Historic Loft Conversion and Building regs

Dziet_Sma

I live in a house with a large loft conversion. Have lived here 7 years and when I bought I had to get an indemnity as appeared no building regs for it. I had it inspected by a structural engineer friend who confirmed it was all good and had clearly been in place for possibly decades, no roof sag, steels used and absolutely fine. Stairs are good, insulation good. Never had any issues with it, it's a great space.

At some point I will sell and would be useful to include the loft room in the bedroom calculation.

I have looked through the historic documents of the house that was built in the early 60s and extended in the late 70, which is when I suspect the loft conversion was done.

On checking regs, the loft conversion regs seemed to come into place in 1984.

Is there anything to stop me advertising this as a room? Any advice on anything I could or should do? Assuming retrospective building regs is costly and that's what the indemnity is for anyway, so to not speak to Council.

Any advice appreciated.

Albermarle

How was it advertised when you bought it ?

Baldytyke88

Dziet_Sma said:

Is there anything to stop me advertising this as a room? Any advice on anything I could or should do? Assuming retrospective building regs is costly and that's what the indemnity is for anyway, so to not speak to Council.

The problems will come when any prospective buyer has a survey, so you need to be honest.

EssexHebridean

Remember your existing indemnity insurance very likely covers future owners too, so make sure you keep that safe and no, don’t contact the council as that may invalidate the policy!  

I get your dilemma though - a buyer looking for a 3 bed house for example might occasions of interest browse the 2 beds, but it won’t be a regular part of their searching. If you DO have to advertise it with the lower room count, you can of course make very clear in the photographs how you use the loft room, and thst will be apparent that it’s been that way for a good long while. 

Do you still have the structural survey report on it? That is something else to keep to hand ready to provide on selling! (If there was no formal report as it was done by a friend, are they willing to provide something summarising their findings?) 

Dziet_Sma

Albermarle said:

How was it advertised when you bought it ?

Advertised without the loft conversion as a room in terms of numbers, but clear on advertising that it was one. I guess the question was around if it was built pre requirement (pre 1984) how is it treated? It's not a major issue as not looking to sell, just want to know what options I have in the meantime and if I maybe should look at retrospective regs. Or how I can advertise.

eddddy

Are you planning to sell it through an estate agent?

If so, when you get 3 or 4 or 5 estate agents round to do a market appraisal, explain the situation, and ask each one how they would advertise it.


The bottom line is that, in theory, the estate agent can be prosecuted for giving misleading information about the number of bedrooms, but you can't be prosecuted.

(But in reality they're more likely to get a 'telling off' and might have to pay some compensation.) 

So it's up to the estate agent to decide what they are happy / not happy to say in a listing.


For example...

An estate agent might be happy to list it as, say, "4 bedrooms" (including the one in the loft), but in the details say something like:
"Note that one of the bedrooms is a loft conversion, so a surveyor/valuer might classify this house as 3 bedrooms"

Or alternatively, whenever somebody phones up to arrange a viewing, the agent explains that the one of the bedrooms is in a loft conversion.

Or maybe list it as "3 / 4 bedrooms", or "potential for 4 bedrooms" - with the same warnings as above.


i.e. Make potential buyers aware at the earliest opportunity, rather than leaving them to get a nasty surprise during conveyancing.