Buying Property with Loft Conversion & No Planning Permission

[hanjaygra]

We are in the process of buying a 4 bed house with loft conversion. We were notified that the loft conversion didn't receive planning permission and was done circa. 20 year ago. In addition, a downstairs wall was removed approximately 4 years ago (prior to current owners) also without planning permission and with no buildings regulations certification. There is an indemnity policy in place and a note from the council stating that they won't pursue enforcement on the basis that buildings regulations are not contravened. Our Buildings Survey has shown that the main staircase height is below building regs, following the erection of the additional staircase to the loft room. Our surveyor is frustratingly not providing much feedback beyond both loft and downstairs wall removal appear structurally sound, on the surface. We plan to alter the loft conversion by putting a dormer in to create a larger space. So the questions that we have are:

1. Is the contravention of building regs on the stairway likely going to cause issues if applying for permission for dormer? What might the associated costs be?
2. Should we be concerned that permission/regs were not sought for downstairs wall removal? Could this imply shoddy workmanship, or is it relatively common?
3. Can the property be sold/valued as a 4 bed if the loft conversion doesn't comply to building regs? Should the house be valued as a 3? Are we likely to experience issues with our buildings insurance as a result?
4. Are we likely to have extreme difficulties when it comes to our selling the property?

Presumably there are a huge number of properties that have similar issues, particularly in a built up city such as London, so how worried should we be? Should we avoid like the plague, or are all of these surmountable and common problems? Thanks in advance!

Seems abit odd there is an indemnity yet the council know about it. I would want the sellers to have a regulisation done from the council so they come in and sign off (or not) so far what's been done. I wouldn't want to go much further with any house sale until this is done.

Thanks for the advice! The indemnity was put in place a week or so after the last correspondence from the council, but yes it strikes me as odd. We have asked our solicitor to confirm whether or not the indemnity policy is void as the council are aware.

You can't get indemnity insurance if the council have confirmed they are aware. The insurance is against enforcement which they have already said won't happen. Tbh I'd be more concerned that the work is substandard. You would need to apply for pp for the dormer, the loft may come under permitted development, which itself would necessitate buildings regs for the whole room if it becomes a habitable space.

1. Planning and Building Regulations are entirely separate things. If you apply for Planning to add a dormer, they won't even look at the internal arrangement of the building, much less dig into previous B.Regs compliance issues. Building Regulations approval will also be required for the dormer, but if they've already said that they won't pursue enforcement against previous works, this should be limited to assessing the work to construct the dormer itself.

If the loft conversion was done 20 years ago, and you can provide evidence of this, you can get a 'Certificate of Lawful Development' under the 4 year rule (assuming that it doesn't fall within Permitted Development rights, anyway).

1. It's relatively common. It's not a good idea to go knocking walls out without seeking Building Regulations approval (and/or involving a structural engineer, as they can sometimes be serving a 'buttressing' function even if not obviously loadbearing), but if your surveyor says they look to be superficially sound, I wouldn't worry too much. You don't need Planning Permission to remove an internal wall, though - only B.Regs.

1. If, as I understand you are suggesting, Building Control has said that they will not enforce against the work, then if it's got 4 bedrooms, it can be valued as such. The Indemnity policy should have covered you for the difference in value, should you ever be forced to remove the 4th bedroom, anyway, but as Chickencellar says, it's odd that this is in place if the Local Authority already know about the work (and have said that they won't enforce).

1. Not on the basis of what you've told us; either the indemnity policy, or the confirmation of non-enforcement should be sufficient to avod serious problems.

Thanks so much for the advice all - has definitely helped provide some clarity that we weren't receiving from our solicitor or surveyor! We are pushing for more information around the indemnity policy to get a handle on cover. Really appreciate all the help! :)

Loft extension done 20 years ago?

I certainly would not expect that to be regularised. I’d tell you to ‘do one’ if I was the seller and you were asking that. Building regs are so different now to 20 years ago.

However if you put in a dormer you will have to bring the entire space up to current regs.