Loft conversion with no building regs and no planning permission

[runlikeagirl]

We're viewing a house tomorrow. It looked perfect. But closer inspection of small print shows that the two rooms in the loft have no planning permission and no building regs.

Should we run a mile? Can we get someone to look at it and assess feasibility of getting them?

Run away.

Loft cinc

Definitely not without building regs. Most conversions won't need planning permission but if no signoff for the loft conversion, then it's illegal and potentially unsafe, isn't it?

What exactly does the small print say? Some estate agents have small print like 'we cannot confirm that these have building regs/planning permission' - ie covering themselves and putting the responsibility for checking onto your solicitors.

Sorry- bloody phone!

Loft conversions often don't need planning permission and the need for building regs depends on how long ago it was converted. It is quite common near me for houses to come up with an unofficial loft conversion, in fact we bought one and have since had it fully c

You can get retrospective building regs sign off. Its more expensive. It may be that the current owners didn't have the work done. I wouldn't necessarily run away if the house was otherwise what you are looking for but I would insist on the vendors having the work inspected at thier expense. Too much structual stuff going on to risk it.

Fgs!

If you like it have a decent survey to make sure it's safe and make an offer based on the number of official rooms plus a bit of 'hope' value

Depends when conversion was done.

Your local building control will have a list of prices on their website. I think its called regularisation if you get it done retrospectively. I can envision problems if there is no structual info though. The joists may well needed to have been re-enforced and this will be expensive to do if this hasn't been done.

Pushme if this was for a window installation or conservatory id say use it as a bartering tool to get some money off but a loft conversion not done properly can affect the structural soundness of the house. It is probably fine but id want it signed off by building control or id worry about house insurance.

It says this under the heading agents note:
Agents Note
The Seller advises that this property has been extended/altered but there are no building regulations or planning permissions information available. The current owner uses the extension as two bedrooms.

Should you wish to proceed with the purchase of the property we recommend that you check the position on planning and building regulation controls with your solicitor.

Your Move does not warrant the suitability of the extension/alteration for the purpose to which it is, or could be put.

If it's got say 2 bedrooms plus the loft conversion and the price it's being marketed at is a 2 bedroom house, then you're getting a good deal I'd say.

If on the other hand it's being marketed as a 4 bedroom house, when 2 of the bedrooms don't meet building regs, that's decidedly dodgy.

My current house has an unofficial bedroom, as did my last house ... I don't have a problem with that ... it meant I got them cheaper than I otherwise would have done had they met the regs.

You need to decide why they didn't meet the regs .... because they don't have windows? Because the access is inadequate? Because they couldn't be arsed to jump through the hoops?

It means that no-one has checked the quality and safety of the work. It means that joists could be made out of cardboard and no-one would know until the house starts to collapse.

We'd had an offer accepted on a house, then discovered that all the work the owners had done had been done without planning permission or building regs sign off (both would have been needed) and that they'd tried to lie about it. We walked away very fast and bought somewhere that is (hopefully) less likely to fall down on our heads.

Any reputable builder would have done this properly. You need to ask yourself if you want a house that's been altered by a disreputable one.

House is a repossession so they don't know that it doesn't have regs, they just dint have them.

Insist on regularisation if you love the house, otherwise walk away.

You often don't need planning permission for loft conversions -- ours didn't when we had it done two years ago (and we checked).

You do need building regs. If you really like it, offer at a price that reflects the financial expense you would have to bear should you be told the conversion would have to be completely redone to meet building regs. It'll be at least 35K for a small conversion.

I searched the council website and found an application for planning and building from 2007 for loft conversion. On the status all it says is 'work complete' it doesn't seem to specify whether the building regs was granted. Going to ask estate agents today.

Like the house, needs work, but is in ideal location.