Homebuyer survey/loft conversion

[Dave34]

I recently purchased a new house. A previous owner had converted the loft without building regs so the seller took out indemnity insurance for the lack of building regs. I had a Homebuyer report done pre-purchase which commented that the pulins in the loft 'appeared to be of adequate size' and the roof looked in 'fair condition'.

Since moving in I have noticed that the purlins are sagging by approx 1 inch and looking from outside you can see that the roof is sagging too. I am worried now that the conversion was botched and the roof is not supported properly.

Obviously I can't approach the LA about this as it invalidates my indemnity insurance but surely the surveyor should have noticed the sagging if I, a layman, noticed it?

 

[jeds]

What size and span are the purlins?

 

[Dave34]

They run the entire length of loft (6.45m) and are 28cm x 7.5 cm

 

[^woody^]

Have you beem misled by the indemnity insurance? Did you know that the insurance [normally] only covers you against building control taking an interest in the conversion and asking you to 'regularise' it ie get retrospective permission. This is most unlikely unless you invite them to.

It does not [normally] cover you against the work being substandard and requiring remedial work. It is a common misconception with homebuyers

I would check the policy. It may be worth geting the LA involved, and then they will check the work and if any remedial work is required then the policy should pay out. But check its terms.

Anyhow, it is possible for a beam to deflect a little and the rafters to have sagged as the beam was being fitted. Then they just remain in this 'sagged' state. Whether that is the case here, is hard to tell. And whether the whole conversion is structurally sound is doubtful. Its not just about purlins, there are other members and bracing to be done.

The only reason not to have applied for building regs for a loft conversion, is so that it does not have to conform to the regs, which implies that it will not be done properly, which often means inadequate structural members, poorer insulation, poor or lack of fire protection and lack of adeqaute ventilation

 

[Dave34]

The indemnity policy will not pay out for shoddy work, only if an enforcement notice is served and like you said, that's not going to happen unless we invite the LA in thus invalidating the policy. My loft looks like this picture (not a photo of my loft) in that the beams have no visible support.

I guess we were foolish to assume that it would have been done properly (the last owner didn't know whether regs were applied for as she hadn't looked into in when she purchased the house hence the indemnity). Obviously I have no idea whether the structural work is up to standard without professional advice (which I will get when the surveyor issue is resolved) but other elements appear to have been done to standard i.e a 2-way light switch at bottom and top of stairs, fire escape window.

 

[^woody^]

What you do is get a friend or neighbour or phone the council anonimously and tell them that "Some bloke across the road has done a loft conversion without permission, and it looks dangerous and why should he get away with it when I had to pay".
Adding the 'dangerous' bit will prompt a visit.

This will not invalidate the policy.

 

[jeds]

You can ignore the insurance policy. Building control can't take enforcement action against any works older than 12 months and although they could take some other action they won't do that unless it is dangerous or a public hazard. So the policy is pretty useless really.

As for the purlins, I think it depends on how you view it. A 25mm deflection is typical of many traditional cut roofs and is not really a major problem. But for a habitable room the deflection should not exceed more than 1/360 of the span - which would be about 18mm.

So, the purlins are ok for a roof but a shade undersized for a habitable room. (Please bear in mind I'm talking in practical terms here, not by modern building regs standards)

 

[Dave34]

Just thought I'd give an update on this. Had a structural surveyor round today and he said roof was fine (there are actually 2 purlins per pitch not 1 as I previously thought).

He also said loft probably did comply with regs at time of conversion so I bit the bullet and asked the council (thereby invalidating the indemnity insurance) and it did had building reg approval when converted in 1991 so all is well.