Advice on a loft conversion on house i am would like to buy

Noneforit999

As others have said, get a survey done.

If they genuinely are using it as a bedroom with a fixed staircase and its non compliant, they could find themselves in hot water should an issue arise caused by the loft like a fire or structural problems due to weight and their insurance paying out.

If its an older house, you may find it has a central supporting wall that goes down to foundations and even the original floor joists up there can probably take a decent amount of weight if they are only spanning 4m or so between the outer walls and the central one but regulations are more than just weight, there are safety aspects like means of escape in the event of a fire, electrical etc. Then you have insulation, retrofitting insulation to bring it up to current regs would likely involve ripping down the ceiling.

If the person that did the 'conversion' used the original floor joists, stuck some PIR between the rafters and then boarded out the underside of the roof and the floor, thats not even going to come close to current regulations so expect to have to rip it out and start again after speaking to a structural engineer.

If you plan to use it as a bedroom, I would move forward on the basis its going to cost largely what a new conversion would cost now

pretamang

For peace of mind that it has been built correctly/safely you need get a specific structural survey from an engineer. The usual house survey, even at the highest level, will not include a full structural appraisal.

We were in a similar position, loft had no building reg sign-off (was done in the early 90s before this commonplace), mortgage company had no issue/no comment on it, but I wanted the structural survey done for me (and for future buyers) to know that it's safe.

thegreenone

Floopy2009 said:

Section62 said:

Floopy2009 said:

...The loft has been done up, has no doors to it  just steps...

The lack of a door is likely to be the main issue and potentially one of the hardest to resolve.  You need (a) a door and (b) a 'landing' between the door and the top/bottom of the stairs.  One of the reasons people don't put a door on an iffy loft conversion is the difficulty in doing so whilst maximising the usable space.

What do you mean by "steps"?  Is there a proper staircase, or just some form of ladder?

A staircase which runs from a small box room on the first floor of the house to the converted loft. The stairs are quite narrow.

If the staircase runs from the second bedroom, does that make it more like a one bed?   Or is the box room an extra?

in_my_bumble_opinion

Structural engineer's survey. Costs maybe 600-1000.