I wonder if anyone might help with some advice...
We are currently thinking of having our vaulted cellar converted into a room that could be used for various things, but mainly an office/dry storage. In an ideal world, we would get building regulations and turn it into a habitable room, but with a lack of height, and a potentially awkward step it would never pass those regs, at least not for less than 15k.
So, we are thinking of getting a highly reputable firm to do a conversion without regs, but with their guarantee. They will do as much as they can to meet the regs (such as fire escape window, ventilation etc), and I will have to take the risk that no-one comes round to pull me up on the fact that I have a desk down there!
My question is how this would affect the property when selling on. We have bought properties in the past where a lack of building regs existed for an extension, and in that case it really did affect the value of the property as we had no idea who had built it. In this case, the potential buyers would see that it has been done properly by a reputable firm with a guarantee, and that it can be used as a home office or playroom etc. I could spend 15k on a habitable room, or 8k on a good dry cellar, and am trying to decide which!
Any help or views welcome....
orb.
We are currently thinking of having our vaulted cellar converted into a room that could be used for various things, but mainly an office/dry storage. In an ideal world, we would get building regulations and turn it into a habitable room, but with a lack of height, and a potentially awkward step it would never pass those regs, at least not for less than 15k.
So, we are thinking of getting a highly reputable firm to do a conversion without regs, but with their guarantee. They will do as much as they can to meet the regs (such as fire escape window, ventilation etc), and I will have to take the risk that no-one comes round to pull me up on the fact that I have a desk down there!
My question is how this would affect the property when selling on. We have bought properties in the past where a lack of building regs existed for an extension, and in that case it really did affect the value of the property as we had no idea who had built it. In this case, the potential buyers would see that it has been done properly by a reputable firm with a guarantee, and that it can be used as a home office or playroom etc. I could spend 15k on a habitable room, or 8k on a good dry cellar, and am trying to decide which!
Any help or views welcome....
orb.