Loft no dormer no planning permission

ProDave

There looks to be a bot of the eaves space of the loft room boxed in as a cupboard (water tanks?) It may be possible in there to see what if anything has been done to beef up the structure.

Whatever decision you make, bear in mind if you come to sell it you will face the same issues with any buyer and don't be surprised if a sale falls through because of this loft room and any buyers concerns about it.

SmashedAvacado

The issue with this house is not that they might not have building regs sign off; its that they have spent a load of money on style but clearly none on substance (ie none on doing the job that actually needed to be done). I would avoid any house like this as you can assume that other jobs that you can't see have been also bodged.

Bacon_Sandwich

ypapandr wrote: »

What would be the best way to check how to regularise the loft? Shall I send an email to the Building Control team in the relevant council?

I regularised a 'loft room' type loft conversion in my old house. This involved ripping it out and starting again with proper insulation to roof and exterior walls, installing a velux window, fire doors, a mains powered, battery backed, radio linked smoke alarm system, and then associated costs of re-plastering, decorating, flooring, electrical work etc. Thankfully the building control inspector was happy with the floor joists and staircase that had already been put in. Worked out about 11k, but that was with calculating insulation, installing insulation, plasterboarding and fitting doors myself.
A lot of hassle and expense, but the end result was a bedrroom that was safe to use, all above board for future sale, and about £25k added to value.
Hope that helps.

ypapandr

On this, I have a couple of questions. Surveyor has estimated the value at x price (5 k lower than accepted offer) and added 5 k of essential repairs. I asked the EA to lower by 10 k but they strongly pushed back. I have then asked for a compromise but they are still very negative. I would not walk away for 1 per cent of the PP but might suggest to discuss directly with vendor (I have her number) as I feel the EA might not even discuss with her. As an alternative, I might say i’ll walk away unless they agree a discount (but the vendor is very strong headed so not sure that would work). Any recommendation?

thanks

ypapandr

Just to follow-up - the EA has confirmed the Vendor is refusing to pay any of the essential repairs. I am thinking of getting a builder to have a look at the chimney stacks as the Vendor is also arguing they are actually in good shape and were redone 2 years ago.

Cakeguts

ypapandr wrote: »

Just to follow-up - the EA has confirmed the Vendor is refusing to pay any of the essential repairs. I am thinking of getting a builder to have a look at the chimney stacks as the Vendor is also arguing they are actually in good shape and were redone 2 years ago.

Redone by who? Some cheap builder or a really competent one who probably charges more. They have already cut corners on the loft room, the stairs etc are you surprised that they have cut corners on the chimneys?



The problem with houses like this where someone had done it up cheaply to sell is that only when you go to replace something that has worn out or more likely broken are you going to find out the extent of the corner cutting.



It is like papering over the cracks and hoping that people won't notice that the house is about to fall down. In this case you already know that there are two alterations that you need to make in order for the house to meet fire regulations because some of the alterations that they have done to sell it have made it not safe to live in. So it needs a lot of money spent on it but they are trying to charge a price that doesn't reflect that. They are trying to charge the work done price not the work done badly and needs redoing price.

ypapandr

Cakeguts wrote: »

Redone by who? Some cheap builder or a really competent one who probably charges more. They have already cut corners on the loft room, the stairs etc are you surprised that they have cut corners on the chimneys?



The problem with houses like this where someone had done it up cheaply to sell is that only when you go to replace something that has worn out or more likely broken are you going to find out the extent of the corner cutting.



It is like papering over the cracks and hoping that people won't notice that the house is about to fall down. In this case you already know that there are two alterations that you need to make in order for the house to meet fire regulations because some of the alterations that they have done to sell it have made it not safe to live in. So it needs a lot of money spent on it but they are trying to charge a price that doesn't reflect that. They are trying to charge the work done price not the work done badly and needs redoing price.

Agree the work will need to be redone - tbh I am just tired to negotiate with someone who's acting as if this was a seller's market. I wonder whether I should just walk away and let her come back or try and get builders to come over and assess the price for the work (which is a softer negotiating approach).

Cakeguts

ypapandr wrote: »

Agree the work will need to be redone - tbh I am just tired to negotiate with someone who's acting as if this was a seller's market. I wonder whether I should just walk away and let her come back or try and get builders to come over and assess the price for the work (which is a softer negotiating approach).

They are probably just trying to get the money back that they have wasted on the "improvements" that need to be changed to something that is safe.



If they don't want to lower the price they won't whatever you do.



Basically what has happened with this house is that someone has had "a good idea" on how to make money only the person who had the "good idea" didn't realise that houses have to be safe to live in not just look nice which is why most people don't do these kind of "improvements." However having done them and hoping to make a lot of money from doing them the vendor is now mistakenly thinking that they can get their money back on the "improvements" they probably mistakenly think that they have "improved" the house or even modernised it not turned it into a house that needs a lot of money spent on it.



What they are selling is a doer upper not a done up but their pricing doesn't reflect this because they don't understand that the house needs a lot of money spent on it correcting their mistakes.



Your surveyor knows much more about houses and their construction than the sellers do.

Davesnave

In a situation somewhat like this, with two sets of vendors and houses in a much worse state, we just put offers on the table with a short time limit and went off to look at others.

Nothing happened, but around 6 months down the line, when we'd bought another house, the sold data shows one vendor accepted £20k less.

The other couple held out for 3 years, probably till one either died or went into care. Anyway, they sold for what we'd offered.

Whether you think it's a buyers' market, or the reverse, the 'market' for each individual house resides inside people's heads. There's no accounting for what goes on in there!