Loft Building Regs issue

richblade1981

Hi All,
My wife and I are buying a house which was advertised as a 5 bedroomed house. It is actually a 4 bedroomed house with an additional attic space.
Now here comes the issue:
* The loft was converted in 1995 to an attic and does not have building regulations approval.
* The sellers are unable / unwilling to obtain the building regulations approval as they said the council would not be able to do this
* It does not have planning permission (I do not believe it needs this?)

If the attic is not used as a habitual part of the home and just used as storage, do I need building regulations approval (There is a radiator and electricity in the room). Also would my insurance cover this if there was a leak and not building regulations approval?

Thanks

Richard

buglawton

If your building soc will lend on it after their surveyor has seen it and your solicitors searches don't throw up a negative, you are 99% there. Wouldn't worry about the other 1%.

Davesnave

It doesn't need building regs to be used as a loft. Many lofts have electric points, lighting etc. The presence or other wise of a radiator doesn't matter either; it's how the room is used which counts. You can probably have the radiator drained and bypassed if it bothers you.

The agent shouldn't knowingly sell a house as 5 bed if one of them doesn't meet regs for a bedroom, but they will just rely on what the seller tells them.

You would only run into problems with insurance if you made a claim and negligent use of this space as sleeping accommodation featured, or if you told the insurer something untrue when applying for cover.

If your lender is happy to advance what you need on the house as a 4 bed, and you are still keen to buy it, there should be no problem.

You might even be able to meet regs on the room one day, but it's likely physical restraints have made, and will continue to make this difficult.

dc197

Interesting point about sleeping accommodation.
Initially I was surprised to see a question from my buyer's sol about whether there is any sleeping accommodation in my conservatory. But I learnt that they were checking to see if BR would be necessary.

richblade1981

Thanks everyone, it's my first post on here and your certainly helping. What I don't understand is why they wont/can't get building regs, have they got something to hide?

Also if it is classes as a 4 bed semi and 3 bed semi's with an attic conversion in the same area are selling for £140k to £150k, as a guess what do you think a 4 bed semi with attic would being?

Thanks again

richblade1981

I mean can you get building regs for an attic? Not for officially sleeping in?

unforeseen

richblade1981 wrote: »

I mean can you get building regs for an attic? Not for officially sleeping in?

The problem will be that they could only give BR approval on the current regs which it probably will not pass and not the BRs at the time of the build which it may pass.

The council will not give BR approval on work done 20 years ago so seller is correct in that they cannot get it.

Davesnave

richblade1981 wrote: »

I mean can you get building regs for an attic? Not for officially sleeping in?

The building regs relate to the matters like meeting fire regulations, specs for minimum headroom, U values for a habitable space and any physical strengthening etc to avoid possible structural issues from the change of use.

From the council's POV it's either a habitable room, which includes the possibility of sleeping in it, or its an attic. There are no half way measures. As above, it would be measured against current regs, not those of the 1990s.

I know, people often stuff their non-habitable attics full of heavy junk!

I can't guess prices for you, but only real bedrooms add any value

teneighty

If the current owner knowingly undertook the loft conversion without building regulations approval I think it is reasonable to assume that it is a sub-standard job. Probably the structural strengthening of the new floor and changes to the roof together with the thermal insulation, fire separation and fire escape route and staircase are non-compliant. Any decent builder would know that a loft conversion needs building regulations approval so this conversion would most likely have been dodgy.

Unless they can prove otherwise I would just treat it as a loft room rather than an extra bedroom and value it accordingly. I would say a loft room adds very little value.

davidmcn

How many people with a fifth bedroom would actually use it as regular sleeping accommodation anyway? More likely to be the study/playroom/laundry/junk depository.

steeeb

When was the property valued by the surveyor? Were they valuing it based on it being a 5th bedroom that is actually habitable?

If there is a mortage company involved they will be told by the solicitor (at some point) and they may withdraw their offer or ask for it to be revalued.

If you won't be using it more than storage it likely won't be an issue if all is well with that. Do be aware you'll be selling it as a 4 bedroom house going forward (or a 5 bedroom if you lie and the buyer goes through what you did and potentially pull out).

The question is. If it was a 4 bedroom house with an attic, would you have offered what you did? If not, reduce your offer.