amateurish loft room in a property I am hoping to buy - advice needed

[happyAvocado]

I am hoping to put an offer on a 3 bed 1930's house.
They put a room in the loft but is not advertised as fourth bedroom.
There's no staircase just a pull down ladder. I wasn't able to get out of owners when that work was done. There's no central heating there, ceiling part is insulated but not walls insulation.

Floor is a bit uneven, it somehow bulges. No sign of bad condensation.

One thing which worried me a bit was a crack in the corridor upstairs. a vertical, visible from there and one bedroom.

I wonder if the floor wasn't properly laid, as perhaps one needs to add an enforcement to strengthen it?

If you had your attic room done - what to look for to identify shoddy building work?

We bought a house with an attic conversion that had been undertaken without building regulations approval - we had it checked out by a builder and was happy to purchase (BUT made a low offer on the house as the work did not add any value and we know will take a considerable sum to correct) The old owners also had to take out an insurance policy as well to cover it on the sale.

For building regulations there are a number of requirements including means of escape - including adequate access, insulation and strengthening of the floor. All are big deals, in our case all were done (after our surveyor and builder checked) bar the access which is a none compliant staircase, but we were confident that this was something we can do. I'd be worried if I were you in relation to the cracking as it might suggest that the floor has not been strengthened to take on loadings for everyday use. You would need to raise this with a surveyor and get this checked out. A mortgage company would be interested in this also as it may affect any valuation. Get good professional advice - good luck!

Thanks for mentioning building regulations. I am not sure wahat's there for em to check.
I agree if the house was without that conversion, but if it already made impact on the structure of the house I am beginning to wobble a bit ;)

Shall read about it and mention it to my builder as well.

It is scary - I remember being worried at the time! We managed to check the floor as the previous owners had left the original access hatch in place and we could unscrew it and view the floor structure - without that I would have been really worried as only way to check was to start taking stuff up.

On the positive side you could get a bargain if your prepared to take it on (and the works they have done haven't caused too many structural issues) The owners will come up against it whoever they sell it too because the surveyors are bound to notice a crack - it does seem strange that they wouldn't give out any details!

this particular house is on the market from early November, I think it had SOLD sign on around Christmas time and is back on the market again for the past 2 months

if it was priced well - it would sell, others on that street sold

the stupid gudance price is 300K-340K, agent said they won't go below the bottom figure

I read now that loft rooms require to satisfy the minimum standards set out in Building Regulations, Ibet floor wasn't strengthen and Iwonder if previous ppl pulled out at the idea of having to pull down that room and repair damage alerady done :(

but there's no way of me finding out what really happen

retired couple who own the house want to move close to their kids, but they aren't pushed for time, well I suppose their kids are pushing them to get more of free childcare, but not enough to drop the price :)

this will annoy people who have non-compliant loft conversions, but they actually add negative value to the house. Without pulling all the plasterboard off the walls and lifting the floors you can't see how well, or badly, it has been done. If timbers have been cut out and strengthening has not been added, a pitched roof will tend to push the walls of the house apart. Cracked ceilings are the least of your worries. If there is no building regs or planning permission, you have to assume it is not properly done, and you have to add on the extra cost of ripping it all out and doing it again properly.

Sorry.

I would steer clear, sorry.

We looked at a house a couple of years ago where the room was listed as a bedroom but we discovered the floor joists had not been reinforced. After our investigations the listing was changed to remove it as a bedroom. The house we've ended up with has a conversion that does comply with building regs, it needs some work to really make it usable (insulation and electric heater as no plumbing up there for radiators) but that didn't bother us. Questionable floors would put me right off.

You can't really find out without a good survey though I suppose. Unless you said you would pay X subject to seeing paperwork? My parents actually have an attic room for my mum's sewing room with pull down ladder, they could afford to do the stairs too but the flooring etc was all done properly so you never know.

I agree with all of you.
I am going there with my builder on Wed to have look and am bracing myself with a lot of extra work if I buy this house....

Apart fro mthat "room" everything else seem to be done well and is in a nice location with long garden and 2 good size bedrooms.

I wish people saw building regulations for what they are - to help us live in a safe and secure dwellings.

It depends when it was done though HA - my house has an attic conversion - two rooms, with a staircase, and I haven't a clue if it is compliant or not, and we used one as a boarded loft for suitcases and bags, and the other as a study. When we move back it will be a room for ds to have his PS3 etc.

The work was done I think in the 70s, so no building regs necessary, and afaik, building regs are not retrospective. Our solicitor and surveyor weren't concerned, and neither were we. We've has the house since 92 and haven't plunged through the ceiling yet, so I presume that it is all OK.

I can only assume it was done in the last 15-20 years, but will ask them when I go there on Wed.

After dragging my builder through the house I put an offer on it this morning :)

My builder having seen and worked in various properties in and around London said that he can't see anything wrong with it :)

That's great! Fingers crossed you get your offer accepted. Make sure you get a decent survey done as well x

Someone came with a higher offer or maybe they were trying to play me up. Anyway my bottom of the recommended price has been rejected.
But I learned about the building regulations and got the ball rolling in regards to getting solicitors info etc - do time not entirely wasted ;)

I will view a bungalow for a complete revamp this weekend, that may be a bit of a risk, but a lovely detached house in a residentail road, this time I guess unlikely peeps will go over 250K mark, ase the extra money spent on the stamp duty would come handy in replacing eerything in it ;)