What counts as a bedroom?

Jenniefour

Running_Horse wrote: »

What counts as a bedroom?


On picture 5 they appear to be counting the lounge as a bedroom (the room with a great big sofa blocking off the front door).

It doesn't matter whether a room is described as a bedroom or a lounge/reception - what matters is whether it's a room classed as habitable space.

In Maidstone there are frequently houses sold with the loft conversion described as a "useful" extra room rather than as a bedroom.

Yes, describing loft conversions which have no BR as useful extra space - all good EA's, if they know it doesn't have BR would do that. And it usually makes a difference in price.

joshp1407

dominoman wrote: »

BTW - We are in the process of buying a house that was marketed as having two bedrooms on the upper floor, which turns out to be done without building regs.

We like the house so are going ahead anyway.

That's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one. What have you had done to investigate, and how did you approach the price reduction (if you have)?

egoode wrote: »

I'm going to have to loft redone at some point if I want to use it as a bedroom which I do want eventually but I don't need it straight away.

That's my plan too. If and when we need it (first baby is only 8 months!), we can get it converted properly, as long as the price is reduced to reflect.

DRP wrote: »

So my point is it may not matter if you are happy with the loft - is your mortgage provider happy with it?

Well the funny thing is, the homebuyers report came through the bank, so they have a copy of it, and his valuation. So I assume that they are happy with everything?

Annie1960

Explain the issues to the estate agent, tell them that in your opinion it is a two-bedroomed property and ask why they have priced and advertised it as a three-bedroomed property.

You could also do some research yourself for that area to see what the difference in price is between a 2 and 3 bed - maybe the price has already taken this into account?

DRP

joshp1407 wrote: »

Well the funny thing is, the homebuyers report came through the bank, so they have a copy of it, and his valuation. So I assume that they are happy with everything?

Aye but does your lender know about the BR issues?

Basically for us, the Lack of BR came to light after the valuation/offer. Our solicitor then said they would have to inform the mortgage provider...

What does your solicitor say about it?

joshp1407

Thanks for all the previous advice guys, I've had a structual engineer out, who has pointed out that although the room won't comply with buliding regs for several reasons (roof height, landing size etc), it's perfectly safe to use as a bedroom. He looked at the joists, explained the maths to me (semi striaght over my head) and said straight forward that the room would support use as a bedroom.

I also think that I won't have a leg to stand on for a renegotiation, as the HBR (that pointed out the loft wasn't habitable) stated that 'In its present condition and with the current state of the property market my valuation of the property is £117,000'. This what our offer is, so it looks like he has said it's still £117,000 as a 2-bed with a loft space.

DRP wrote: »

Aye but does your lender know about the BR issues?

I can only presume so, as the lender commisioned the report, and I've been discussing the matter with my sols?

dominoman

joshp1407 wrote: »

That's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one. What have you had done to investigate, and how did you approach the price reduction (if you have)?

We had a structural survey done. He told us that it was not done to building regs standards, but appeared to be structurally safe, apart from one small eaves room where the timbers were too weak to support heavy load.

We decided not to negotiate any reduction as we liked the house anyway, and will just be careful not to put too much weight on the weaker timbers.

joshp1407

dominoman wrote: »

We had a structural survey done. He told us that it was not done to building regs standards, but appeared to be structurally safe, apart from one small eaves room where the timbers were too weak to support heavy load.

We decided not to negotiate any reduction as we liked the house anyway, and will just be careful not to put too much weight on the weaker timbers.

Sounds very much like how I'm feeling, even down to the survey advice!

Thanks again for your feedback, hopefully we'll be as successful and happy with the move as you were