Buying house with loft conversion w/o regs

[HouseNumpty]

I put in an offer (cash) on a house which had been a 2-bed but the current owner had moved the bathroom into the 2nd bedroom and was in the process of finishing a loft conversion to make that the new official 2nd bedroom (it was already furnished as a bedroom). The works remaining at the time of marketing were a fire door and window. I didn't realise at the time that the rest of the conversion wasn't newly done. It was actually already in place when the current owner bought it and there is no information about its age, other that an architect has estimated it as >20 years old. No pp (conservation area) or building regs were ever applied for and have not been for the new works just done, despite the agent's listing stating the work was being done to satisfy building regs. My solicitor (local, not an online conveyancer) seems completely unconcerned by this and has accepted their offer of an indemnity policy without question.

My surveyor has stated various reasons why this would fail current regs (pitch of stairs, size of window for a habitable room, fire safety) and considers the property to be a 1-bed, thus of considerably lower value.

I was going to propose a lower price as the goalposts have moved from what was originally sold to me (I had to go 10k over asking in a bidding war to get it as well), but I'm now thinking that just withdrawing might be the best bet as I don't think I can now sell this on as a 2-bed, and I'd probably be looking to sell inside 10 years. My offer was on the low side for a 2-bed (the loft room is small and reduced height so only a single) but not a bargain by any means.

Is this a valid concern? From the issues identified I'm not sure that building regs could ever be satisfied, even with considerable expense. Thanks for reading!

 

[johnny2007]

Walk away.
It's a 1 bedroom house and trying to market it as a 2 bedroom is borderline dishonest from the estate agent.
You mentioned it's a conservation area, so maybe it's impossible to get planning permission (???)
In any case, by any standard outside of London, that's not a 2 bedroom house.
Instead, if this is within the London boundaries, you could stick 4 plywood boards in the garden and cover them with a tarpaulin to make a detached bungalow...

 

[HouseNumpty]

Not London I don't think pp would have been a problem, many of the same type of terrace in that street and neighbouring ones have loft conversions, and the only visible bit of this one is a small gabled dormer at the rear. It's just that no one has bothered with paperwork at all and now it's too late.

 

[foxhole]

Medway towns have hundreds of terrace houses with loft rooms which don’t comply with any regs , but they still sell without issue .

 

[mwebber]

We moved house a year ago into a property with a loft conversion done in 1980. Surveyor flagged a load of things that weren’t compliant with current regs. But, the fact that it doesn’t comply with current regs is not a problem - it complied with the regs at the time it was built, which is what matters (at least that’s how it was explained to us by the solicitor).

Ours had BC sign-off from 1980, which is slightly different to your situation though…

Is there any way to know when it was done? I thought there was a period of time after which it just becomes ‘accepted’ and no longer subject to needing retrospective approval, but I might be wrong. That would perhaps explain why the solicitor is happy just with an in indemnity.

 

[Old Salt]

But when you come to sell prospective buyers and their solicitors will all ask the same questions you are asking.
Walk away.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

@mwebber You say yours has BC sign off but then you ask how to find out when? And if it's been signed off why are you asking about time periods in which you can still be prosecuted?

Are you making comments on the OPs post?

Or are you making comments specific to you and your situation? In which case start a new thread.

 

[^woody^]

You are buying a problem - an expensive problem, and asking here indicates you don't have a solution in mind

Getting unauthorized work and non-compliant work insured will be a major risk, as is the actual risk of any issues arising whilst living there and then at sale time.

All this is unrelated to any indemnity policy which only indemnifies against a single low risk of building control enforcement. Nothing else.

Your legal advisor is badly advising you, or not advising you at all.

 

[Mottie]

Walk away.

Walk away.

Nah. Run away.

 

[stuartturbo]

Mine old one in medway I had to get it signed off to sell. I just never got round to it as never expected to move.
I had basic things needed to complete where basic extra hinge on other bedroom door downstairs and trickle vent on window in dormer ( cheap window and always open). However on the drawing the front section of the loft I could just stand up in but regs insisted on a fire door!!
So if you want it to be a legit room it needs to be to current regs unfortunately.