Attic Room Conversion - Purchase

[worsy]

Member of family looking at a 3 bed victorian with an attic conversion. Previous sale fell through as purchaser wanted attic conversion "done properly". Quote from agent. Sounds like potentially converted without building regs which is a risk obviously.

Anything to mitigate (assuming insurance indemnity) or is it a walk away job?

[Tuvra]

Depends what its being used for and what they are planning to keep up there.

If the plan is to convert it into a bedroom I'd take someone from building regulations there. My last house had a partially completed loft which had approved planning. Unfortunately the Builder who owned the house fked the measurements right up. We would of had to rebuild the staircase which ate into other room space and then dropped the entire ceiling below a few inches to accommodate before finishing. It basically meant starting from scratch.

It wasn't worth the time and effort so we were going to board it out and turn it into a "posh loft", luckily another opportunity came up.

[worsy]

Tuvra said:

Depends what its being used for and what they are planning to keep up there.

If the plan is to convert it into a bedroom I'd take someone from building regulations there. My last house had a partially completed loft which had approved planning. Unfortunately the Builder who owned the house fked the measurements right up. We would of had to rebuild the staircase which ate into other room space and then dropped the entire ceiling below a few inches to accommodate before finishing. It basically meant starting from scratch.

It wasn't worth the time and effort so we were going to board it out and turn it into a "posh loft", luckily another opportunity came up.

I'm happy to consider it a posh loft but the worry is whether the roof has been strengthened to accommodate correctly.

[Little Lofty]

It will need to be looked at by a surveyor or builder.It might be that nothing has been taking away from the structure or they may have cut out the King post, it may be a very minor issue or the roof may collapse, lots of variables.

[robsdesk]

Speaking as someone who bought a (Victorian 3 bed semi) house in this situation about 4 years ago & sold it recently a couple of things which spring to mind:

Ours was nicely finished but hadn't had building regs (an issue) or planning (I believe not an issue as it was done in the 90's so enforcement wasn't a concern), the beams hadn't been strengthened, we used it as a very accessible loft - had free standing shelving etc.. up there. I also didn't pay anything extra over the cost of other houses without the work done. The issues as I understood them to get it building regs compliant would have been:

- Fit a fireproof door to loft room & replace all doors on 1st floor with fireproof ones as well
- Fit mains linked smoke alarms
- Strengthen beams, in the words of the surveyor who did a full structural for us it would cost more & be more work than if it was done properly in the first place as all of the flooring etc.. which had been fitted would have to be removed & replaced.
- The stair case going up to the loft room didn't meet building regs - it was too narrow & too steep, resolving this would have been very difficult / expensive as there was no more width to use, would have meant a lot of work - more so than doing the beams (which is where everyone focusses).

We had our seller provide an indemnity when we bought the house.

When it came to selling the house we had a sale fall through, apparently related to the loft but I suspect it was more the buyer got cold feet as the messages us / the estate agents & our solicitors got weren't at all specific or consistent. Our second buyer's solicitor queried it, our solicitor dealt with it brilliantly - down played it & no further questions were asked & they didn't request an indemnity either.

For ease of future sale I'd probably avoid it to be honest - unless you're committed to resolving the issues & getting building regs sign off.

[worsy]

Thanks all. Just been round to see it and mirrors what robsdesk says, however vendor says floor has been done. No regs as fire doors not fitted. Looks like original beams are in place (exposed as feature) and no purling removal undertaken as loft was open design.

Will need an indemnity probably as hidden elements unable to verify but on the plus side the builders are still in business and can verify work undertaken.