Garage to Office conversion has Planning Permission but no Building Control/Regulations sign off...a red flag?

[DIYRalph]

House I'm looking to buy has a garage converted into an office/studio room, pictures below...it looks like they did a very good job and it still looks fresh despite the conversion happening 7-ish years ago, but the more I read about the steps necessary to do this kind of thing correctly (load bearing lintel under what used to be the garage door etc...) the more I am concerned that they did not get building control/regulations sign off (only planning permission), and the seller won't tell me anything about what the builders did, whether it has insulation or not....basically what you see is what you get and they're not volunteering any more information.

Is this a red flag as if the seller is trying to hide something, and will it make it more difficult for me to sell the house at a later date?

As you can see below it looks really well done, even has an alarm installed, but I'd be going into this not actually knowing anything about the building work that took place....

https://ibb.co/ysDrKXF
https://ibb.co/C2x8KgF
https://ibb.co/r5LqLhG

 

[johnny2007]

Price of the property must reflect the fact that the conversion has not been signed off by building control.
Then you'll have to apply for regularisation which can be a pain.
Good thing is that planning permission has been granted, so at least there shouldn't be anything to demolish.

 

[mrrusty]

Is this a red flag as if the seller is trying to hide something, and will it make it more difficult for me to sell the house at a later date?

It's only a problem if you want to make it one. After 7 years building control won't be carrying out any enforcement as it's out of time. If it surveys OK, looks OK, and you are happy with it, then it's not a problem. Even though you might buy it, if you think it will make it harder to sell, then don't buy it.

The other point is, that it was a garage (which looks detached), and therefore not a habitable room. Turning it in to a "hobby room" may not make it a habitable room, and there is nothing under building regs that requires you to get regs to subdivide a detached garage, or do some things in it that are not storing a car. If it was a bedroom, then it would be a problem, otherwise IMHO it is in the grey area between whether it has become a habitable room, or is in reality just a prettied up garage - a gym, for example, is not a habitable room, so what you call it IMHO has some bearing on whether it falls under regs. I turned a detached garage in to a photographic darkroom - plastered out, decorated, leccy, water, and sold the house without any idea or suggestion by anyone that it required regs.

I think there is far less of an issue if this is a detached outbuilding. If it is attached, then you'll have to make a decision whether it is a problem.

 

[DIYRalph]

It's only a problem if you want to make it one. After 7 years building control won't be carrying out any enforcement as it's out of time. If it surveys OK, looks OK, and you are happy with it, then it's not a problem. Even though you might buy it, if you think it will make it harder to sell, then don't buy it.

The other point is, that it was a garage (which looks detached), and therefore not a habitable room. Turning it in to a "hobby room" may not make it a habitable room, and there is nothing under building regs that requires you to get regs to subdivide a detached garage, or do some things in it that are not storing a car. If it was a bedroom, then it would be a problem, otherwise IMHO it is in the grey area between whether it has become a habitable room, or is in reality just a prettied up garage - a gym, for example, is not a habitable room, so what you call it IMHO has some bearing on whether it falls under regs. I turned a detached garage in to a photographic darkroom - plastered out, decorated, leccy, water, and sold the house without any idea or suggestion by anyone that it required regs.

I think there is far less of an issue if this is a detached outbuilding. If it is attached, then you'll have to make a decision whether it is a problem.

Yes it’s a detached garage and the estate agent did say I shouldn’t consider it a habitable room. It’s a hobby room which I guess might be difficult/expensive to heat for a chunk of the year. Still far more useful to me than a bare brick garage.

My other fear tgat it’s maybe not been built right and will have structural issues is something you’d hope would have shown Up before the 7 year mark. The original garage is decades old.

 

[mrrusty]

What was the planning permission for? building the garage in the first place?

 

[robinbanks]

What are the dimensions of the garage?

 

[DIYRalph]

What was the planning permission for? building the garage in the first place?

Nah it was granted to convert the existing garage to a home office - think there might have been a line in it about changing elevation too which I presume means the new flat roof they so why a few grand on.

The garage itself I believe was built in the 80’s at the very latest.

 

[DIYRalph]

What are the dimensions of the garage?

Overall garage size is 10 by 20 feet / 3 by 6 meters.

The garage has been split into two rooms, the plasterboarded room and then a storage room behind it about 1.4m deep that is just the exposed brick.

 

[DIYRalph]

Actually just spotted there is a total of 35cm width between the plasterboarded and bare brick sections of the garage.

If the mounted plasterboard is taking up 17cm each side can we make a guess as to whether that’ll be insulated to some extent?