Curious. Loft conversion/unofficial room

[Ozster]

Any experience or advice ?

I would like to convert loft into storage space but without building regs. I would like it fully boarded/sockets/heating/velum window/staircase.

I would also like to add in a desk for me to work in as I'll be WFH.

I know when it comes to selling we can't call it a 'bedroom' but just as storage'

I wonder if this would put buyers off?
And want would the implications on me using it as an office a few hours a day ?

Thank you

They market them as a "bonus loft room" don't they, on top of however many bedrooms the house has? I don't think it will put buyers off if the price isn't asking for a bedroom that isn't a bedroom, if you see what I mean.

I'd be very wary or doing this without going through the building regs to be honest if you are going to be using it on a regular basis as an office.
Many of the regulations relate to fire safety as you would struggle to safely escape from what would be the third storey therefore you should have fire doors, wired in smoke alarms etc...

For what it's worth we moved to a house with a loft conversion which is pretty identical to what you describe in your post - own staircase, velux windows etc.
We don't really use it as a room as the useable space is very restricted due to the height of some of the beams and the slope of the roof. Would be fine for an office though. It's also absolutely freezing in winter and also makes the rest of the house cold as the heat disappears through the roof so maybe consider how you could insulate it or heat it effectively.

You need building regs to make it a habitable room, even if you don’t call it a bedroom. The buyer will need to be satisfied that the ceiling joists are strong enough and aren’t going to collapse through.

You might need pp for a velux window. Staircase would need buildings regs.

Why don't you just get building regs? In itself the process is relatively cheap and they're about safety /usability of the finished room.

We bought our house as 3 bed with useful loft space (actually 3rd bed had been turned into hallway and loft was the 3rd bedroom). We did use it as a bedroom for a bit as we couldn't afford to sort it immediately, insulation was awful so it was always too hot/ too cold. In reality we'd probably have been utterly screwed in the event of a fire, but we were young and didn't worry so much about that kind of thing back then.

We got the house at a knock down price, have spent a fair bit to have everything sorted to proper standard and got all the building regs certificates, but I think the value added is probably greater than what we've spent.

We have converted our loft into a usable room . It doesn’t have stairs it has a good loft ladder, my daughter uses it as a bedroom, it has proper insulation and we have mains smoke alarms through the house. It was much cheaper than doing a full loft conversion which I couldn’t afford at the time and we are really happy with it. If we had had enough money o would have done a proper conversion as this will enhance the value of the house more; but in itself it’s a very usable room.

My neighbour has what you describe and calls it a "loft tidy". It looks like a fully habitable room but doesn't have access with a staircase (only a foldable one) and no building regs.
I would never buy a house with this sort of set up. It would 100% put me.off the purchase. Who knows what sort of job they did and how it can impact the structure of the house without building regulations. No way.

It would totally put me off without building regs, I'd want to know it was structurally sound. I don't see it would add any value.

We have a room like this. It was done in the 70s/80s so the rules on pp and building regs were different. I have used it as a study; it is currently full of books, sewing stash and car bits, but will eventually become my sewing room.

As it been there safely for so long, I don't see that there will be an issue when we come to sell the house. I won be changing anything.

I had a supposedly single storey house in Scotland with a fully floored and insulated loft, along with small pre velux windows, wiring and an immersion tank with airing cupboard.
It was accessed via a fixed wooden ladder, which was almost stairs, and easy to go up and down.
It was divided into 2 rooms, which were good sized, and we used the larger as outr bedroom, including double bed, chests of drawers and a wardrobe.
It worked really well, whatever we were allowed to call it.

I think a potential buyer may proceed on the basis that they would have to account for the cost of knocking it down and starting again which might reduce the offers you receive.

We are in a similar situation at the moment, having bought a house with a loft conversion built in the 1980s, pre-reg. We want to make it bigger, and to do this it looks like we'll have to knock it down and start again.

We had a proper loft conversion with full building regulations a few years ago. When I think back to the work that was done terms over steel joists being craned in, fire doors and mains connected smoke alarms, no way would I use a normal loft for anything other than the Christmas tree and my 1980s LPs.

Yes it would put me off buying it.

Is there any reason why you don’t want to do it properly?

I wouldn't buy a house with a loft conversion without planning permission and knowing it possibly hadn't met building regulations. When I converted ours, I felt confident that all the checks meant my house was still safe and the safety precautions, ie fire safety were all in place.

You should also be careful of fire safety in the three storey house, regardless of doing it officially or unofficially.

If it’s the ceiling height that makes it unusable for building regs, AND I was desperate for the extra space I might do it as a room to use in the daytime with some provisos....

1. a structural engineer calculate beam strength then wouldn’t need to worry about structural integrity.

2. Fire safety wise I’d follow building regs as far as possible.

3. insulation