Offer accepted! But is third bedroom actually a third bedroom?

[Catnipdelight]

Last night found a property (at last) that ticked all our boxes and had an offer accepted (£5k over asking). There were seven offers yesterday after 20 viewings (madness).

We have stretched our budget for this place as we really love it... but DP has just raised a potential issue. The smallest bedroom has a vaulted ceiling which actually only has a skylight, no windows.

Can this actually be classed as a bedroom? I don't want to get to the mortgage valuation and find it is only classed as a 2 bed, mainly because we won't have the money to bridge the gap. I still love the property, it's more a technicality that means we are paying over the odds for what is on paper a 2 bed.

The agent and listing had it as a 3 bed so I wouldn't even have queried it but DP has had experience of all the regs with bedrooms after having his own issues with a conversion he did.

Do we raise it now, or risk the undervaluation and hope they are prepared to reduce the price a bit?

Why are you paying the estate agent a fee?

As long as it passed building regs it should be ok. But paying the estate agent to mark it as under offer sounds dodgy AF. Are you in England?

Looks absolutely suffocating. Tread carefully here.

@MarthaJonesPhone

Why are you paying the estate agent a fee?

This is not a thing in England!

Assume it is a dressing room for now. It looks too small for a bedroom anyway.

@BuanoKubiamVej

That looks gorgeous!

You'll need to see building regs signoff for the fire safety of the converion but if that's all in order then crack on!

Really? I think it looks like an attic storage room. We’ve got one and it’s brilliant for storage but I’d never use it as a bedroom.

I assumed OP meant a deposit was needed for them to take it off the market.

@Alayalaya surely that can’t be right about a room having to be 2.2m high to be considered habitable? Not one of the rooms in my house is that high but it’s definitely still a habitable house.

Hang on, paying the estate agent? What?

PossiblyDreaming there isn’t a legal minimum ceiling height any more, recommendations vary by local authority. My local authority recommends 2.2m minimum and wouldn’t be keen to sign off anything less if it was a new build or renovation. But there are lots of older properties which don’t meet that.

@LunaAndHerMoonDragons

I assumed OP meant a deposit was needed for them to take it off the market.

Yes, this is what I mean – EA has asked for proof of deposit and a £250 refundable fee to show intent to purchase and I guess prove I'm not a time-waster. This is refunded upon completion, unless the seller pulls out in which case it is refunded then. If I pull out of the purchase for no good reason then I forfeit the fee.

Does that sound reasonable or dodgy? :/

@Fiddlesticky

My friend went to see a back-to-back middle terraced house with a windowless second bedroom a few years ago. If you look on Zoopla, it had been listed 4 times over 5 years before it eventually sold, but each listing by 4 different estate agents classed it as a bedroom. House was built before building regulations, probably late Victorian. My friend didn't purchase the house for other reasons, but I wonder if it would have classed as a 1 or 2 bed by a mortgage provider!

Wow! A true back to back. There aren’t many of those still left.

Does that sound reasonable or dodgy? :/

Sounds like they are chancers trying to swing some extra cash knowing how quickly the market is moving.

It sounds very sensible from the seller to put off time wasters.
I think you need to see the building regs though.

@trumpisagit

It sounds very sensible from the seller to put off time wasters. I think you need to see the building regs though.

I'm thinking of replying to confirm with the EA that I will pay the fee on the condition that it is indeed an official 3-bed property, and I'll need to see building regulation sign-off to confirm this, otherwise that fee should be refundable based on their misrepresentation of the property.

This is refunded upon completion, unless the seller pulls out in which case it is refunded then. If I pull out of the purchase for no good reason then I forfeit the fee.

What would be considered 'a good reason' I suspect for whatever reason you pulled out it would not be considered 'a good reason'

Its dodgy AF and grasping from the EA, but if you want the property then your hands are tied. Just expect to write the money off.

That room will get incredibly hot in the summer when the sun is overhead. Unbearably hot in fact.

But I understand you have to make compromises. I'm just not at all sure that it is a workable bedroom. I realise you don't need it as a bedroom at the moment but I would factor into my thinking that it's more storage/dressing room than bedroom to be realistic.

You need to ask for buildings regs sign off. It might have met them at the time but would not now.

This is absolute rubbish. There is no process for building regulations “signing off” homes for mortgage purposes. The mortgage company doesn’t care if your house is called 2 or 3 bedroomed home, only that the value is accurate.

Building regs do not retrospectively apply except in very specific circumstances and usually only if you are doing any works which require a warrant.

I live in a place where properties often get sold after one viewing like in your case. We've not been asked to pay a deposit and it makes me feel like you won't see that money again should you want to pull out. The kind of money that's not too big compared to a house purchase so people might just not be bothered to pursue for after all the stress.

I personally wouldn't use that bedroom whatever building regs have signed them off, my own risk assessment would say if there's a fire in the lower part of the house, you're stuck.

@BoredZelda

You need to ask for buildings regs sign off. It might have met them at the time but would not now.

This is absolute rubbish. There is no process for building regulations “signing off” homes for mortgage purposes. The mortgage company doesn’t care if your house is called 2 or 3 bedroomed home, only that the value is accurate.

Building regs do not retrospectively apply except in very specific circumstances and usually only if you are doing any works which require a warrant.

I don’t think this is “absolute rubbish” as my partner has just lived through this process. They do indeed care whether a bedroom can be classed as a bedroom. It has a significant impact on the value of the property

He converted it into a two bed but until it has building regulation sign off, it’s classed as a one bed.

@BoredZelda it is not classified as a habitable room without br sign off, whether that is now or ten years ago, therefore makes a potential difference to mortgage valuation. You can use a non habitable room however you choose but it is not officially a bedroom or living room without.

While the room looks really lovely, I'd be concerned about using that room as a bedroom from a safety perspective.

If there was a fire blocking the door entrance, there would be no way out. For that reason alone, I wouldn't purchase this whether it was officially classed as a bedroom or not.

What is the actual dimensions of the room