Would this concern you?

Loopy28

Hi all, I have had an offer accepted on a house (yipee!)

I have looked at Zoopla property history and can see from the previous photos that the layout is the same as when the current vendor bought it. There is a large kitchen diner, with doors to the garden and a door from the garden to the conservatory, which is attached to the garage but there is no direct doorway from the house to the conservatory.

I have also seen that the property was for sale a few months back with a very different layout. The current vendor had knocked into the exterior wall of the house, giving a doorway from the kitchen diner straight into the conservatory. The conservatory had been completely fitted with a kitchen and the existing kitchen diner was just a dining room.

For whatever reason it didn't sell a few months back e.g. could be maybe no planning permission for the kitchen in the conservatory.
So the doorway to the conservatory has been blocked in with the wall restored and that is now the back wall of the kitchen with the kitchen diner being reinstated and the conservatory is now just an open space again.

It seems strange that the vendor would spend so much money reinstating things to sell it. I am also concerned if this will cause structural issues etc. The house is 40 years old.

Should I be concerned? Would any issues in relation to this be picked up in a survey? The other thing I noticed when viewing is the conservatory had an odd smell, maybe like sulphur or chemicals.

Thanks in advance.

Doozergirl

It sounds like the layout didn't meet building regulations. A conservatory is classed as an outbuilding, not an extension.

The smell in the conservatory is probably the materials used to redo it - plastering,tile adhesive, carpet or paint. New work always smells.

If they've knocked through a wall, then it should be supported correctly. How big was the opening? Over about a metre it would def need building regulations approval too. We can presume that wasn't obtained, perhaps?

Bricking it back up would put it back to the way it was without much risk. Studwork, not so much, but it could be safe. Any structural engineer's calcs, even if it didn't have BR approval?

stator

Yes you are right to be concerned.
Putting a Kitchen in a conservatory would never getting building regulation approval, that's why they put it back. They were likely told they would never sell it in it's current state.
The issue with the load bearing wall is also a concern. Who did the work? Do they have building regulation certificates for the restoration of the wall? Has a structural engineer taken a look at the work?

lxpeanut

It would definitely be enough to get me to get a full structural survey. You can highlight particular concerns to them and they can check it out.

silvercar

Don't know if it is the case here, but zoopla history often picks up the wrong property!

rosie383

Hi Loopy! I was wondering how your search was going. I'm glad you have found somewhere at last. No real advice to offer here except that when you book your survey there should be a section to highlight any particular concerns so that the surveyor can specifically check those out.

Loopy28

Thank you Rosie, we did finally get a new buyer and love this new house much more so every cloud has a silver lining!

There was originally a side window from the kitchen looking into the conservatory. They had changed this window to a doorway so the opening was obviously enlarged from a window to a door. This is now just a wall with no opening at all, visually it appears to have been finished to a high standard and looks professionally done but obviously I'm no expert.

I was going to have a homebuyers report but sounds then like I might be better off going for a full survey?

kinger101

Loopy28 wrote: »

I was going to have a homebuyers report but sounds then like I might be better off going for a full survey?

Wouldn't it be better to ask about whether building work has been completed to regulations before committing to a survey? Get the answer in writing too.

Annie1960

kinger101 wrote: »

Wouldn't it be better to ask about whether building work has been completed to regulations before committing to a survey? Get the answer in writing too.

Yes, ask the vendor. The surveyor will only be able to comment on what they can see, and they can't see what's behind plaster.

DRP

Annie1960 wrote: »

Yes, ask the vendor. The surveyor will only be able to comment on what they can see, and they can't see what's behind plaster.

Exactly. Come straight to the point- "I see you have made considerable changes to the lay out recently...."

makeitstop

DRP wrote: »

Exactly. Come straight to the point- "I see you have made considerable changes to the lay out recently...."

Yep, you absolutely have to ask these questions.

Not going the full sctructural route would be madness in this case.

You need to establish who did the work, and to what standard.