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Indemnity insurance loft conversion
34 replies
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134 posts

Hello
Just wanted to get some advice /feedback . It's come back that the 4 bed we,re buying hasn't got building regs for loft conversion. Surveyor says he's not concerned over safety but it will incur costs to get up to building regs spec. And to be honest as this will be daughters room I am keen to do this. I gave vendor two options money off to account for work to be undertaken ( this decision wasn't taken lightly there's a lot unexpected work to do along side this ) or himself go for retrospective regs.
Anyway they've come back and said they'll purchase indemnity insurance. Yes I am happy that we're protected in case any action taken by LA but my opinion is that I am still going to be paying out more unexpected money. Am I being greedy ? Expecting too much ? Can anyone advise how to proceed even though I've told solicitor they've sent contracts this morning !
Just wanted to get some advice /feedback . It's come back that the 4 bed we,re buying hasn't got building regs for loft conversion. Surveyor says he's not concerned over safety but it will incur costs to get up to building regs spec. And to be honest as this will be daughters room I am keen to do this. I gave vendor two options money off to account for work to be undertaken ( this decision wasn't taken lightly there's a lot unexpected work to do along side this ) or himself go for retrospective regs.
Anyway they've come back and said they'll purchase indemnity insurance. Yes I am happy that we're protected in case any action taken by LA but my opinion is that I am still going to be paying out more unexpected money. Am I being greedy ? Expecting too much ? Can anyone advise how to proceed even though I've told solicitor they've sent contracts this morning !
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Replies
Ask the surveyor exactly what parts of the conversion lead him to believe there is no safety risk.
Well yes will lower price
It was done prior to 2007 and surveyor couldn't give me a estimate
And yes it's a 3 bed and should be priced accordingly.
There are tens/hundreds of thousands of loft conversions around the UK that have been done decades ago without building regs. They are safe, and they ARE bedrooms in every sense.
Upgrading a conversion to meet BR because you're concerned about safety is very OTT. Appoint a structural survey instead and ask if it's safe (rather than what need a done to meet building regulations).
2) Surveyor has clearly done a thorough inspection since he was prepared to write "he's not concerned over safety ". So which aspects are below the relevant spec? That obviously affects what costs you might/might not reasonably discuss. You can't jst pick a vague cost out of the air.
Good idea thankyou