Attic bedrooms with no building consent

[Pilodowan]

Hoping someone has been in a similar situation and can help please. I'm currently in the process of buying a house and was desperate to get in before Christmas. I don't know whether this situation is a spanner in the works or not.

In a letter from my conveyancing solicitor I received yesterday they say something about the attic bedrooms not having building regulation paperwork. The vendor has said that the bedrooms are original as far as they are aware so if that's true it shouldn't need it. On the survey I had done. It said one of the attic bedrooms wasn't original as the other would have been used for storage rather than sleeping.

I'm just a bit spooked because it was in bold writing in the letter that this could affect future sales and valuation for mortgages. It's a Victorian semi-detached and there are windows for both rooms in the gable end for the attic rooms so nothing to suggest the rooms haven't always been there.

My solicitor is a nightmare to get hold of. I tried calling yesterday with no joy. I'm desperate to move soon and once this is sorted, we are ready to exchange. Is this going to set me back or is this just a standard thing in older houses with attic bedrooms?

What is your concern? If you are already nearing exchange then your mortgage valuation should take it into account. It may not meet current standards but did at the time. You could ask a surveyor to look at what it might cost to bring up to current standard. Is it the rooms or stair access which is an issue.

To be honest @LIZS I didn't really have any concerns about it. The rooms are proper rooms (plastered, floorboards, windows, central heating) so it was of no real concern until I got the letter from my solicitor. It lists a few issues, nothing major but then this bit is in bold writing with asterisks like it is something that I really need to act upon.

Went through something similar, I think you can get an indemnity for the Lack buildings regs. Re resale, you might need to be mindful about how you describe it, I.e. three bed with attic room rather than four bed. I suppose it depends where you are but in London that wouldn’t have a massive impact on price.

We didn’t buy ours because it had dry rot but the buildings regs thing was something we could have got past.

The solicitor is telling you this partly so that when you come to sell and the buyer’s solicitor points it out to them, you won’t be able to complain to your solicitor.

I wouldn’t buy a house without building regs sign off unless the price reflects it (and we did pull out of a sale for that reason).

Most houses in the UK were build before the requirement for building regulations and any alterations done before that time won’t have any either.
Any Victorian house will in all likelyhood fail just about every current building regulation anyway.
Some me like your house and attic room we’re build a long time ago, so it sounds like the solicitor is covering his back.

As far as I'm aware, it just means that the property shouldn't be marketed (and priced) as having that room as a bedroom. If you aren't buying it as a five-bedroom (for example) when it should be priced as a four-bedroom, it makes little difference.

My solicitor raised this 20 years ago when I bought my current house. It's late Victorian and we got the same answer you have. I walked down the road. Every single house has attic rooms. I told my lawyer this and said I thought they were original too.

We looked at a similar house situation, but not as old. It had to be marketed as a 3 bedroom plus a loft room, not a forth bedroom. Stair access was also a bit awkward I think so we would have struggled to get it signed off if we needed to.

If they are original then there is no issue about building regs although clearly they won't meet current standards which the the only issue is more about you wanting the best fire protection standards. Eg, virtually most houses don't meet current electrical regs but it doesn't mean they are unsafe or have warnings attached etc

The issue comes if they were installed or changed after being built , ie that permanent stairs were put in to facilitate use as a bedroom.

Is there any info about if/when they were changed which may help, ie with the deeds?

How many bedrooms was it marketed at, and how many bedrooms does the house have not including the one the survey says is not original and has no regs? My two concerns would be a) resale value - the current vendors are currently claiming they thought them both original, but you've got a surveyors report to the contrary, so you can't claim this later down the line. B) If you are getting a mortgage then your solicitor is also working for your mortgage company and may need to inform them that there is now one less 'bedroom' to the property - they may need to change their valuation which can affect your finances/LTV.

We disregarded a house that was being sold as a 4 bed but the 4th bedroom was not signed off. Made it an expensive 3 bed!

My sister bought an end of terrace Victorian house which had an original attic bedroom, it was on the original plans which luckily had been kept by the first ever owners and passed on through all the subsequent owners. They truly were a fascinating read.

They had a small door from the attic room into a storage room behind. They did change this into an walk in wardrobe and en-suite.

If you looked at the front of the house normal 2 storey, if you looked at the back all the houses on that block have the 3rd storey window. The houses look like they have all been extended half way across the back of the house and 2 storeys but again they are original and all the houses have them.

The issue is your mortgage company may not lend as much if you are one bedroom less. Have a look at google maps to see if the other houses look the same, also cross check that with "house prices" then "sold prices" on Rightmove to see what any other houses on that block have been sold for and marketed as.

I've managed to speak to my solicitor this morning. He says I just need to seek assurances from the surveyor that it is "officially" a 4 bed even if one of the rooms isn't original.

There is a cast iron radiator in the room in question that looks like the radiators we used to have in my primary school so I would guess that whenever it was converted, it was pre building regulations.

There is a cast iron radiator in the room in question that looks like the radiators we used to have in my primary school so I would guess that whenever it was converted, it was pre building regulations.

We have some of those. DH fitted them four years ago.

Have you, or your solicitor, asked the vendors when the work was done?

could surveyor check that the floor/ceiling structure is adequate?

Floors in bedrooms are built to a higher load bearing capacity than a boarded attic floor.

Potentially if you put a bed or wardrobe up there it could end up falling through the ceiling without building control saying it's strong enough.

If the house is sold priced with that room as a bedroom you're being ripped off.

Talk to your estate agent. One less room should equal about 20k off the price.

My house was marketed as four beds with an additional attic room, with the phrase "the attic room also offers scope for use as a fifth bedroom (already previously used as a bedroom)". My builders said that the staircase to the attic wouldn't pass building regs now, it's too steep and there aren't enough stairs bending round the corner at the bottom.