Want to sell but no building regs on garage conversion ?.

Mooshyxxxx

My husband of 27 years left us about 2 years ago and will have absolutely nothing to do with helping me with anything legal or grown up so I'm having to sort out so much by myself and am feeling overwhelmed to say the least .
I would like to see the house and move on and have been fortunate enough to have a good mortgage offer ( once disassociated financially from ex who hasn't paid a bill in 2 years and now has defaults ).
Before I put the house on the market I'm really worried about our garage conversion.
My exs brother in law did it .
He didn't get building regs even tho the builder advised him too he just didn't .
I think he went deep enough and insulated ect , but I'm sure it won't meet regs as the back wall is only single brick thickness as the boiler was and still is on it .
Can someone please explain to me in simple terms what to do for the best .
I don't have much money as I'm having to fund all our divorce and financial things and the house sale entirely myself whilst working and bringing up our 4 children ( only 2 dependant ).
It was done approx 5 years ago .
I think I could apply for indemnity insurance / or apply for retrospective planning - this will then flag up the work which I'm sure needs doing which may run into thousands .
It's a 3 bed semi which after the conversion we made two small rooms out of the attached garage with a window at each end.
I am anxious and would appreciate some advice please ?
Many thanks

societys_child

we made two small rooms out of the attached garage with a window at each end.

What are these rooms currently used as? Maybe if you class them (sell them) as storage or utility (not habitable rooms, particularly bedrooms) you might not have too much to worry about.

Mooshyxxxx

Nothing now as both my eldest have left .
They are decorated as bedrooms both with a bed in but mostly storage .
The girls do sleep there when they come home for holidays .

societys_child

I edited my post whilst you were replying .. take the beds out to sell?

G_M

1) remove the internal walls and replace garage door. Sell as a garage. £1 - 2K?

2) apply for retrospective Planning Permission (?) and Building Regs. certification. If, as seems likely, additional work is needed (better insulation, deeper foundaions etc) could be expensive. By applying you alert the local authority and 3) below becomes impossible

3) take out an indemnity insurance policy (£150?). This would cover you and any buyer against the costs associated with the LA ever enforcing Building Regs (provided you don't first alert the LA). However buyers will/may also be concerned that the garage conversion is poorly constructed, cold etc

4) do nothing. Try to sell. Wait and see.

Freecall

Firstly, even if your original planning consent (for the house) contained restrictions on converting the garage, as the conversion was carried out 5 years ago you are now outside any possible enforcement. You therefore have no worry about planning.

Building Control approval is a bit more tricky. It might be worthwhile employing a surveyor to advise you on what work would be required to bring the work up to standard. I would expect that for £500 - £800 you could expect a detailed report which would set out what was needed.

You could then get quotes for the work and based on these decide whether or not you want to upgrade and sell as a legit conversion or sell with a garage.

You might be surprised that only relatively simple work is needed to regularise the situation.

kinger101

The simplest thing to do is to not market it as a bedroom. Indeed, it's unlikely that an Estate Agent would be willing to do so if they become aware it doesn't meet the criteria of a habitable room. And would likely inform potential vendors one it became apparent (which in reality, they would when you complete the property information form).

At the very least, I'd attempt to clarify what is needed to get regs. You might not have the cash available, but it would be useful to give a potential buyer an idea of what might be involved if this is something they'd wish to pursue. You might even get quotes for the work, though a builder might be less inclined to do this once the property is on the market.

There is some info here.

http://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/cy/relateddocuments/publications/buildingcontrol/guidancenotesforgarageconversions.pdf