*In desperate need of help- 3rd house about to fall through!*

[newbie2003]

Hey mumsnetters,

We’re currently in the process of trying to buy our third house (the other two falling apart for no reason of our own!). I’m also pregnant with our second child so we’re really hoping to be in before the baby arrives- adding extra stress!

We’ve had an offer accepted on a 5 bed property. Two of which bedrooms are in the loft. However the loft was converted in 1995 and we’re abit nervous about the level of paperwork we have for this.

The sellers have provided building regs from the time but the application was put through as ‘to convert loft into playroom’. The estate agent advertised and priced the house as a 5 bed and it does look like the bank will now approve our mortgage based on the building regs we have sent over.

We’re just a bit worried about two things really.

1. if we came to sell and we had queries about the loft rooms being used as bedrooms
2. if we made an alterations to the loft (there’s a strange bathroom that we’d like to alter)- whether we’d have to get the loft up to currently building regs at the same time.

Anyone been through a similar thing?

Thanks,

Liz

[SaveMeFromMyBoobs]

Question 2 is a question for a specialist that's seen the property.

As for Q1, when are you wanting to sell? If you can't use as bedrooms then would be sold as a 3 bed with extra playroom /study/ living rooms etc. Would it make that much of a difference to price? If you're selling in 5 years this is a problem. If its your forever home of 20 years and fits your needs does selling it need to be as much of a consideration? Regs change all the time, we could find out in 15 years time a commonly used construction material is awful like asbestos and make it harder to sell any house. Housing markets could have crashed, housing markets could have gone up and even without it being a 5 bed you make significant profit. These are just the risks of owning properties!

[newbie2003]

It’s an interesting point, as we’ve probably already overpaid due to the competitive housing market in the area we are looking at. (We had to go over asking price).

We’d likely need to move again in 5-10 years.

Just feel a bit cheated that the estate agent advertised it as a 5 bed.

[Chersfrozenface]

OP, you say "The sellers have provided building regs from the time but the application was put through as ‘to convert loft into playroom’."

So the building regs on the loft conversion are those for a playroom, not bedrooms?

If I were you, I'd be worried about fire safety, both while living there and if reselling

[KievLoverTwo]

Apparently the land registry are really helpful if you call them. I would call and ask if they would allow you to have them reclassified as 4th and 5th bedrooms.

Idk if this would trigger a council tax revaluation, something to think about

[KievLoverTwo]

Btw, I think council tax came in somewhere around 1992 which may be why they specifically applied for playroom conversion, to avoid a higher band.

Do they actually look like bedrooms? Can you stand up in them fully anywhere other than just the centre of the rooms?

[Clementineorsatsuma]

Have you had it 100% confirmed the the lenders will lend as a 5 bed? Won't matter what the EA says, it's down to the lender.

[newbie2003]

Bank initially wouldn’t lend but with the building regs we received they’ve now agreed to.