Buying a house with an occasional room and no BR

[Porterface84]

Hi. I’ve put an offer on a 3 bed house with an occasional room. The current seller didn’t convert the loft the previous owner did and they haven’t got any building regulations. I can see there’s no smoke alarms in the whole house and the loft doesn’t have a fire door nor the first floor doors. The room is a pretty big space and they are using it as a bedroom (but not marketed as 4 beds)
It has x2 velux on one side and x2 dormers the other side and central heating. Do I need to push this issue further? I really like the house so it’s a tough decision. I have paid for a level 2 survey but I’ve not done this before so not sure what the survey will say.

Why are they selling? I'm always wary if sellers haven't been there very long.

I sold my house without buildings regulation certification for some work we had done and it caused no issues, but I would be wary of a loft conversion without it. It is major structural work and if used as a bedroom there are potential safety issues in case of a fire etc.

If you speak to the council about it, an indemnity policy will be invalid. Did the seller's solicitor not query the lack of BR when they bought it last year?

Potentially yes your solicitor will soon discover the same and it seems unlikely the vendor’s would have overlooked the lack of br. Why are they selling so soon? If it was fairly recent the planning authority could take enforcement action. Check the local planning system online for the address, any planning applications (permitted or refused) or retrospective permissions will be listed. Have any other neighbouring properties done similar?

Ok so a building control officer seems the way forward just so I know if it’s even structurally safe. Thanks everyone really appreciate the comments and advice.

I won’t ring the council either

Sorry I missed a few posts. I can’t see much around the back of the street as it backs into other houses not a road to look at all the others. Some houses have velux’s in the area but not dormers that I can see.

They are moving to be closer to family the other side of the city.

I wouldn’t take much notice of reasons
They bought in 2024 and are now moving
That’s quite suspect

Have the increased the price a lot. If so it might suggest Theyve done the extension themselves
If not I’d be concerned there is a real issue

Good luck with building control
and check with planning in case Theyve had an order to demolish

It may be tricky to make it conform. Regulations change all the time. We had a loft conversion done about 10 years ago, all signed off by building regs, things like insulation checked, head height on stair, fire doors. But the regulations have changed again and there are little things which don’t conform now like the bannister needs to be a certain distance from the wall so you can get your hand between it and the wall (or something).

thats the problem though, my loft is legal as it was done to code at the time. Yours may have been legal when built but now in order to get the piece of paper you need to conform to today’s standards. I’d call a trusted builder and ask what it would cost to make it legal. Could be a couple of fire doors. Could be a lot more expensive.

I’ve checked the planning and there’s no documentation of this. Just a rear extension from the previous owners which was never done and a porch which was done

They’ve increased the price by £15k. They did fit a new kitchen though

Always talk to building control first before giving a spec to a builder for pricing

Doesn't sound like they’re in it to make money then if we allow for stamp and solicitor fees.

we’ve had two loft conversions - the last one was about 15 yrs ago. Building regs required the main staircase (downstairs to be enclose and fire doors on the habitable rooms leading to it, with self closers fitted. We also needed a mains wired fire alarm system so if it set off downstairs it would sound throughout the house. We had to have wired glass in the panes above the doors.
planning permission does vary greatly but in our area it would only have been needed if the dormer was on the front.

Seems odd they asked for planning permission for a single rear extension, porch….but not a loft?

Yes they don’t have any of those things you mention. Hopefully if I can get a building officer round it might just be those things. One can only hope eh

https://www.fmb.org.uk/find-a-builder/ultimate-guides-to-home-renovation/loft-conversions-the-ultimate-guide.html

It looks like our council do have a building officer but if I ask them does it invalidate any indemnity insurance?

We had extension without any planning and one with.

It depends on when it was built and what was and wa not needed at that time.

Check with the council. It may be on their planning portal available to view online.

@Blueuggbootsindemnity insurance isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. No council is going to do snything. Ask your solicitor. This is what they are paid to do.

Weird to go to the trouble of putting on the dormer and not doing it properly.

Allowed through permitted development. Assuming it meets the guidelines on volume etc
Assuming they looked into it that is.

Having looked at the images, plans , made a best guess At the internal height and calculated the volume I think it’s too big for permitted development

Max volume is 40m3 for terraces and that seems bigger
In which case it needs planning permission

I’d go round yourself before and calculate the volume

Also note building control will want to know the U value of the roof and dormer to ensure they comply. If the current owners don’t have evidence of the construction or don’t have any as built drawings then bc may ask to open up a small section to check
U value is to measure the insulating capacity of the construction

My parents converted their loft like this but with just a pull down loft ladder. There's a double bed up therecand I've slept up there for 25 years when I stay. There's a toilet and shower as well. I know they can't advertise it as a bedroom if they sold but i didn't know it would cause so many issues. It's also used for storage. Definitely no building regs.

Do not talk to building control at the council. They don’t give advice out anymore like they used to and it will invalidate any indemnity policies.
You need an architect or structural engineer who submits plans/building regs for customers. They will be knowledgeable about the building regs for loft conversions and be able to say if with extra work the loft conversion would comply with current building regs. They would also be able to liaise with building control at a later date to get it signed off. If it can be made compliant you can then proceed with the purchase.

Thanks so much everyone- this is looking like a big stressful situation. If it needs planning permission due to volume what would be the options? Take it off and redo with a planning application?

I wouldn't buy this house. It'll be one big headache/ extra work/ constant worry for you.
If you come to sell it, you'll have problems.
It will always hang over you, bith literally and figuratively.

( There's a house on our road that has what looks like a live 2 bedroom loft conversion, but has no BR. They've tried to sell it twice in the past two years, but can't and it's had to come off the market)