if the work is recent and carried out by the vendor that I would ask for building regs.

snowmaid

Doozergirl wrote: »

The worry is the reason why, if the work is recent and carried out by the vendor that I would ask for building regs.

Apparently it was done 3 or so years ago? Looks very new and it has been 'professionally' done.

Doozergirl

Someone needs to get a look at the joists to make sure they've been replaced by ones suitable for holdong up an enitre room, not just the floor below's ceiling.

You also want to be sure that you have an adequate escape window and fire doors between upstairs and downstairs.

That's the basic stuff.

skintlass

Hi - I had a loft conversion done on my house and I didn't need planning permission - just building regs - not sure if planning permission covers building regs as well. At the end of the conversion you get a certificate from the building regs people and thats what you need to advertise (and sell) the conversion as living space.HTH

coco123_3

Hello,

I am in a similar situation.....

The house we're buying has a loft conversion - not done to building regs. We knew this when we bought it but we are first time buyers and we thought it was merely missing things such as low fire escape window etc. It wasn't advertised as a bedroom but is a beautiful room and we do intend to use it as one - it is most definitely an asset to the house.

When we got the survey back we had a comment about 'it can't be assumed that the strength of the floor in the loft complies with building regs...... refer to solicitor'. We sent it off to the solicitor who has requested indemnity insurance.

However, this indemnity insurance will only cover us for legal things and therefore we still don't know whether the loft has damaged the house or it is strong enough to use as a daily occupied room.

We are therefore thinking of having a structural engineer do a survey of the loft i.e. check the loft hasn’t damaged the structural integrity of the house and roof and it is strong enough to be used as a daily occupied room. Has anyone lese had this done? It’s gonna cost £500 for the survey but we’re really stretching ourselves and so cannot afford to fix things in the future if they go wrong.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated - this is really stressing me out!!