New flat roof loft conversion has no guarantee

housebuyer654

Hi,

I'm about to buy a house which has a 1 year old loft conversion with a flat roof.
The vendor has disclosed to me that there are no guarantees available on the conversion, the flat roof, or the en-suite. They have given me the name of the builder but the only online presence I can find for them is very recent (1 year old) and only this loft conversion is listed (there is a picture of the same house).
The vendor also claims that the flat roof only needs to be maintained every 35 years which seems like a very long time for a flat roof.

I understand that a completion certificate is available which I will get my solicitor to check over but I'm not sure if this is sufficient? Should I be expecting some kind of guarantee or am I being way to picky? Are there steps I can take to reassure myself about this conversion or should I back out?

FinallyStoppedLurking

Too picky. As long as there is relevant planning and building regs and no reason to believe it is faulty I wouldn't worry. 

You could have a survey done and ask them to specifically check out the conversion. 

Alter_ego

I can guarantee it will leak before 35 yrs if that helps.

davidmcn

Not compulsory or normal to get guarantees for works of this sort. You're not getting any guarantees for the rest of the house, are you? You rely on your and your surveyors' eyes to spot any actual problems.

housebuyer654

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

Too picky. As long as there is relevant planning and building regs and no reason to believe it is faulty I wouldn't worry. 

You could have a survey done and ask them to specifically check out the conversion. 

Thanks for your advice, I appreciate it.

There is no reason to believe it is faulty but I don't have sufficient knowledge to know what to look for and assess it for myself.

We are having a homebuyer survey but they've said they can't do anything to check the conversion and can't recommend anyone who can.

The planning permission is a bit complicated. There are some plans from awhile back that got rejected with the council requesting a pitched instead of a flat roof. There are revised plans with a pitched roof that were then accepted. However, the vendor claims these plans are all irrelevant as the rules recently changed and planning permission is no longer required for loft conversions and there estate agent also backs up this claim. Therefore, they went back to the flat roof design.

FinallyStoppedLurking

housebuyer654 said:

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

Too picky. As long as there is relevant planning and building regs and no reason to believe it is faulty I wouldn't worry. 

You could have a survey done and ask them to specifically check out the conversion. 

Thanks for your advice, I appreciate it.

There is no reason to believe it is faulty but I don't have sufficient knowledge to know what to look for and assess it for myself.

We are having a homebuyer survey but they've said they can't do anything to check the conversion and can't recommend anyone who can.

The planning permission is a bit complicated. There are some plans from awhile back that got rejected with the council requesting a pitched instead of a flat roof. There are revised plans with a pitched roof that were then accepted. However, the vendor claims these plans are all irrelevant as the rules recently changed and planning permission is no longer required for loft conversions and there estate agent also backs up this claim. Therefore, they went back to the flat roof design.

Have they said that because it's a Homebuyers Report rather than a building survey? 

Could possibly be permitted development. Hard to tell without knowing the exact details. The local planning office should be able to help if you have reason to be concerned. 

dimbo61

So why not check yourself on the local authority planning portal to see what is permitted development !
I have seen " Flat Roof" loft conversions with a slight angle ( So not flat ) that was made out of very thick moulded plastic which has a 25 year water ingress guarantee. 
Depends on the builder and how well he did the conversion and roof 

housebuyer654

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

housebuyer654 said:

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

Too picky. As long as there is relevant planning and building regs and no reason to believe it is faulty I wouldn't worry. 

You could have a survey done and ask them to specifically check out the conversion. 

Thanks for your advice, I appreciate it.

There is no reason to believe it is faulty but I don't have sufficient knowledge to know what to look for and assess it for myself.

We are having a homebuyer survey but they've said they can't do anything to check the conversion and can't recommend anyone who can.

The planning permission is a bit complicated. There are some plans from awhile back that got rejected with the council requesting a pitched instead of a flat roof. There are revised plans with a pitched roof that were then accepted. However, the vendor claims these plans are all irrelevant as the rules recently changed and planning permission is no longer required for loft conversions and there estate agent also backs up this claim. Therefore, they went back to the flat roof design.

Have they said that because it's a Homebuyers Report rather than a building survey? 

Could possibly be permitted development. Hard to tell without knowing the exact details. The local planning office should be able to help if you have reason to be concerned. 

I don't think so. We listed the specific things we were concerned about and asked the surveyor to recommend the appropriate type of survey. They recommend the Homebuyer's Report.

Thanks again - I will check with my local planning office.

housebuyer654

dimbo61 said:

So why not check yourself on the local authority planning portal to see what is permitted development !
I have seen " Flat Roof" loft conversions with a slight angle ( So not flat ) that was made out of very thick moulded plastic which has a 25 year water ingress guarantee. 
Depends on the builder and how well he did the conversion and roof 

Yes I have done and it is possible that it is (there are some facts I can't check myself as I don't have enough information e.g. whether the volume limit has been exceeded) but as long as there is a completion certificate, my understanding is that I can be sure that it was either permitted development or appropriate planning permission was received. I guess I am not too worried about that as I am confident that the solicitors can verify all of that for me.

It is just that from briefly looking around at flat roof loft conversions, all companies I can find appear to offer a 10-15 year guarantee. It therefore, seemed odd that this one had nothing. However, if that isn't normal or usual then I am greatly encouraged!

housebuyer654

davidmcn said:

Not compulsory or normal to get guarantees for works of this sort. You're not getting any guarantees for the rest of the house, are you? You rely on your and your surveyors' eyes to spot any actual problems.

I'm not sure the comparison is valid. I would absolutely be getting a guarantee/warranty if the house was built last year but yes it would be silly to expect that on a house that is ~90 years old.

This conversion is brand new and when researching loft conversions, a guarantee seemed to be offered as standard. However, if that isn't normal, then I am greatly encouraged. Thank you for sharing your experience as I have none!

FinallyStoppedLurking

Very much depends who did the work. At our last house we had a 1 storey extension that fell within permitted development. A family friends did the brickwork and I did the foundations, floor and roof.
All was signed off with building regs but certainly had no guarantee. 

Larger companies may offer them but less likely with a local builder who works on his own.