House sale and building regs

[Electric_Andy]

CLutching at straws a bit here, but wonder if anyone else has had similar experience?

My partner has just sold her 4 bed semi, and we have bought another house together. The 4th bedroom was a loft conversion done in 1979 and has been sold as a 4 bedroom house 3 times up until now with no problems.

The buyer's mortgage company have now said that the 4th bedroom loft conversion was done before regs were required, and it is now not habitable and can only be used for storage. Our solicitors do not know what to do, and we are stuck as to who to ask next.

I'm thinking we could get it surveyed and get some sort of retrospective "approval", and then all would be fine, but I might be completely off the mark there. The worst case scenario would be we now only have a 3 bed house so the family cannot fit, and we'd have to drop the price for this one, sell again, and not be able to afford the larger one (for us to merge families)...so basically would be a complete disaster.

Has anyone else gone through this please?

 

[AndyRM]

Property law seems to change all the time. Had a bit of a 'mare on the last place I bought because the previous owner had just done stuff himself without any permission. It was a hassle, but retrospective permissions ended up being the route I went down.

Get as much advice as possible! Citizens Advice may be a good start if your solicitors are flummoxed.

 

[vickster]

Ask a surveyor

 

[Alex321]

Probably worth getting it surveyed to find out what would need doing to make it officially habitable under current regs.

But you can't get retrospective approval for any loft conversion completed before 11th November 1985, you need to go through the full building regs approval process, which is likely tio be expensive and slow.

 

[CXRAndy]

You need possibly and architect/designer who knows the building regulations.

It seems the mortgage company is trying to apply current regulations to an old conversion.

Basics like headroom clearance, staircase dimensions, emergency escape route and insulation


My sister in-law had a loft conversion done, what a balls up it turned out to be. Spending tens of thousands, then for building control said it wouldn't pass because of the stairs not meeting regulations.

It created two extra rooms which they used for bedrooms, but couldn't market it as a 4 bed house. Recreational was a suggested phrase.

 

[Dave7]

CLutching at straws a bit here, but wonder if anyone else has had similar experience?

My partner has just sold her 4 bed semi, and we have bought another house together. The 4th bedroom was a loft conversion done in 1979 and has been sold as a 4 bedroom house 3 times up until now with no problems.

The buyer's mortgage company have now said that the 4th bedroom loft conversion was done before regs were required, and it is now not habitable and can only be used for storage. Our solicitors do not know what to do, and we are stuck as to who to ask next.

I'm thinking we could get it surveyed and get some sort of retrospective "approval", and then all would be fine, but I might be completely off the mark there. The worst case scenario would be we now only have a 3 bed house so the family cannot fit, and we'd have to drop the price for this one, sell again, and not be able to afford the larger one (for us to merge families)...so basically would be a complete disaster.

Has anyone else gone through this please?

Similar.
I DID (15 years ago) have permission to convert the large attic for use as a bedroom. We never did it.....but now need to have it done.
WoW....regs have changed so much!! We are even having to put steel supports in.
Progress eh.

 

[Joffey]

I had this years ago. Paid a one off insurance for about a tenner to cover us if it was ever raised. Didn’t really understand it but my solicitor did. It was a 4 bedroom house but the 4th bedroom was a loft conversion without building regs / planning.

 

[CXRAndy]

I had this years ago. Paid a one off insurance for about a tenner to cover us if it was ever raised. Didn’t really understand it but my solicitor did. It was a 4 bedroom house but the 4th bedroom was a loft conversion without building regs / planning.

My joiner just said this to me, he has had customers get an indemnity insurance from the solicitors to cover you in the event of retrospective comeback

 

[TissoT]

From a joiner/builders point of view I have seen this done before.

The floor joist on some are not correct size to be classed as a floor structure- insulation/ electrics or not correct
Sometimes its a DIY job done badly or a cheap loft conversion.

You would need to get buildings regs on the conversion where some of the structure will need exposed to see if the work has been done correctly to satisfy BC

If the conversion was completed in 79 the work done wouldn't satisfy currant BC regs

 

[Time Waster]

Our last house needed repairs to loft hatch and installation of a folding loft ladder. Our carpenter we chose to just refused to do the work as the existing hatch met code when put in but working on it and not making it to code now could cause issues on selling the house.

We got a bigger hatch fitted which cost more but no issues when wet did sell up two years later. It can be very small details that cause big issues on selling your house. It is up to each seller to ensure things are right. In fact getting a good survey with these issues included is not bad idea I reckon.

On another point, our buyer's surveyors or solicitor could not see anything in the deeds specifically outlining access to the back garden down a footpath in the back alley. My solicitor when I bought the house told me we all had access out back but that did not satisfy our buyer's solicitor. So we got a very cheap insurance to compensate the buyer and subsequent owners should there be access issues in the future, I think it was £20-30! Not sure if you could get something like that for the loft conversion.

 

[MontyVeda]

is it a loft conversion with a hatch and ladder or more an attic with proper stairs leading to it? If the former, it might be fire regs. If the latter, look at the floor joists, which might just be ceiling joists. Those can be fettled but it'd take a couple of inches off ceiling height, which may or may not be another issue.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Thanks for all the replies. I am pleased to report that Plymouth housing control were extremely helpful. They said it doesn't need regs as was pre 1984. They have written to the lender to say officially it can be used as a bedroom. Hopefully this will be good enough to satisfy the mortgage lender.

 

[GuyBoden]

Interesting subject, what is the situation when house alterations complied with building regulations that were current at the time the building work was completed, but now the building regulations have been superseded.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Interesting subject, what is the situation when house alterations complied with building regulations that were current at the time the building work was completed, but now the building regulations have been superseded.

As I understand it, if they needed no regulations then, they don't need them now. Apparently they are very picky. Friend of a friend bought an old house that had the kitchen written off as uninhabitable. The reason was......there was a cooker in the kitchen that wasn't installed. They had it hard wired in and suddenly it passed

 

[Gunk]

For Christ sake don’t call the council, you’ll then put them on notice that’s it non complainant and you’ll never sell it. As the conversion is over 15 years old, their solicitor should just take a view and at the worst ask for an off the shelf indemnity policy.

it’s really not a big deal, happens all the time.