How to make ny loft conversion 'not habitable'?

iampetesmith

I've just boarded mine out for storage, I did it myself without getting buildling regulations involved. Here's a photo:

From what I can imagine, the only difference between that and yours is the carpet and plywood lining (do you mean that the rafters are also covered in plywood, not just the floor)?

The electricity to mine is just an extension lead that I take up the ladders and plug the lights into it, so that's the other difference. Yours doesn't sound habitable though, but if you wanted to make it "less habitable" you could probably remove the carpet and maybe the plywood lining.

Owain_Moneysaver

AIUI (and this is an approximation, not a legal statement) if a loft has all three of

• boarding/walls
• window
• fixed stair

it's considered as habitable and should be done according to Building Regs.
Without a fixed stair or a window it couldn't be considered or used as habitable space. 

Doozergirl

Alexfwalker81 said:

TELLIT01 said:

The OP has stated all the reasons it can't be classed as habitable, so I don't see that any further action is required on their part.

That's my gut feel too - it just isn't habitable as it stands, although I could do more to make it less habitable. I can't help feeling that the guy from Building Control was slightly pushing his luck in the hope that I'd take his word and just dismantle without question. After all, to my understanding, it's exempt from a section 36 notice because it's more than 12 months old and it's not a fixed staircase, just a retractable ladder. I'm just concerned that I've put it on a radar somewhere by trying to do the right thing and speak to the 'experts'. Consequently, it may be a case of how risk averse our buyers and their solicitor feel.

bellaboo86 said:

My last house had a loft room with a staircase and had plug sockets, a window and was carpeted. When selling the house, I ensured it was labelled as a loft room and said to viewers that it would not be suitable as a bedroom 

During the sale process the buyer’s solicitor enquired about building regs and I stated that as per sales information, it was not a loft conversion but a boarded out loft and therefore didn’t need building regs. I’m pretty sure I didn’t buy an indemnity policy. 

Yes, we've said the same thing in the particulars. Of course, you never know what the estate agent might have said when showing the house. And of course, I went 'belt and braces', thinking that I was doing the right thing by speaking to Building Control...

Doozergirl said:

It's not habitable if it has a loft ladder. 

There's literally no reason for this to be a problem, but you can fill it with the contents of what should be in a skip if you want it to look like a proper loft.  😂

I'd need to get the contents of a skip! Being too organised means that we've already cleared out virtually all extraneous rubbish!

You can have mine.  I need to clear the loft before we move!  

Alexfwalker81

Owain_Moneysaver said:

AIUI (and this is an approximation, not a legal statement) if a loft has all three of

• boarding/walls
• window
• fixed stair

it's considered as habitable and should be done according to Building Regs.
Without a fixed stair or a window it couldn't be considered or used as habitable space. 

Thank you, so we fail on 2 out of 3 of those requirements, which is good.