Dream home has no building regs for loft conversion - please help!

amh15

This is long after the original discussion but for what it's worth, it's true that Automist should be serviced every year, but it's not that expensive - typically 120 pounds a year (admittedly more if you have had to install it in multiple rooms). Compared to the all other costs of owning a property (mortgage, insurance, boiler servicing, council tax) it's not really a big extra cost and it does make quite a difference to the layouts you can achieve. The added value to the property of the look and feel is much more relevant financially than the annual cost - unless you are absolutely strapped.

Fizzymartini wrote: »

Another consideration is the cost of maintaining the Automist - it will require continual servicing and testing, which is both inconvenient and costly. I had looked into the system when exploring open plan options, but eventually decided against it for this reason.

stefpeo

Hi,


I have read this thread with interest, we are thinking of purchasing a property which is described as a 3 bed semi with fixed stairs to boarded loft.


The loft was previously used by the current owners as a bedroom but I worry that with no signed off building regs that we may struggle to sell this in the future. Is it possible for me to have the work signed off and if so what work would be involved in order to achieve this?


Thanks in advance

lincroft1710

You will have no problem in selling the property as "a X bed semi with stairs to boarded loft area", X being the number of properly constructed bedrooms. You should offer on the house on this basis also.

Without knowing if the loft conversion was done in accordance with building regs in force at the time, you have no chance of getting it signed off.

Cacran

I have just read through this whole thread and found it very interesting.

I think there has been a bit of meanness towards the OP. It is nothing to do with anyone else as to how they have raised the money for such a property. I sense a bit of envy, there.

I would love to know the outcome. Did OP get the house? Did they sort out the certificates etc.

I too would have been loath to buy the property. I would have been sceptical where the builders explanations were concerned. I think that he should have shown receipts and not estimates. Being a builder, he more than likely put the windows/ wood burner, in himself. I don't blame him but if he did, he needed to tell the truth to any prospective purchaser.
With regard to the bedroom in the loft. Maybe it was not 100% fire safe. Smoke detectors, escape ladders could be used. Perhaps the adults could have used that as their bedroom, not the childrens.
Where I live there are so any makeshift loft conversions/ bedrooms and buildings that I am sure cannot have passed any plans at all, you would not believe it! I do not condone it at all. We had an extention built about 20 years ago. There were a few visits from inspectors, their advice was followed and everything subsequently signed off. Some were less thorough than others. Some just seemed to talk to the builder, not actually checking the building. We had a knock back on a window we wanted, saying it would overlook next doors back garden. We did not get that window. At a later date we could always knock a hole through and put a window in. Who would know if we did??? If we sold our house, would it show up as a problem??

The OP had their dream, I hope it did not turn out to be a nightmare for them. I never actually trust what a seller is saying, whether it be a house, a vehicle or anything else. They are going to try to get the most money they can get, as quickly as they can do the deal. I do not excuse it though.

nozydog

I have just exchanged on a bungalow with a nice loft conversion but no regs. Apparently this makes it a two bedroom bungalow with a boarded loft according to a lot of posters on these forums! It's a lovely conversion, 8 inch joists supporting the floor, plenty of fire exits, fully insulated with radiators and a great en suite shower room. A beautiful open gallery staircase/landing - could this be the reason the designer/builder didn't register for full regs? My surveyor, after a thorough inspection, confirmed my own opinion that it looked to be a superb conversion. But does no regs make it just a boarded loft? Just because a council official hasn't signed it off? I wouldn't say so! The vendor (actually the EA) paid the ridiculous £300 indemnity insurance to cover the fact that someone had a benefit of a restrictive covenant 75 years ago and to cover lack of regs, but I was happy to go ahead. Sure I'll hit problems if I want to sell, if someone comes along who wants every i dotted & every t crossed, but there are loads of properties out there with no regs for alterations and I wouldn't let it put me off buying a property I really wanted. A proper inspection with a reputable surveyor making sure you ask lots of questions and insisting he pays particular attention to the conversion is the best way forward if you really like a house. There are so many dangerous structures around being lived in simply because they're very old that sometimes I think we can just be too picky.

Lightfantastic_2

I have just had my mortagage turned down by the Postoffice as soon as they found out that the loft room on the flat I found has no building regs.

I was really surprised as I had been made aware of the situation from the outset and I had passed on that information to my mortagege company and then the surveyor before doing the homebuyers survey and then low and beyold they contacted me to tell me that there were no building regs (after taking my money for the survey)

I'm really hoping this isn't the end of the road for this one as I know that the seller has already had the sale fall through once already as they were trying to market it as a 2 bed. It was my understanding (from the estate agent) that as long as we didn't call it a bedroom then things would be fine.

I am interested to hear what mortagage companies people used to borrow on their flats with 'loft rooms' as I would still really like to go through with the purchase.

kinger101

housebuyer77 wrote: »

I have challenged the EA and he says he was NOT aware of the lack of regs when first marketing the property but 'remains comfortable that it is a 4 bedroom house as it is clearly being used as such and the work was done to building reg standard just not signed off, and you have the indemnity insurance to rectify that problem'.

I bet they'd regret making a statement like that in court. EAs are not allowed to wing things like this.

Someone who posted on here recently got all their expenses back after a survey highlighted a loft room had been incorrectly marketed as a bedroom. It didn't go to court, the the EA head office folded just on the threat of escalation.