Can I do this to my loft?

[missbunnyrabbit]

I lived in a little two bed terrace and I would love to put a stronger floor in the loft and have a space saver staircase going up there. I'm currently getting a new roof done with a velux. It would be a non-habitable room with no building regs. I would sell my house as a two bed terrace with loft storage.

I've researched a lot and some people say the council will try to dismantle it, I'll get fined, or that people will struggle to get a mortgage for it. Others say that because I'm not declaring it as a habitable room, and it's simply storage, then it's all fine. I keep reading so many different things.

I would love to have it as an easily accessed room for storage. I have lots of bits I'd be going up and down for frequently, so I'd much have a space saver staircase or a fixed ladder rather than a folding ladder.

The reason I can't get building regs is because of the loft height - it's too low and I'd have to lower the ceilings.

Any thoughts?

*live not lived

Fine as storage/non-habitable space; can't be marketed as a habitable room. Extra storage will never go amiss.

A habitable room in a loft has to have stronger floor joists put it as currently they serve as ceiling joists and will not be strong enough to support the weight of furniture etc. That is why building regs are required when converting a loft into a habitable room.

What you are proposing is merely storage which most people use their loft for anyway, the difference being is the staircase access rather than a ladder. The council will not dismantle anything, nor will people struggle to get a mortgage as long as you are not furnishing it.

Do what works for you house wise. If and when you come to sell an estate agent would be best to advise as to how to phrase the details about the storage area.

You’re describing my house. We have velum windows in the loft, it’s boarded, insulated, carpeted and we use it for storage, as a home office, music room and it has a bike machine in there. It has a spiral staircase leading up from our bedroom. We bought it like that, sold as a 2 bed house with useable loft space. We had no issues.

My house is exactly the same, full bedroom conversion but stopped at putting a staircase in so not a legal bedroom. It's actually the best room in the house and family members love staying in it and we use it as an office as well.

Do you need pp for the velux? You may if road facing, in a Conservation area, listed for example. You might also need buildings regs to change the floor structure and sign off the window.

Thanks for the replies. Don't need PP for the velux, it's on the back.

I'm hoping the situation is that having no building regs is ok so long as I don't call the room habitable? I would 100% sell it as loft storage.

I find it's the staircase that's the problem. Everywhere I read says as soon as you put a staircase in, it becomes a habitable room. But if I clearly state it is not habitable, then surely that's ok?

You would need br for a staircase, even if not a habitable room.

😱some exercise bikes are really heavy and weight of you and bike goes through small area…hope Ouse lined it up on the joists

We bought a house with a non-habitable room which was not sold as a bedroom. Two banks said no at valuation stage. The one that didn’t also didn’t do their own survey, or I suspect they’ve had said no too…

My old house had the attic boarded and a staircase in but couldn’t be described as a bedroom, it was called storage/occasional room and didn’t have building regs - I had no issue buying or selling it whatsoever.

My old house didn’t, had indemnity insurance, no issues whatsoever.

You can't get indemnity insurance to avoid getting br approval. Council can still enforce.