Would you buy house where loft conversion has no regs?

sJanes

Viewed a house advertised as 2-bed with the second room in the loft. Vendor (chatty) showed me around, told me the loft conversion was there when they bought and had no planning permission or BC sign off (it's in a conservation area) but they'd been told it didn't need it because of its age and they had indemnity instead. Room was furnished as a bedroom but not sure if actually used as there's only 1 person living there.
I think this means it can't be counted/sold as 2-bed, so agent shouldn't be advertising as such. From what I've read, it couldn't get sign off now because it's complete, and it would probably fail current regs anyway. I don't mind this as I only need one bedroom, but it's not priced right for that. I'm paying cash with nothing to sell, so I'd hope to be able to negotiate.
The question is, would it be a mistake to buy that potential headache even at the right price?
I don't think the council would take any interest in enforcement (how would they know it was there?), and lots of houses in the area have similar conversions. I wouldn't be doing any other building work (no scope for that) which would alert them. Are there any other considerations? 

user1977

How old is the conversion?

Labtebricolist

Push hard for a discount and make sure title insurance covering building consents is included, purchased by the seller.

user1977

Labtebricolist said:

Push hard for a discount and make sure title insurance covering building consents is included, purchased by the seller.

The OP says the seller already has indemnity insurance.

I think you'd need to quantify what the discount is for? Obviously it can't be for the risk which is already insured against...

sJanes

user1977 said:

How old is the conversion?

Not known, could be as little as 7 years.

sJanes

I think you'd need to quantify what the discount is for? Obviously it can't be for the risk which is already insured against...

Pricing it realistically compared to houses which are legitimate 2 bed, unless I've misunderstood this? As I wouldn't be able to sell as a 2bed in future.

Albermarle

sJanes said:

user1977 said:

How old is the conversion?

Not known, could be as little as 7 years.

Then it is a definite big issue. Without the BC sign off it should not be advertised as an habitable room/bedroom ( and the agent should know that but many are not very clued up on the issue).
This issue crops up time and time again on the forum. 
An indemnity covers the council not causing problems with it, but does not guard against the possibility it was not constructed properly, or has the right fire safety precautions built in. 

sJanes

Why would that be a problem if it was not used/sold as a bedroom though, I.e. I get an appropriate price and it's just a glorified loft?
Would there be an issue with buildings insurance?

Also, is there an age at which the BC sign off wouldn't matter (since 7 years does)? 

user1977

Albermarle said:

sJanes said:

user1977 said:

How old is the conversion?

Not known, could be as little as 7 years.

Then it is a definite big issue. Without the BC sign off it should not be advertised as an habitable room/bedroom ( and the agent should know that but many are not very clued up on the issue).
This issue crops up time and time again on the forum.

It does, but I can't remember anybody citing the relevant law which prohibits anybody from calling it a bedroom?

I can see the logic in, say, the agent flagging up the consents point - but not sure why you can't call something a bedroom when it clearly is a bedroom, has long been used as a bedroom, and will in all probability continue to be used as a bedroom?

I would be more concerned about any objective problems with lack of insulation, head-banging ceiling heights, etc.

user1977

sJanes said:

Would there be an issue with buildings insurance? 

No, I have never seen a buildings insurance proposal form which asks a relevant question.

Though bear in mind that insurance doesn't cover fixing substandard building work (either yours or previous owners').

Sapindus

user1977 said:

I can see the logic in, say, the agent flagging up the consents point - but not sure why you can't call something a bedroom when it clearly is a bedroom, has long been used as a bedroom, and will in all probability continue to be used as a bedroom?

Because if it isn't up to consent standards it is very likely not safe to be used as a bedroom, however long someone has been using it as one and got away with it.  When a fire happens it could be fatal.  It's a matter of how likely something is to happen multiplied by the consequences if it does.  

It's like my mother trying to persuade buyers with toddlers that it was perfectly safe for them to buy her house with a huge pond in the back garden, because she'd managed to bring up two children without either of them drowning.

So if someone sees the room advertised as a bedroom and is too inexperienced or careless to realise it's not safe to use as one, it wouldn't be reasonable to just say oh well buyer beware.