New Build - Windowless Main Bedroom and Only Bathroom

980233

deece1 said:

Hi,

I am looking for some guidance re safety and window regs on a new build.  I reserved and paid a deposit for a 2 bed duplex in London.  I viewed it three times but failed to notice the only bathroom has no windows. If the kitchen was on fire there would be no escape (main bedroom is ground floor) as the bedroom is next to the kitchen and the bathroom is through the bedroom.

The property doesn’t come with NHBC but has

The mortgage broker said when the mortgage company evaluates the property it may class it as one bed only, which will negatively impact the mortgage we get.

When I originally went for the viewing the estate agent said the previous couple were unable to the mortgage due furlough. I am worried it may be because they couldn’t get the mortgage.

I want to pull out of the purchase of the property but the estate agent won’t return the deposit.

Any ideas on how to get the deposit back?  Many thanks.

I think you are not winning this one.

Have you exchanged? If yes then no chance of pulling out without a big penalty ie loss of deposit.

If the 'deposit' is in fact a reservation fee then you are able to pull out with the loss of just the reservation fee and anything you spent of legals/valuation. 

deece1

Wow!  Thank you also so much for your replies. 

I am unable to post the link to the property, as this is my first time posting.  However, if you type in google 'Wolsey Mews.co.uk' you can see the development and plans for flat 7,

Apologies if I wasn't clear enough in my previous message but the kitchen leads onto a windowless bedroom and the bedroom leads onto a windowless bathroom.

I totally fell in love with this property and it is ideal for me and my two young children.  I naively thought the lack of windows in the bedroom and bathroom was an error on the Developers part.  I thought I could build a window after I bought the property! The Developers are reputable and they must have known this was the only way they could build it and get it through building regs. I don't know about the fire escape route that the builders propose.

I didn't think too much about the windowless bedroom until I showed my parents and they said it was a death trap!  

The deposit I paid was a reservation fee.  I want to challenge the estate agents as they are marketing the property as 2 bed when the mortgage valuation is likely to say 1 bed.  I think this is why the previous buyers pulled out and they should have made me aware of the situation.

Two questions:
Is there any way of adding a window in the bedroom (I want to exhaust all avenues before I speak with the estate agents)?
Do I have a leg to stand on if I challenge the estate agent to refund the reservation fee?

Many thanks again, you wonderful people.

theoretica

This one?

https://webservice.reapit.net/jss/pdf.php?p=rps_jss-RDI200187

You definitely can't put a window into the bedroom 2 of flat 7 - it would look out into flat 8!

I suggest you ask the developers how they meet the fire regulations in the case of this bedroom.  Windows are the simplest way, but they may have an acceptable alternative.

Doozergirl

theoretica said:

This one?

https://webservice.reapit.net/jss/pdf.php?p=rps_jss-RDI200187

You definitely can't put a window into the bedroom 2 of flat 7 - it would look out into flat 8!

I suggest you ask the developers how they meet the fire regulations in the case of this bedroom.  Windows are the simplest way, but they may have an acceptable alternative.

There's no way it can meet building regs for a two bed with that layout.  I don't the BCO would allow a door to be put on that room - they would expect it to be incorporated into the living room/lounge so that it's one room with one exit.  It is not habitable like that, not at all.  

I think you would have an argument for mis-selling. I'm not sure how they got that past planning either - I'm sure there's a requirement for daylight. 

The logical layout is to flip the ensuite to be against the hallway of flat 8 and give the bedroom an external wall.  I wonder if there's a planning restriction on windows on that elevation though, because even bed 2 only has a small window at one end of a very long room.  I fear this whole
flat is going to be rather dark.  

It is okay for a bathroom to have no escape window, by the way.  

daveyjp

A call to the local housing standards team of the Council may be in order.  Ask them if a new build flat can have a bedroom with no window (its no by the way).

If an issue is raised they may well inspect and take action against the developer.

Alderbank

Quite a few bedrooms on that development appear to have no windows in the walls even when there is an external wall. What these rooms have in common is no rooms above.
Are we certain that they do not have dormers or Velux type windows?
Here in Scotland we have friends who live in a stone single storey cottage. All three bedrooms just have skylights. Not that unusual in the villages here.

980233

deece1 said:

Wow!  Thank you also so much for your replies. 

I am unable to post the link to the property, as this is my first time posting.  However, if you type in google 'Wolsey Mews.co.uk' you can see the development and plans for flat 7,

Apologies if I wasn't clear enough in my previous message but the kitchen leads onto a windowless bedroom and the bedroom leads onto a windowless bathroom.

I totally fell in love with this property and it is ideal for me and my two young children.  I naively thought the lack of windows in the bedroom and bathroom was an error on the Developers part.  I thought I could build a window after I bought the property! The Developers are reputable and they must have known this was the only way they could build it and get it through building regs. I don't know about the fire escape route that the builders propose.

I didn't think too much about the windowless bedroom until I showed my parents and they said it was a death trap!  

The deposit I paid was a reservation fee.  I want to challenge the estate agents as they are marketing the property as 2 bed when the mortgage valuation is likely to say 1 bed.  I think this is why the previous buyers pulled out and they should have made me aware of the situation.

Two questions:
Is there any way of adding a window in the bedroom (I want to exhaust all avenues before I speak with the estate agents)?
Do I have a leg to stand on if I challenge the estate agent to refund the reservation fee?

Many thanks again, you wonderful people.

Are you sure it's wise to move into a 600 sq foot rabbit hutch with a young family when looking at the brochure it will suit the buy to let market or a single person with an active social life outside of the flat?

deece1

Hi everyone,

Yes, the link provided by theoretica is the development.

Great advice from each of you and thank you for the comments that made me laugh!

I feel a little foolish having not thought this through properly before paying the reservation fee.  Thank God I got advice from you lovely people before moving ahead with the purchase.

Thank you again for all your advice.

ComicGeek

I just looked up the planning application - yes, it was submitted without windows for some bedrooms and was accepted without anyone mentioning it http://www2.richmond.gov.uk/PlanData2/Planning_CASENO.aspx?strCASENO=18/3815/GPD15&DocTypeID=5#docs

Looks like it is 2 existing light industrial buildings being converted - the sales literature notes electric heating, so expect it to be extremely expensive to run, poorly insulated and with lots of cold draughts. It's not a new build, it's an existing building converted to create new dwellings.

Like others, I can't see how that could ever pass Building Regulations for that 2nd bedroom - I've seen some dodgy conversions over the years that have been signed off, but nothing as obviously wrong as that. It fails Part B and Part F to start with, and should never have been granted planning consent let alone built.

Alderbank

If you look at the planning application on Richmond Borough website you can clearly see the Velux type windows on the roof plans. Below is one of the flats (not the OP's)
I agree with Doozergirl that I would have expected the bedroom and ensuite bathroom to be the other way round. However Hampton Wick High Street is an extremely busy road and this design is indubitably to keep the bedroom quieter.
I know people who have bedrooms like this - they love lying in bed and seeing the stars