Experience of selling a house without planning permission...

[Mycaracas]

I have inherited a property, a terraced house that has had a loft conversion without any planning permission. A small extension too but I think that comes under permitted development.
I've had five estate agents for valuation, four said to just market it as a four bed with converted loft rather than a five and it wouldn't be an issue.
The final one said it might be a problem if a solicitor was 'picky' and I might need to get indemnity insurance.

My other option would be to put my head in the sand and rent it out but I really don't want the hassle and would rather have a lump sum.

Has anyone had any experience of this, TIA

What other doors should be?

Putting it up for auction is the most stupid of all the advice you have been given. Why would you take the advice of a friend rather than 4 estate agents who all say the same thing?

I haven't taken my friends advice, just repeated their suggestion. As I said I'm finding this quite stressful, please don't forget I have lost someone in order to receive this. I have conflicting emotions about the whole process. I think my friend thought auction would be quick and probably mean investor maybe cash buyer so wouldn't need a mortgage etc.

Just put it on the market as usual as a 4 bed. This is a very common issue and one that estate agents and solicitors deal with just about every week. Not a problem and it will sell regardless.

We have a loft conversion. We have had lots of surprise expressed at it being done to building regs and therefore a proper bedroom.

"Four beds plus loft room" then its up to people to decide.

Don't panic. People see all sorts of shite loft rooms and decide to have someone sleep in them.

I think all the doors on the floor beneath loft conversion have/are supposed to be fire doors too @Mycaracas.
It's understandable that you want the "best price" you can get for your property.
I don't know of anyone selling a house who doesn't.
It would seem like your (and my!) best option is to market it as 4 bedrooms with a loft room and hope that 2 buyers really, really want it because of the extra space.
The alternative, of holding out for a better offer, could mean you have responsibility for it for much longer and maintaining a property can become more expensive as time goes on - particularly if it's empty.

I am heartened to read that there are people out there who have bought properties like this, given that I live in one!

You have to have a route out with fire doors all along it. Also mains smoke alarms on each storey.

I would call the local building regs people and explain, they may be able to grant building regs retrospectively however if any aspects are considered dangerous you would need to put them right. Most buyers will not buy a property which has been illegally converted because it causes problems further down the line

As a general guide to have a proper loft bedroom/office you need fire doors throughout the house and a wired fire alarm (not just battery operated smoke detectors) however they changed their minds all the time so it may have altered from our plans

As a purchaser I would be wary of a change to a property that had not had the building regs signed off.
The reason being, Was the alteration done correctly, to modern standards using the correct materials?

Thanks again for your replies. I've spoken to my estate agent again and he has consulted with a solicitor and they feel as long as I'm prepared to pay for indemnity insurance there shouldn't be a problem selling it as a four bed with converted loft.
He has two potential buyers lined up already, one is cash so fingers crossed.

You can apply for planning permission in retrospect if it's been over 5 years. I have done this to sell a flat. As long as the extension is in keeping with other properties on the road and you can demonstrate other houses have been approved for similar works, then you should be fine.

I would call the local building regs people and explain

Absolutely definitely don't do this! If you've made the council aware it will then be incredibly difficult/impossible to arrange indemnity insurance.

You can apply for planning permission in retrospect

If the extension is 9 years old, it is out of the period where it is possible for the council to take enforcement action for lack of planning permission, even if it were required at the time, so obtaining retrospective consent is largely pointless.

Our neighbour's house was converted by a dodgy builder. The room over the garage is not legal. They had to market it as a 4 bed instead of a 5 bed. But every single person who looked round considered the extra room to be a room.

Market as 4 bed with fab extra space in the loft conversion, and pay for indenmnity insurance.

By the way, some loft conversions are permitted under permitted development

You could ask the council if they will sign off under building regs now, explain you've inherited it. I think you can do this retrospectively

I'd probably be happy to have an indemnity rather than building regs for something I (or a surveyor) could check was OK and wasn't a safety issue BUT not otherwise. So, if you are supposed to have an extra door between a cloakroom and a kitchen and have taken one out then that's not really an issue but if the house doesn't pass fire safety rules then I wouldn't want to go ahead without knowing what needed to happen.

You could ask the council if they will sign off under building regs now, explain you've inherited it. I think you can do this retrospectively

If the building control office made no visits during the time the work was being carried out then quite a few bits will need to be exposed to show things were done correctly.

Market it as a 4 bed and get an indemnity policy.

You could go for retrospective PP and Building regulations approval, but it will take much longer and may cost more than you can afford right now.

My parents sold their 3-bed house with a converted loft with no planning permission or sign off as a '3-bed, plus loft room' with no issues. It had a proper staircase and fire door, plus Velux windows and a dormer.

As pointed out by another poster, once you consult with council on Building Regs then you either won't be able to get Indemnity insurance or if you already have indemnity, it will invalidate the policy.

My house is 4 bed with two attic rooms. it was done in the 70s, and was seen by building control at the time as far as I could ascertain from the Council.. When we come to sell it will sold as a 4 bed with a craft room and a storage room.

When we bought our house the solicitor discovered that the extension didn’t have planning permission. We were advised to get indemnity which didn’t cost much.

Definitely don't contact the council! That will mean you cannot get indemnity insurance.

So you have no building regs and no planning consent for the loft? As other have said this is really common and not a problem if you are happy to market as a four bed with loft space. Your purchaser's solicitor will advise them to get an indemnity policy for each of the building regs and the planning and you pay for it. They are generally very cheap. As long as there is a policy mortgagees won't care either.

You are out of time for building regs enforcement anyway so query if the purchaser needs an indemnity policy for that - its a matter of negotiation but as the policies are so cheap it may be easiest just to pay for the policy.

I think saying it has X number of bedrooms + loft room is the way to market it.

That way you are not saying it has Building Regs or PP.

Go ahead and sell. Someone will buy it if the price is right.

Bought my house.
Sold as 2 bedrooms and 2 loft rooms.

Now a proper 4 bed house with Building Regs signed off.

You are out of time for building regs enforcement

Planning too.

Blimey op I'd buy it in a heartbeat!