buying house, no buildings regs on old loft conversion

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FTB here. Just found out from the solicitors that there are no building regs on an attic conversion. It was advertised as a 2 bed, which included the loft, and seems priced as a 2 bed when compared to similar old terraces in the area. Its also registered on Zoopla, everywhere as a two bed ect.

The loft conversion was there in place when the seller brought - the previous owner got indemnity insurance or something. My offer was a couple grand more than the seller paid more than ten years ago(during the boom I think.)

Its a teeny tiny terrace with 1 reception at the bottom of the market. The attic room would need to be in constant use.

There's not a lot going in the area, and this house was in the perfect location - not sure what to do!

You have to assume that an unapproved loft conversion is unapproved because it does not meet regulations. Why else?

Most often the floor will be standing on the old timbers which were designed and built to carry the weight of the ceiling plus perhaps a suitcase and a Christmas tree. And it will not be properly insulated. Perhaps you will be lucky and it is not a fire deathtrap.

A house with a non-compliant loft conversion is worth less than one without, because you have to allow for the cost of ripping it all out, on top of the cost of doing it again properly.

An insurance policy will not contribute to the cost of rebuilding.

Theres no way I could do anything to fix it - the offer accepted was about 5 grand over my original/ the minimum asking, and I'm barely left with anything for improvements.

@Piglet So is this an acceptable thing to pull out over? If I did it now I'd lose the solicitors fees but not much else.

certainly. If you thought you were bidding on a 2-bed, and you discover it is a 1-bed with an undocumented loft room, you can pull out. If you are in England, you can pull out at whim with no reason at any time prior to exchange of signed contracts.

I'd definitely get a full buildings survey done.

Can you afford other two beds? Or if you dint get this, would you have to settle for less?

unless you request and pay extra for it (probably needs a carpenter on-site and the vendors' permission) a surveyor will not be able to see the timbers or the insulation and so will not be able to say if they are adequate.

You're lucky if a surveyor even looks at the floor under a rug.

@ASauvignonADay

The small two-bed victorian terraces in the area seem to be priced between 115 - 130k and my offer for this house was somewhere in the middle. So yes I should be able to afford two beds.

I didn't see any other houses with an attic conversion - most of the other terraces I've seen have small kitchen extensions with a bathroom on top (and so have two reception rooms).

As this house didn't have an extension, I already felt I was overpaying a little anyway, but didn't mind so much as I quite liked the street and had a bit more garden space for DS. But I do now think its too much if its only legally a one bed.