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

geoffky

housebuyer77 wrote: »

I thought the present owner bought it for £310k in 2005?

Yorkie1

Pull out completely and lose my 'dream house'.

As others have said, an indemnity insurance policy a) won't be available because the council are already aware, and b) only covers the cost of the council enforcement anyway.

It does not guarantee the structural safety of the property in any way.

OP, how far along the conversion work were the council involved? Can you find out? Can you ascertain which bits they did informally inspect and sign off?

However, even if you were happy that e.g. the joists in the loft had been sufficiently strengthened and RSJs of the appropriate size put in place elsewhere, there is still the fire risk issue.

Errata

So MAYBE this is a rather weak reason for moving but the fact that he says he did this for him DOES explain why he didn't bother with the regs, doesn't it?

Not in the slightest. Nobody has a crystal ball that shows them their future, so sensible people future proof. He didn't, which makes him either stupid or a spiv - the clue will be when he completed the work. Ask him when the guarantee for the Aga runs out and is it transferrable.
Don't be seduced by all the gee gaws. The Aga ad the bi-fold doors may be on finance, the oak is probably cheap from China.
TBH the price may be right for the area, but if it's unmortgageable that's pretty immaterial.

housebuyer77_2

shortchanged wrote: »

So are you saying that the now single dwelling were two separate houses when he bought it.

i.e he bought the 2 semi's and knocked them into 1

No, the vendor has now supplied me with a pack of information including planning permission plans and drawings which show the original house as-was and the new plans. I also have a pack of photos which show the original house and pictures of the build work.

The old house was completely unmodernised 3 bed semi with a separate single garage to the side. The plans involved knocking down the garage and building 2 story side extension plus single story extension on the rear, creating new bay windows. Plus the loft conversion.

The photos show the property was gutted - roof came off and was replaced, pics show building back to pretty much bare walls and shell, concrete floors. Pics show steel RSJs and roof joists going in. It's almost unrecognisable to the old house.

The planning permission was approved and subsequently the plans were approved by Building Regulations, I have the plans and they are stamped as approved by the reg officer. There are records of some visits from the inspector during the works but no final completion certificate.

The plans are largely what has been built with a few significant differences. The plans show a hallway and internal walls giving the compartmentation required for the loft. The plans also show a doorway to the massive en suite bathroom from the first floor corridor which has not been built, and also a standard doorway to the loft bathroom, which has a sliding door instead and a wet room shower rather than a bath. Apart from that they seem to be accurate.

This could mean a planning breach of course but as its more than 4 years later it is immune from that. As to building regs, I don't know if this means an indemnity is impossible as although the council clearly know about the plans they don't know if he implemented the final works to spec or not?

somethingcorporate

Pull out completely and lose my 'dream house'.

He spent £200k on all that bling and couldn't be bothered to make sure it was safe enough to house his family in?

This will end up as a very expensive mistake OP, I really suggest you back out with your £600k in your pocket than risk all that money and potentially the lives of your family for one house.

Be patient, there will be others.

housebuyer77_2

Errata wrote: »

Not in the slightest. Nobody has a crystal ball that shows them their future, so sensible people future proof. He didn't, which makes him either stupid or a spiv - the clue will be when he completed the work. Ask him when the guarantee for the Aga runs out and is it transferrable.
Don't be seduced by all the gee gaws. The Aga ad the bi-fold doors may be on finance, the oak is probably cheap from China.
TBH the price may be right for the area, but if it's unmortgageable that's pretty immaterial.

I think that's quite harsh - all the work was done in 2005 so its very unlikely there is outstanding finance. The vendor has already bought a new property to move into! He has agreed exactly what stuff he will leave and its on the property information form.

He has renovated other houses in the road. If his standard of work was dodgy, why on earth would he sell his house and then buy the one next door and continue to live there for many years? If he was worried that poor work would come back to bite him I highly doubt he would choose to live as neighbours to the buyers of the last house!??

sammyjammy

Pull out completely and lose my 'dream house'.

I'll tell you for free slate flooring is a real pain in the harris - I only have it in my kitchen I certainly wouldn't want it in my whole downstairs.

I'm not sure why you posted for opinions to be honest, you seem to have already made up your mind.

Ask yourself the question what kind of man would put to (seemingly) very young children's bedroom into an attic room that doesn't meet buildings regs that is not fire safe?

housebuyer77_2

geoffky wrote: »

I thought the present owner bought it for £310k in 2005?

Yes, he did.

chickaroonee

Pull out completely and lose my 'dream house'.

I'm shocked that you think a decent builder would build a house without building regs. It should be what they do day in, day out; and done without any question whatsoever.

We're looking to build a tiny extension on our side return and none of the local (decent) builders will go anywhere near it without building control involvement. You really aren't thinking straight on this one.

housebuyer77_2

chickaroonee wrote: »

I'm shocked that you think a decent builder would build a house without building regs. It should be what they do day in, day out; and done without any question whatsoever.

We're looking to build a tiny extension on our side return and none of the local (decent) builders will go anywhere near it without building control involvement. You really aren't thinking straight on this one.

Depends if you believe his story. He is very upfront about it - the plans had permission and reg approval, the officers visited at least 3/4 times, the planning app is on the council website. It was his dream home for the long term and he wanted the open plan downstairs layout and to keep his quality doors with no self closers. He says that was the only reason the final cert was not obtained. All the photos and plans seem to back up his story and on close inspection at the property I cannot see a single crack or any evidence of any issues with the build, which was 8 years ago. The whole place looks mint.

I hear what posters are saying but it still seems crazy to me to take my £600k and buy a fusty unmodernised house in the area with less floor space and no wow factor, all because of a loft with no certificate! I would never aldso be able to obtain open plan space of this kind with other houses - the area is 36' x 19' which is huge. I didn't comment on the location either, which is semi-rural with open fields at the end of the lane vs estate locations for competing houses.