Indemnity Insurance - future works to loft which may invalidate insurance

rusty_shilling

Hi all,

Any help with this question would be ace, as I feel that our solicitors are not advising correctly.

I'm very close to exchange on a house and, like many homes, we need to take out indemnity insurance for the loft space (not a bedroom and not advertised as one). As I understand it, the indemnity becomes invalid if you tell the council about it, and it's a bit of a catch 22 if you want to do a major works, because you need to tell the council about this and thus you are no longer protected by an indemnity.

We're unlikely to turn the loft into a bedroom, as it would likely mean tearing down everything and costing more than if we were to do the conversion from scratch. However, I would like to make some amendments such as...

- Add a door to the bottom of the stairs leading to the loft (none currently)
- Take out the boiler tanks in the loft - plan to move to a combi
- Repair the damage from the leaking tanks (inc. ceiling in bedroom below and possibly the affected floor in the loft)
- Fit a hand rail
- Fix a gap next to one of the velux windows
- Fix a loose light switch
- Decorate
- Maybe add a dormer (long-term goal)

Would any of the above invalidate the indemnity? Can I make small changes and keep everything above board?

Many thanks
Rusty

G_M

Clearly you wish to use the loft as living space. You would therefore be advised to apply for and obtain Building Regulations certification.


Not just so that you are 'legal', but for your own protection. This ensures that the fire escape route is safe /sufficient. That the joists of the loft floor are strong enough to take the weight (loft floors are not designed to support living space). That there's no 'collateral damage' to roof supports etc etc etc.


So having obtained BR certificate, your indemnity insurance becomes unnecessary.

rusty_shilling

Thanks G_M.

I think that's the long term objective, once funds allow in about 5 years. Before that we would only use this for storage.

For now, we just want to add a door, make some repairs, replace boiler, etc. I'm assuming that if these works are done via competent working scheme, who won't be informed about the lack of building regs, then it will keep our indemnity valid.

There must be thousands of cases where this has occurred, yet there's such little information.

Many thanks
Rusty

SmashedAvacado

All the indemnity insurance does is protect you if the LA take action against you for the breach of building regs. it does not protect you from the quality of the work etc. These policies are cheap as basically the LAs never take action (unless there is a danger). Your policy is pretty much worthless already on that basis.

rusty_shilling

Thanks Smashed. I get that feeling!

The conclusion I have come to (could be wrong) is that if any future works need building regs via the LA then you're invalidating the insurance as you are disclosing the lack of regs on the loft to the very people who might take action against you. Using a competent worker for a window, door, new boiler, however won't invalidate it as you don't have to tell them about the lack of building regs for them to do those works and it doesn't involve the LA. Repairs can also be made at will as that doesn't require building regs or someone in a competent worker scheme. I could be wrong on this so any future readers should not take this advice. Of course, regs are there to keep us safe, and one day I'll get round to righting the wrongs on the house.

silvercar

rusty_shilling wrote: »

Thanks Smashed. I get that feeling!

The conclusion I have come to (could be wrong) is that if any future works need building regs via the LA then you're invalidating the insurance as you are disclosing the lack of regs on the loft to the very people who might take action against you. Using a competent worker for a window, door, new boiler, however won't invalidate it as you don't have to tell them about the lack of building regs for them to do those works and it doesn't involve the LA. Repairs can also be made at will as that doesn't require building regs or someone in a competent worker scheme. I could be wrong on this so any future readers should not take this advice. Of course, regs are there to keep us safe, and one day I'll get round to righting the wrongs on the house.

Correct. You would be invalidating insurance that you won't be claiming against, so it doesn't really matter.