Buying a house with a loft conversion

Magicmonkey

Hi Everyone

I need some advice on buying a house with a loft conversion. We're first time buyers and have found a 3 bed house we love but one of the bedrooms is a loft conversion. We queried with the EA if the loft conversion had all the relevant building regs certificates when we made an offer and were ensured by them it did however as we've got further into the process it turns out the seller doesn't have a build reg certificate for it.

The seller is claiming he doesn't have this because he didn't complete the conversion, that was done by the previous owner but me and the OH have checked through Zoopla and when the current seller bought the property he bought it as a 2 bed not a 3, what he's selling it as. When we had our surveys done we only went for a homebuyers report as the seller had recently refurbed the whole house and was able to provide all the completion certificates for that so we didn't feel we needed a full structural survey, however these didn't cover the loft conversion. If we got our surveyor to go back and do a structural survey would this be the same as a buildings reg inspection on the loft?

This is a bit of a deal breaker for us, we have kids so need a 3 bed and if the room doesn't have building regs sign off then we feel we can't use it and will have to walk away.

It's my understanding that without building regs the loft conversion can't be considered a habitable room so the house shouldn't be marketed as a 3 bed. We've obviously incurred some costs progressing to this point, as the property was marketed to us as a 3 bed and the EA confirmed they had the paperwork (I have this in writing) for the conversion when they don't. Do we have any recourse to recover our costs from the EA/seller, as we would never have progressed/made an offer if they hadn't done this?

Also I don't know if it's relevant or not but on the paperwork which came with the contracts the seller has marked the house as a 3 bed with no loft conversion, which makes me somewhat nervous that he's trying to hide it from the solicitors.

Thanks.

LandyAndy

Looks like there is no building regs sign off so it isn't a room (although it could have been done to the correct standards). So you are buying a 2-bed.


Personally I would walk away at this point as I wouldn't trust the vendor.


Sadly, I fear your costs so far are lost.

Sedge123

I would walk away if you need a three bed. We are buying a three bed plus a loft conversion but the sellers have been totally upfront about lack of building reg sign off and only marketed it as a three bed.

csgohan4

Sedge123 wrote: »

I would walk away if you need a three bed. We are buying a three bed plus a loft conversion but the sellers have been totally upfront about lack of building reg sign off and only marketed it as a three bed.

Thats a vendor I would like to deal with.

Walk away before any other 'issues' or lies come up. Bit cheeky about the 2 bed marketted as 3 bed with no building regs.

If you really want the house, confront him with the evidence and knock the price down alot. Tell him any other buyers will find the same issue.

I would suggest to get a full building survey whatever house you buy, it's the most expensive thing you will ever buy, why skimp on a few hundred.

Although my survey showed no issues, that is a good thing, last thing is to find something when you move in.

eddddy

I guess you need to think through your precise concerns. For example, are they:

1. That the council might issue an enforcement notice
2. That the loft conversion is badly constructed and may fall down
3. That the loft is insufficiently insulated and may get cold
4. That there is inadequate means of escape from fire
Or something else?

If it's 1, you could enquire about indemnity insurance.
If it's 2 or 3 you could consider getting a structural survey (and quotes for any remedial work)
If it's 4, you might want to walk away

In my opinion, a house with a loft conversion with no building regs is worth less than a similar one that has got building regs, and may be harder to sell on in the future. So if I liked the house, I would reduce my offer accordingly.

On top of this, it's worrying that the seller sounds a bit dishonest.

I guess it depends whether you think you can find a better value house (and more honest seller) elsewhere.

Azure11

Can you check with the council to see if they have anything on it? If there is no record of Building Regs then I would walk away unless you are prepared to go through work to make it comply (in which case obviously you would need to know how much that would cost and they would need to reduce the price) but make the point to the agent and the seller in writing of why you are doing it as it is surely a material fact that means the agent cannot go on to market the property as a 3 bed if he knows the loft has not been officially converted.

Socksey

It may have been marketed as a 2 bed when the vendor bought it but the conversion may well have already been done... the current EA should have been more careful in his description/marketing...

Magicmonkey

Thanks for all the answers.

@ Eddddy, I'm worried about potential long term issues like the roof/ceiling not being reinforced properly. Things that might not show up for 10 years or more but then cost a lot of money to put right. Then there's also resale, without regs we'd have to sell as a 2 bed which obviously isn't as attractive as a 3

I've told my solicitor that without a build reg certificate we walk and they called me almost straight back saying the sellers offering to have the council come and inspect it with the intention of getting a post hoc certificate before we exchange. He's confident that the work is to spec and there won't be a problem. I'm still a little nervous as to if that's the case why the sneaking around/hiding but wonder if he was just trying his luck hoping as FTB's we wouldn't ask about it. If he can get the certificate then the problems resolved, if not we'll walk as a 2 bed just doesn't work for us (3 kids).

Will definitely be getting the surveryer back for a full structural survey as well. Don't want any more surprises.

HouseBuyer77

I'm still a little nervous as to if that's the case why the sneaking around/hiding but wonder if he was just trying his luck hoping as FTB's we wouldn't ask about it.

Have you been communicating exclusively via EA/solicitor? Messages can get a little muddled when you do this and you get the wrong impression. It's possible they were just naive and didn't realise any of this would be an issue, now they know it's an issue they'll be happy to sort it out.

Getting them to sort out a building regs certificate and getting your own structural survey sounds like a good way forward. Maybe it's possible to hold off on your survey until the certificate is issued? Don't want to waste money on the survey fee only to find it's not up to standard in the first place.

Magicmonkey

HouseBuyer77 wrote: »

Have you been communicating exclusively via EA/solicitor? Messages can get a little muddled when you do this and you get the wrong impression. It's possible they were just naive and didn't realise any of this would be an issue, now they know it's an issue they'll be happy to sort it out.

We have only been communicating via solicitors and EA so I suppose that's a possibility. Although like I said in my original post I did specifically ask for the b regs certificate when we made our offer and was ensured that they had it and would send it to my solicitors with the contracts.

You're right on holding off on our survey as well, if it fails we're walking so no point in spending on another survey in that case.

Thankfully we're in no rush to move, although it would be nice to be done by Xmas.

Sedge123

csgohan4 wrote: »

Thats a vendor I would like to deal with.

the beauty of a private sale!