Loft conversion and no regs

[Catastrophie]

We are buying a house with a loft conversion and no regs. We have always been aware of this and it was listed as a 3 bed with attic room not a 4 bed. The valuation was desktop as we have a 40% LTV and it was fine.

Now our conveyancing firm has a blanket policy on attic conversions with no regs and has insisted on reporting it to the lender (Barclays). Barclays have now rescinded our offer until a physical valuation is carried out.

Has anyone experienced this and know the likelihood of them still offering? We are only planning to use the loft as storage or office space anyway. The conversion looks good quality with a proper staircase and steel strengthening but they didn’t get regs as they didn’t want to enclose the staircase.

Anyone experienced similar?

Hi, I have friends in a similarish position but with a different issue.

With the way it's played out for them, the lender has been prepared to lend, but it's taken a lot of legwork to convince the mortgage underwriter via working with the broker. I'd say bear in mind that underwriters tend to be relatively junior people who can be averse to making judgement calls, so you really have to invest in the education piece. If you rate the estate agent, ask them to be present at the survey. Stress to the lender that the house was valued as a three bed and that you have no intention of using it as a four bed. Play up the storage angle, emphasising that you intend to use the space as a loft would normally be used had it not been boarded out etc.

Surveyors are hugely risk averse at the moment, which is apparently a result of the problems with cladding. Lenders are also being risk averse, which is is understandable where there is a high loan to value, but I think it's being taken too far in some situations where there's a big deposit.

I think they would have more of an issue with stairs going up from one of the bedrooms, less so if from hallway (as potentially may be easy to enclose, possibly).

Our old house had a similar attic conversion with no regs, that couldn’t be described as a third bedroom, only as an additional living space/storage. Sounds pretty much the same situation.

When I bought it originally there was no query with the mortgage lender, I had it take an additional indemnity insurance which the solicitor arranged, but the mortgage company didn’t query it at all. I wonder if this is a new thing they’re doing?

We sold the house a couple of years ago but I don’t know if the new buyer had any issue like this, nobody mentioned it if they did.

I've started a thread on here about an extension with no regs. My main issue is the buildings insurance and ease of resale.l don't want to take the risk that if I make a claim it's refused or that buyers make a real issue in the future and it's devalued.

I've also only had a desktop valuation as I've a similar LTV ratio.

I hope you get yours sorted soon, all the best

I think checking loft regs with lenders is a new policy. It also doesn’t have regs for a garage conversion and the conveyancer didn’t need to report this. Although the more we think about it now, the more concerned we are as to why they didn’t get them...

We had a garage conversion on an old house, it wasn't much to get the building regs (a couple of hundred £s I think) which was hardly anything on top of the costs for the actual building work - and worth it for selling on purposes - plus we knew it was up to standard for insulation and fire safety etc. I agree I would be questioning why there are no regs for the garage when it's presumably a pretty standard conversion - maybe a bit more understandable for the loft not to have any?

Why in earth want to take this on? Ask yourself why it doesn't have building regs, most likely because the work isn't compliant and the risk of fire to loft conversions is significant.

Building regs is designed to make sure they are safe and have a minimum standard. You haven't a clue what is hidden in the foundations or under plaster. Don't forget not having a certificate means that the gas and electrical work also won't be certificated which is grief