We’re buying our first house and are due to exchange next week, the place has a loft conversion and this was picked up in the searches as not being to building regs or having planning permission.

My conveyancer and estate agent assured me this wasn’t an issue as there is an indemnity policy in place and it wasn’t being sold or used as a bedroom, just loft space with a staircase, heating and electrics.(?!)

This week I got round to sorting buildings insurance and when I told the insurers the situation none were interested (understandably) in insuring the house. I have just now found a company that will insure it without too much of an increase in premium.

The place needs a bit of work (minor roof repairs, porch rebuilding and general decorating stuff), but I’m keen to get stuck in and the only way we’ll afford somewhere decent is if it needs some work, like this one.

There isn’t really anything else that fits our criteria so whilst the whole regs thing is telling me to pull out I’m really not sure what to do. If I pull out nothing as good is likely to come up in our budget, if I buy it will I be stuck with an unsellable house? The work was done 10 years ago and its been sold twice since so can’t be too bad right?

Please help!

if I buy it will I be stuck with an unsellable house?

you bought it.

Did your EA recommend the conveyancer?

you bought it.

no he hasn’t, he hasn’t exchanged yet

If you haven’t paid a premium for the additional ‘room’ then I wouldn’t worry.

And in the future you may have the funds to officially convert it into a room and get it signed off then you will have added value at what I imagine would be at t the fraction of the cost of a full loft conversion from scratch.

Take out the heating and electrics so it’s just a loft?

Wouldn’t worry me if it was priced appropriately. Probably doesn’t need planning and will beyond the timescales for any building control actions (not that they would do anything anyway)

And in the future you may have the funds to officially convert it into a room and get it signed off then you will have added value at what I imagine would be at t the fraction of the cost of a full loft conversion from scratch.

^that

I don’t recall being asked anything about that when getting our insurance – I doubt it’s one of the standard questions you get asked so I wouldn’t even bring it up.

Mate of mine bought a house with a similar loft conversion. He had to do some remedial works but no huge issue. Does the price reflect the fact its not a usable room?

I’d get it checked to ensure there is no structural issue – a decent builder will do or a mate who knows that sort of stuff – ie are the joists big enough to take floorboards, have they weakened the roof too much etc if the work is done to a decent standard then remedial works to get it to building regs / planning should not be too hard

I think this is a not uncommon issue. Many folk get loft conversions done that don’t meet regs and get round it by not claiming it as a bedroom. If it doesn’t have building warrants / planning because of technical stuff like staircase too steep I wouldn’t be bothered but if its made the roof weak or similar I’d walk unless I got a reduction in price to reflect the work needing to be done.

Personally I would want to get it made legal.

The survey on the house I bought in London said that the loft room shouldn’t be used as a bedroom but it had been fine up until then and carried on being fine for the 8 years I used it. When I sold it there was no problem. Didn’t occur to me to discuss it with insurers though.

Thanks for all the replies!

Mostly you’ve put my mind to rest, I think I’ll go ahead. There is one place I really like that’s out of budget so I’ll view that next week and try my luck with an offer, if not I’ll most probably buy this.

I do have an engineer’s report saying the structure itself is sound and has been reinforced to take the floorboards and additional loads.

Definitely haven’t paid extra for it, next door has just sold for 5k less and ‘mine’ has an extension, loft conversion, workshop, improvements to layout inside and a much nicer garden, just not so modern décor.

I wasn’t asked about it by the insurer, I mentioned it myself for peace of mind.

There is one stupid thing I did though, on advice of an insurer, I rang the council to ask about getting it signed off. When they started asking loads of questions I bailed and got away with only giving them my name and the area the house is in. Am I being paranoid thinking they may follow that up and cause me issues?

Thankyou all, I’m close to breaking down over all this! (we’ve had chain problems and mortgage offer issues as well)

When they started asking loads of questions I bailed and got away with only giving them my name and the area the house is in. Am I being paranoid thinking they may follow that up and cause me issues?

No – why would they? They can’t stop you having a room, they can only sign it off as an official one.

Sounds like ours. Which had dodgy electrics but other than that is fine. It’s just a loft, with carpet, wallpaper, electrics, light and permanent stairs. I think the particulars refer to it as ‘bonus room’. We just use it as storage.

There is one stupid thing I did though, on advice of an insurer, I rang the council to ask about getting it signed off. When they started asking loads of questions I bailed and got away with only giving them my name and the area the house is in. Am I being paranoid thinking they may follow that up and cause me issues?

Potentially.

Our indemnity has a clause that if we tell the council about it then it’s void (presumably because the council would want it bringing upto standard, which is what the indemnity is there to pay for). Basically it’s only valid if they find out some other way.

No – why would they? They can’t stop you having a room, they can only sign it off as an official one.

Pretty sure they can have it put back how it should be. Same as if you built and extension without planning permission.

The house I’ve bought has had a small extension, just before the sale went through the owner had it signed off by the Council some 15 years later. In fact I was at the property when the Council carried out the procedure.

You need to keep a clear head when buying and selling and importantly you need to be able to trust your conveyancer.

A house built 10 years ago wouldn’t meet current “regs”. Doesn’t mean it isn’t safe. If you’re not talking wire fuses and lead pipes, I wouldn’t worry in the slightest.

From similar experience our solicitor pushed the point that any indemnity cover would be void if you made the council aware of any work covered. I’d probably have a chat with your solicitor regarding that.

The chances of a council doing anything is virtually zero. I seem to remember there is a one year limit on action in the event of planning permission. But building regs was somewhat different. The only reason we needed IC was to keep the mortgage company happy.

So long as it’s safe, a good price and you have an indemnity in place I’d crack on. So many places have IC’s now, I don’t see it as an issue. Just gives piece of mind both to you, mortgage company plus any future buyers.

Don’t worry. Something always goes wrong with a week to go. Then it goes right again.

I recently bought a house that 2 lenders’ surveyors had “condemned” because there were single skin brick walls in parts. As I was a cash buyer I didn’t bother. When we took a mortgage out on it to buy an additional property the mortgage broker made sure that a grey haired surveyor came out who understood that all terraced houses in Stafford were built like that and there wasn’t a problem. The previous 2 were young whippersnappers who could only regurgitate current building regs.

I also made sure I used the same insurance company as the previous owner which avoided having to go into every detail.

As above, lots of places have unofficial conversions. I suspect one of the reasons it hasn’t been signed off is the fact there is no fire protected staircase from top to bottom – it’s a faff of a job to change all the doors etc and many don’t seem to bother – where I live at least.

A friend of ours is a conveyancer. When we were buying she just laughed at our worries. Started listing some of the cases she had dealt with recently. Realised then how minor these things are compared to many. The one I remember was a property with no legal right of access. No problem apparently as there is “always a bit of paper to sort these things out”.

My conveyancer and estate agent assured me this wasn’t an issue as there is an indemnity policy in place and it wasn’t being sold or used as a bedroom, just loft space with a staircase, heating and electrics.(?!)

Pretty common, my brother bought his last house with this – wasn’t a problem at all.

If your engineer says its safe then I wouldn’t worry too much. Its probably only a technical breach – nonsense like you have to have large landing spaces and lots of headroom etc – and a fire door and escape routes out of the windows

thisisnotaspoon raises a valid point. The indemnity may now be invalid having you spoken to the council. I’d just have a chat with your solicitor to check before you exchange.

a fire door and escape routes out of the windows

I doubt you’d think that was nonsense if you’d had a relative die in a house fire 😥 building regs are there for a reason

How long has the conversion been there? If it’s a reasonable amount of time an indemnity is pointless anyway as the council won’t have any powers to enforce (not that that stops solicitors pushing indemnity policies)

That was the issue we had though. Had an extension that was there for a good while. No problem re planning (over 1yr) but building regs were the issue. I think they have 12 months to force you to do something from the time it was built (article 36 I seem to remember). However, the issue was they can take action long after if deemed necessary. Unbelievably unlikely unless it poses a serious threat to public eg big wall along a busy footpath etc. But it was still enough for the mortgage company to want it.

Only cost £30 to up the indemnity cover from when the vendors first bought it. So hardly a big issue.