buying a house - quick ? re building regs!

Doozergirl

coco123, the fact that they aren't advertising this loft bedroom as an extra room rings the warning bells for me.

When a house is built there will be great thick joists that sit between the ground and first floors which are strong enough to hold the weight of the added floor and all the subsequent furniture.

Between the first floor and the loft however, they are much smaller joists as they are simply meant to hold the weight of the ceiling below. People mostly lay boards on the joists for a few boxes for storage. Sometimes people just board out the loft completely which makes it look like a room, and subsequent buyers assume that it is strong enough to cope with the weight.

coco123, if you intend to use this room as a bedroom I do strongly suggest getting a structural engineer to confirm that they are strong enough to hold the weight of an actual room. What kind of survey did you have carried out initially?

It may look beautiful, but it could be dangerous!

snowmaid

On Rightmove it has been advertised as the master bedroom with on-suite?

coco123_3

Doozegirl - thanks you for your quick reply. This is what I feared The current owners use the loft as a bedroom and we intend to do the same however, this doesn’t mean it is strong enough. I spoke to a structural engineer yesterday and he said he would remove a couple of floor boards to find out the loads bearing capacity of the floor.

I just hope so much that the people who did it did a good job and strengthened everything and didn’t damage beams etc.

I also want to resolve this matter so that we’re in a good position when we come to sell the property….. i.e. we can say “the attic is not to building regs but we have had the structural integrity checked out and all is ok”

We had a home buyer survey done - the exact comment was “It cannot be confirmed that the loft conversion was carried out in accordance with building regulations particularly in respect of floor strengthening, but given the confines of this inspection, there were no significant signs of defect. See also E2”

I am afraid we overlooked this comment for quite a while - I think I relied too much on our solicitor and expected him to say…” no building regs therefore get it checked by xxxxx” no such luck, he doesn’t see it as a problem from his side as he can get it sorted with indemnity insurance - oops!

I really love this house and I hope so so so so much the engineer says all is ok. Also I have worked hard the last few years to get rid of my student debt - to waste thousands on surveys etc would totally devastate me.

Thanks again for your advice - it’s so hard if you’re new to this game.

hedgehogpenguin

Hi, I bought my flat with the exact same loft room situation. However I did ring the vendor and he managed to dig out all the receipts/plans for the conversion and from these coupled with a phonecall to a structural surveyor we managed to ascertain that floor strengthening had been done. Maybe you can try the same ? it can't hurt and may well save you the extra cost.

Doozergirl

coco123 wrote: »

I just hope so much that the people who did it did a good job and strengthened everything and didn’t damage beams etc.

At least your surveyor wasn't sure! I hope your structural engineer comes back with good news

coco123 wrote: »

I also want to resolve this matter so that we’re in a good position when we come to sell the property….. i.e. we can say “the attic is not to building regs but we have had the structural integrity checked out and all is ok”

Just make sure your vendor buys that indemnity policy as the seem to be 'de rigeur' these days even when they aren't actually appropriate (with the work being too old for building regs to legally ask you to change the work). So it's good to get them to pay for it as it will cover future buyers.

Try and get them to split this cost of the structural engineer with you at least! If they didn't get the paperwork, it should be on their heads to provide you with peace of mind also

narnia2000

Our sellers took indemnity out as this house is 7 years old with no house builders certificate, they also had to have an engineer look at it too for the insurance company to offer the indemnity.

coco123_3

Doozergirl

Thanks you so much for your advice - we will be getting an engineer so fingers crossed.

I'll let you know how we get on - they reckon it'll take a couple of weeks.

If the survey comes back saying that the floor needs to be strengthened – anyone any idea (ish) how much this would be?

Good luck with your house snowmaid

skintlass

Hi,
Even with architects drawings for my loft conversion when it was started the builders discovered that I needed an RSJ (rolled steel joist). I think the price for that was about £500 but they forgot to add it to my final cost so in effect it was free. I definately think it needs checking by structural engineer. Good luck :-)

Doozergirl

coco123 wrote: »

If the survey comes back saying that the floor needs to be strengthened – anyone any idea (ish) how much this would be?

Don't even go there! Basically you'd have to get the new joists approved by building regs which would then mean getting the entire conversion approved; which means thousands.

Debt_Free_Chick

skintlass wrote: »

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.

No, it doesn't - two separate things.

If you need PP, then you need the Decision Notice from the Local Planning Authority. Not only does this state that you can develop in accordance with the plans (so you really need the plans as well), it also lists any conditions that need to be followed.

If you also need BR (and, often, if you need PP you need BR as well), then you need the Completion Certification (and, ideally, the consent from Building Control too as this confirms that the BR plans met the required standards).

With some development, you don't need PP but you do need BR.

With minor improvements, you need neither BR nor PP .... but you should still expect your solicitor to sound "warning bells" ..... it's what they do ... they identify "things for you to consider".

(So you can't sue them for not telling you, if you later have a problem)

HTH