Staircase within bedroom

[unCliche]

Hello ladies, we've just had an offer accepted on a lovely house and I really do like everything about it except one thing - there's a staircase within a room leading up into the loft room. The vendors we are buying from did that so their DD could have her own personal living area, like a living room + bedroom sort of thing.

Obviously it's not the be all and end all, and for a four bed property in the south east, it was very reasonably priced so we'd have been silly to pass up on it.

What would you use that staircased room for now? I'm thinking a nursery/kids bedroom so at least when we have a DC, they can be one staircase away, with us in the loft room, then maybe after five years we can move the stairs to above the original staircase and then rearrange the loft room (move the ensuite). Thoughts?

I've attached images to give you an idea of what it looks like.

hmm.

It is never going to be an actual bedroom unless you can put a door at the top of the stairs. No privacy. If the loft room was a kid's room as well, it would be ok, sort of like sharing a room but on 2 levels, but as the adults are upstairs, I would not want the kids below with no door. (OK when babies/toddlers, not as they get older)

To me, the most obvious use is as a home office, or as a TV/play space for the kids, depending on your needs.
I think I would (if necessary) have 2 kids sharing the larger bedroom, and then have this break out space, rather than use it as a kids bedroom.

To be honest, you are not going to be able to move that ensuite easily. It is there becuase it is above the bathroom, and I bet the sewage pipe runs down from ensuite ot bathroom loo and beyond. Moving loos is hard. You may run into problems with the head space above current stair stoo.

It’s a three bed house though. With what developers call a “bonus room”.

I really like it.

That would be my bedroom and then office area!

Are you sure you can move the staircase? To be honest, you are not going to be able to move that ensuite easily.

Assuming the loft is directly above the rear of the house, the en-suite can be in line with the bathroom below - it would only need twisting 90° to fit the stairs in. I'd want to be absolutely sure the stairs could be moved though and that there wasn't another reason they weren't put there in the first place.

We were interested in doing this ourselves but there was a massive list of buildings regs requirements like all upstairs doors being fire doors etc. Any sign of that?

@unCliche
I really like it, but wouldn't have bought it with the intention of removing it as I think A) it's expensive B) the upheaval and mess it would involve.
For me it would be my work space and possibly library. It's lovely!
A really versatile space imo

Thanks guys for your thoughts. It's a huge dormer room (photo attached from the back) so I think moving the ensuite 90 degrees would probably be a possibility to get the stairs into there.

A lot of the houses on the road have also done a side extension, as shown by the red rectangle in the attached image, so we'll probably do that too. Don't know if that'll help with the stair's position.

@steppemum there's a door in the staircased room. It was originally a normal room before they did the loft conversion, I just want to turn it back into what it originally was.

But worst comes to worst, we can keep it as our personal office/dressing room and create one or two additional rooms in the side extension.

I realise there is a door to the downstairs room, but not to separate the bottom and top rooms.

So if you put a child in where the desk etc is now, then there is no door between them and the adults upstairs. That's what I meant by no privacy.

It would be fnie if the room is used by you (office) or only during the day (by kids)

Could you not wall off that bedroom (as per my shoddy sketch) and make it either a single bed or an office?

Is the loft conversion properly signed off as a bedroom with fire regs, etc? I viewed a house like this once but the loft wasn't allowed to be a bedroom.

I'm not sure with a small kid I'd want to be a floor above them.

I wouldn't want a bedroom with stairs in it and would only use that first floor bedroom as an office.

I'd leave it for now and keep the upstairs as a guest bedroom and downstairs as an office/chill out space.

Use the other large bedroom yourself and when you do have DC make the small bedroom a nursery for DC1.

When you then come to start thinking about DC2 you can decide what to do then? You could end up with an age gap so DC1 could move into the loft space (or even the dow stairs but but with a stair gate on until they get older?) while DC2 goes in the nursery?

Not so sure about the fire regs but that's a questions I'll make sure I'll ask It was advertised as a fourth bedroom and I don't think legally they'd be allowed to do that if it couldn't be classed as one.

I think we'll have to get in touch and ask them the right questions as they'll probably have a better idea of what could be done with the stairs.

@Bb90 that is another option to be honest and it would create some privacy and a separation, I just think the room would be too narrow and tiny.

I'm not sure about using the loft room as your bedroom with babies in the 1st floor room - you'd have to go through their room to get up to bed and be very quiet.
Check the fire regs as if it's been added needs fire door to cite it's an extra bedroom.
I probably wouldn't let it put me off the house as plenty of options if it's your forever house

It was advertised as a fourth bedroom and I don't think legally they'd be allowed to do that if it couldn't be classed as one.

but that does assume that the EA asked and checked the amswer doesn't it?

I agree, most loft extensions require a fire door between upstairs and the loft floor. You may have one between the ground floor and first floor, which may have the same effect? It is about 3 storeys and fire regs

@nancybotwinbloom

I really like it.

That would be my bedroom and then office area!

This is exactly what I would do with it, too! I absolutely love it, though I can 100% understand why it's not ideal for all setups.

Depends when the conversion was done , over the years regulations change a lot regarding loft conversions etc , so Today’s regs don’t really matter if it was done x amount of years ago .
But you do any alterations to it then all that can change 👍

I agree with a previous poster - it is very similar to what our immediate neighbours have done but it didn't get building regs. Check that out before you go any further. I think its probably "very reasonably priced" because its a 3 bed as it is and when you / your lender has a survey carried out, that's what they'll say.

I think @Bb90's suggestion is good, have them both as children's rooms and use one of the other rooms as a master.

I'd also think that your plans to move the stairs / the ensuite will be prohibitively expensive - and you'll never get the money back.

Are these checks something that a surveyor could do or would we have to get a specialised inspection done to check that all regulations are met (building, fire, etc). We wouldn't want something that could become a liability in the future.

Thanks all for your suggestions so far. There's so much that I don't know as this is our first ever house purchase.

I hope you aren't considering it as a 4 bedroom house - it is not a 4 bedroom house and should be priced as a nice, roomy 3 bedroom house. Is it still reasonably priced?

The loft room can be a nice seating or study area but shouldn't be used as anyone's bedroom because it isn't compliant with fire regulations.

I quite like this! If it was mine I would steal the bathroom as well and turn that into an en-suite, dressing room downstairs and then your room upstairs. Then in the red extension, put the family bathroom back to back with your en-suite and then a big bedroom at the front. Nice!

Oh I'm really nervous now. If regulations aren't met, will there be issues for us in the future? Is this enough of a reason to pull out?

Ask for planning permission granted and building regs confirmation.

We had similar in our last house- added a huge wall of built in cupboards so it was like a large general dressing room/storage area. Was very attractive to buyers apparently when we were selling.

OP its just something you need to check. First port of call is to ask the Estate Agent to confirm that (a) the house has building regs for the loft room and (b) that it can be properly classed as a 4 bed. Say that you're not prepared to commit financially until you've got the answers to these questions.

It is something that a surveyor / solicitor would check as part of the buying process, but obviously you incur cost getting them to do it.

The lack of building regs (I think sometimes if its been done for many years it won't have building regs) or being able to officially call it a 4th bedroom isn't necessarily a deal breaker - as long as you know what you're paying for. The obvious assumption is that its worth less as a 3 bed with a loft room than a 4 bed house.

As long as the upstairs isn’t used as a bedroom it’s fine. That would actually be the perfect office set up for people with kids aged 3-8. You could turn the bottom one into a play room and the top into the office.