New guy here with s loft question

[T4orce]

Hi everybody.

I am currently looking at buying a house that had a loft conversion approx 12 years ago. Yesterday I managed to have a good look around the conversion.

It appears that to strengthen the existing joists, extra joists have simply been layed parallel, directly on top of the existing ones. I could not see any steel work.

Is this bad.

The size is not huge, probs about 4m by 5m. And all four walls beneath are structural.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[jeds]

Difficult to say really. Jump up and down in the middle of the span and check the bounce. If it bounces excessively then you might have a problem. If not then it's probably ok. The absence of steel means nothing. Loft floors can often be upgraded with just timber.

 

[JohnD]

I would ask the vendor for evidence that the conversion had approval for Planning Permission and Building Regulations.

If they are selling it they should expect this question, as any prospective buyer will be asking for it.

The value will be substantially lower if it was not approved.

If they say "I presume it was approved but have no paperwork" take it as a "no"

 

[T4orce]

Thanks guys.

When jumping in the room I would say there is some bounce but not excessive.

As for the regulations. A building regulation certificate was not issued when the extension was built. We have asked the vendor to get it certified, which I gather has to be done by the Council.

This can take about 6 weeks. It has been 5 weeks so hopefully we will hear something soon.

I presume that before the council will certify it, they will have a good look at the beams by pulling some of the floor up. (I hope so any way).

And if they do certify it, then I have nothing to worry about. Is it that simple?

Any thoughts?

thanks again guys.

 

[jeds]

I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you. I've done several regularisations and none were straightforward. The main problem is that the works must comply with regulations at the time they were carried out - not the current regs. The BCOs in my cases didn't have a clue what the regs were from 12-15 years ago and had no clue how to go about the process. Let's face it, a lot of them don't know the regs of today so how would they know from the past.

In reality having a building regs certificate for works 12 years ago doesn't really mean a lot and certainly is no guarantee that the works were carried out correctly - well, not even a current one does that. What it does do is stop any awkward questions when you come to sell the house. So if that's your concern then insist on one and pull out if it's not forthcoming.

If you are more concerned with the quality of the works and if it might fail later then you would probably be better off having a chartered surveyor check it out for you and give you a report. If the thing then turns into a problem you have somebody with PI insurance to sue. Cases like this are very successful in court so it is worthwhile protection. The building regs certificate gives you no protection whatsoever - zilch.