"loft space"

Libra1975

Depends on how much you love the house, but if you decide to stay with it I'd deffo revise your offer as you could only sell it as a one-bedroom and the price would reflect that.
I'm pretty sure the EA was breaking the law advertising it as a 2 bedroom.

This is the one I want
http://www.dezrez.com/DRApp/Search.ASP?WCI=Particular&WCE=00891135
I need to bring the bathroom upstairs but I still want to market it as a 3 bedroom when I sell it hence asking what I need to do to actually make the loft space legal as a bedroom.

robholygrail

Thanks,

Both me and my partner love the house but didn't expect this problem. The surveyor says that there is no evidence of movement in the 'floor' of the loft but then we don't really know how much it's been used. We can't get it to regulation standards as there isn't enough room to put in the larger joists. Besides which we didn't want to move in to a building site!

I am aware that the EA should not have advertised it as a two bed house now. We feel a bit conned by the situation even though it is valued at the offer level we put in. We just think that if the market drops we could be seriously disadvantaged by having a 1 bed plus loft over a two bed.

roses

Doozergirl wrote: »

the most important thing is that the original joists are replaced with ones large enough to hold the weight of a room and not just the weight of a ceiling below.

That's the most important point which may well cost you a fortune if you ever decide you want to use it as a room! So next time you go to a house & the current owners did the conversion, ask them if they replaced the joists.

If not then it's not safe to use as a room.

sham63

Doozergirl wrote: »

sham63, SELL TO ME! I'll give you £100,000 for the building regs.

:rotfl:

Uh?

Doozergirl

Libra1975, do the vendors have building regs certificate?

If not, you need to ask your surveyor if it is structurally stable and whether it has enough height. You need at least 2.4m in height from the bottom of the ridge board to the top of the ceiling joists. And really, you need a 'normal' staircase leading up to it - to do this in that sort of house, you would probably need to eat into the smallest bedroom as it doesn't look like it would originally have had enough space to allow it. You really should have a 30min? fire door at either to the room or at the bottom of the stairs.

Libra1975

According to my vendors the loft space needs more floor to ceiling ratio(!)and a dormer window to comply with regulations. It doesn't have a door either but that's just my observation. It does have a proper staircase however and you are right it has eaten into the smallest room but that's not a problem as that would be the room we turn into the bathroom if possible.

As for the height thing, I can stand in most of the room and I'm about 5'10 I would say the highest bit is approx 6'4.

robholygrail

I don't think that the current owners did the conversion. Both of us had assumed (wrongly) that a loft conversion would have needed permision and would have been done properly. I guess we will know next time.

I do think that the agent should have known not to advertise as a two bed though. They said something along the lines of ..... all agents describe propoerties in certain ways to make them more appealing etc etc. This would imply that they were aware of the situation otherwise they would have said that they thought it had building regs surely? What do you think?

Also, it is possible that the current owners are unaware of the situation as it's possible that they did not have a survey when they bought it

Doozergirl

robholygrail, if you have spent money on this house thinking that it was a 2 bed then you should really complain and I should think you might be able to claim back a large portion of your fees so far from the EA. You either take it up with them yourselves, or perhaps speak to your local authorities trading standards office for advice first.

It's a very basic error for an EA to make and I would pursue it further. Are the house details online?

EDIT: Having read again, it is WRONG for an EA to say that they all exaggerate! It is entirely ILLEGAL under the Property Misdescriptions Act (which is sort of what I was getting at before - they can be prosecuted, you really should reclaim your costs so far!)

robholygrail

Sorry Libra1975, I seem to have hijacked your thread!

The house details are here...

http://212.50.188.107/cgi-win/vebra.cgi?details1?src=vebra&PropertyCode=1150003/ASTON/28892/3

If we did pursue it though surely the agent would just claim that they thought it would have approval?

It would be good to be able to get money back as it's been a long time being able to save enough to get near to buying a house.

Libra1975

No probs all useful information. Your house-maybe-to-be looks lovely.