PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Survey results on Victorian mid-terrace

Options
Hi all! My partner and I are FTB looking for a little advice. We had an offer accepted on a Victorian mid-terrace house, a bit of a fixer upper but seemingly superficial. The survey has raised the usual suspects in terms of minor damp, and a bit more serious in terms of a chimney leak that we are hoping to negotiate off our initial offer. However we have one query that we are chasing the surveyor to explain, but thought you lot might be able to help as well. The loft was converted (clearly many years ago - the surveyor says 'not recently', so likely pre-1950s) and thus the two attic bedrooms are not up to modern fire-code standards for bedrooms. This is the part of the report we are most concerned about:

It is recommended that your legal adviser checks to see if there is a Building Control Completion Certificate for the conversion of the roof space into living accommodation. It is possible that due to the age of this conversion this will not be available, however, it is worth noting that the living accommodation at second floor level will not receive Building Regulation approval in its current configuration were it applied for today.


Does anyone know if this means that the bedrooms are not legally bedrooms? If so, it goes from a 4 bed house to a 2 bed. It's not such a worry for us now, but will obviously significantly affect the resale value. If the conversion was completed before standard regulations are they legally bedrooms? Anything to clear this up would be so helpful, thank you!


Comments

  • kasqueak
    kasqueak Posts: 326 Forumite
    Third Anniversary 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    It doesn’t mean they’re not legally bedrooms to my understanding. It means the way the loft has been converted doesn’t meet current building regs. You can use them however you like, bedrooms, office etc. But yes in the future when you come to sell on you’ll likely have the same issue come up. Pretty common in older houses where old extensions/conversions/alterations have taken place. 
    Either you can leave it as it is or you can get the building inspectors in and see how you can bring it up to current code and potentially get a building regs sign off for when you sell in the future. Most likely the issue will be regarding something such as head height, light coming in, means of fire escape, stairs/access etc. 
    In some cases you won’t be able to rectify this without major work if at all. 
  • dimbo61
    dimbo61 Posts: 13,727 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    So this is a 3 storey building with 30 minute fire doors throughout ? 
    Is the 1950,s loft conversion well insulated or freezing cold in winter.
    Is it safe and the floor well supported.
    I have recently spent nearly £25,000 refurbishing a Victorian terrace house which was only 2 storey. 
    The full rewire with all the floors taken up cost £3,000 and new kitchen, bathroom and total replaster,  redecorating took 4 months with an empty house.

  • Thanks for replying! I think we are concerned because it was marketed as a 4 bed house - we put the offer in expecting that the four bedrooms all qualify as bedrooms (by some building standards). the house has also been tenanted in recent years, individually by bedroom - we assumed that they would only be able to be let if they met regs. 
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    emmavntr said:
    Thanks for replying! I think we are concerned because it was marketed as a 4 bed house - we put the offer in expecting that the four bedrooms all qualify as bedrooms (by some building standards). the house has also been tenanted in recent years, individually by bedroom - we assumed that they would only be able to be let if they met regs. 
    But the rest of the house doesn't meet building standards either! It's Victorian, it was built long before building regulations existed.

    Obviously, you can have a think about whether you're happy with fire safety, insulation, headroom, etc, but that's no different from your considerations about everything else in the house. Current building regulations are only relevant for work you're carrying out now.
  • davidmcn said:
    emmavntr said:
    Thanks for replying! I think we are concerned because it was marketed as a 4 bed house - we put the offer in expecting that the four bedrooms all qualify as bedrooms (by some building standards). the house has also been tenanted in recent years, individually by bedroom - we assumed that they would only be able to be let if they met regs. 
    But the rest of the house doesn't meet building standards either! It's Victorian, it was built long before building regulations existed.

    Obviously, you can have a think about whether you're happy with fire safety, insulation, headroom, etc, but that's no different from your considerations about everything else in the house. Current building regulations are only relevant for work you're carrying out now.
    I think this is a really important point and I appreciate it. I guess my real question is whether the house has been mis-marketed - whether it should have been listed as a 2 bed, and whether if we sell it in the future, it should be listed as a 2 bed. I want to make sure we're going into the purchase with our eyes open about what we're buying and what we'll be able to sell in the future. Who knew it would be so hard to tell what legally qualifies as a bedroom these days! 
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    emmavntr said:
    davidmcn said:
    emmavntr said:
    Thanks for replying! I think we are concerned because it was marketed as a 4 bed house - we put the offer in expecting that the four bedrooms all qualify as bedrooms (by some building standards). the house has also been tenanted in recent years, individually by bedroom - we assumed that they would only be able to be let if they met regs. 
    But the rest of the house doesn't meet building standards either! It's Victorian, it was built long before building regulations existed.

    Obviously, you can have a think about whether you're happy with fire safety, insulation, headroom, etc, but that's no different from your considerations about everything else in the house. Current building regulations are only relevant for work you're carrying out now.
    I think this is a really important point and I appreciate it. I guess my real question is whether the house has been mis-marketed - whether it should have been listed as a 2 bed, and whether if we sell it in the future, it should be listed as a 2 bed. I want to make sure we're going into the purchase with our eyes open about what we're buying and what we'll be able to sell in the future. Who knew it would be so hard to tell what legally qualifies as a bedroom these days! 
    It's very easy - because there's no such thing as a room which "legally qualifies" as a bedroom. If there were a rule that you could only call something a bedroom if it's got a building regulations certificate attached to it (which there isn't), that would mean that nothing in that house would qualify as a bedroom.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.9K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.5K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.9K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.9K Life & Family
  • 257.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.