Cellar conversions

[Allbymyselfagain]

Going to look at a house this weekend and it's got a converted cellar. It's obviously not up to planning regs based on the estate agent description but is currently being used as a bedroom.

It's on a main road, think old Victorian terrace, so I think I might have to widen the window and maybe fit a fire escape style ladder or possibly even remove the small front garden to put some steps in.

Obviously I need to seriously think about fire regs as It is the bigger of the two suitable bedrooms so I'd quite like to use it myself and keep the other room as guest room, but has anyone bought a house like this and managed to get the approval to use/list as a bedroom. Can you give me a rough estimate? What else do I need to think about/ask the estate agent about.

Just to clarify - sounds as though it doesn't meet building regs and current fire regs. These are different from planning rules.

We have a cellar original to the house, no conversion works carried out. The back part of it is at full ground floor level. That room was being used as a bedroom when we viewed the house. We use it as an office/den and have a sofa and a TV in there. If there was a fire then the exit route is out of the window in that room into the garden.

If you can get it up to regs you'll probably increase the value. Why not take a builder round to give you an idea what needs doing and a ball park figure for the costs?