Im considering a loft conversion. Can anyone help me out with the following questions :-
1: What building regulations apply to this ? 2: If Building Regs are not complied with, is this illegal ? 3: What other regulations are in force. 4: Will I struggle to sell the house if building regs are not complied with ? 5: In general, do loft conversions provide full payback on house value ? 6: Is planning permission required ?Thanks in advance
lots. Ring your local council.
yes
fire regs are pretty strict if this would add a third floor to a 2 storey house. Mayb others
Yes. I know of two people who had big problems with this (they were buying places with diy loft conversions - ended up having to strip the lot out before the mortgage was fully released).
Around this area (Folkestone so SE) they do appear to if done well. Adding a bedroom and another bath/shower room does seem to be worthwhile.
Sometimes. If you just want Velux style windows to the rear then probably not. If you want velux to the front then possibly. If you want a dormer then more likely. If you are in a conservation area then definately. Again, give the council a ring.
We are planning to get our loft converted next year so are just starting to think about this - answers given are my current understanding. I'm interested to see the replys to this thread...
Darren
Lots.
Fire escapes, structural loading, insulation, wiring, heating....
Failing to comply with building regs is illegal, however the council has only a limited time for them to enforce the requirements. After that time (year or so) they could still in theory take you to court, but I believe it tends to only be used for commercial companies who have made money out of flouting the law.
Most likely yes. A few years ago a solicitor was sued (after the purchase) for failing to follow up on some building regs issues. Since then, the solicitors have been much hotter on following up and investigating unapproved modifications etc. Depending on the purchaser, they may be happy with the situation, possibly getting the seller to take out (reasonably cheap considering the house value) indemity insurance to cover the chance the council does take action. Other purchasers may well drop the purchase completely at the sign of "illegal changes" etc.
I've heard that estate agents cannot describe the works as a loft conversion if approval etc wasn't granted, also heard they can't count it as a bedroom etc, if no approval was granted etc. No idea whether this is true - but considering the problems that could happen with a loft conversion (lack of adequate fire escape, incorrect floor loading, incorrect insulation methods causing condensation/damp in roof) - I would steer clear of unapproved loft conversions when buying a house - unless it could be proved that it was done properly, just without approval - in which case, it makes you wonder why approval wasn't obtained, if it met all the requirements....
From what I've heard - nowhere near the cost.
Don't know.
D
This thread could be useful to me also - see my posting earlier about building regs approval.
I'd like to know what happens about conversion made over 20 years ago that have no building regs approval. When we bought our house 2 years ago the building survey didn't mention any problems with it and our solicitor said that as it was done over 20 years ago the building regs approval may not exist anyway. With hindsight I think I was extremely naive not to have pushed this further as now the problem is mine and not the previous sellers. I don't think I have any come back with either solicitor or surveyor.
I am wondering now if we wish to sell if we need to get retospective approval and possibly carry out additional work to make it sound - the size of the joists certainly do not meet current regs, but of course they cannot be replaced without removing the whole structure.
The simplest thing I can see would be to put an RSJ below adjacent to the breeze block wall for additional support.
As a back-up however, the ground floor suspended floor joists are the same size as the roof joists - although there is additional support in places.
Does anyone know what regulations apply to conversions made over 20 years ago, and would my house still be sellable now without additional works carried out?
Regards
Earl
Varies a lot, depending on your area and the implications and cost of the work.
Area: compare Leeds with London, the added monetary value is very different.
implications: if the new stairs etc means losing a bedroom downstairs, thats a real loss. If it adds an ensuite, thats a real plus.
Whether you have BR approval is pretty significant re value of course.
cost: some folk pay 5000, some 25,000, and of course this is a big factor in the final money gain or loss. Bear in mind that if youre selling long into the future, the change in house value will be bigger by then, so a break even now can be a gain in some cases.
NT
What's an 'ensuite'?
Mary
A bathroom off the bedroom instead of down the passage. Posh hotels have them.
Owain
Not sure wether Im gonna look a bit daft answering this but here goes.......fingers crossed.....
Is it a toilet/bathroom/shower-room thats added on to a bedroom ?
No, you don't look daft at all.
Oh. That's properly described as a bathroom en suite - as part of the whole set of rooms. An "ensuite bathroom". Or even en suite or en-suite. I know of no noun "ensuite".
Thanks for enlightening me.
Mary
Told you I'd look daft aswering that :)
You must have some history with snipped-for-privacy@meeow.co.uk if you are pulling him on stuff like that.
I wasnt sure if you were serious or not with the question. You may have been a foreign lady who genuinely had not heard of it before.
made me laugh anyway :)
It comes from the same dictionary of non-words that retailers use. "Instore" comes from there as well.
As others have said. I recomment you buy a copy of Paul Hymers' "Home Conversions the complete handbook" ISBN 1-84330-352-3. It's (c) 2003 so should be pretty up-to-date.
Covers loft conversions, basements, barns/outbuildings, and garages-to-rooms, but also has some very good advice on dealing with builders, contracts and the like, insurances and warranties.
Depends. If the house has eg only 1 recep and 3 bedrooms, adding a 4th bedroom can unbalance the house; with only 1 recep it wouldn't appeal to a family.
However, if the 3rd bedroom is poky, it may be better losing that bedroom to gain new stairs and an en-suite shower room for 2nd bedroom, and create a really nice master bedroom with en-suite bathroom in the loft. That isn't adding bedrooms, but will probably add some value. Even if the added value isn't much financially it can dramatically increase the saleability of a house.
If several of your neighbours have already converted their lofts that is a good pointer that a loft conversion is feasible and there is a demand for converted houses.
Owain
Not daft, I promise you.
I AM foreign. To one of our daughters in law anyway.
She's a Scot.
As for 'lady' ... hmmm.
Make the most of it :-)
Mary
...
Ah - is there really such a thing? Is 'mouthfeel' in there too?
Mary
There's a lot of it round here but it's frightfully expensive, I'm told. And it seems to take ages. And the mess!
I guess we're just too idle ... we crammed the boys into one room and the girls in another, friends crashed on the floor. It's what happened in the trendy past ...
Mary
No but you might find a ragaroat
All of 'em
People tend to assume that these are difficult to comply with, but in reality they are not.
There are a couple of extra regulations that kick in when you go above two floors (hence apply to a loft conversion on a house but not a bungalow) to do with fire regulations.
Yes. They are not difficult to comply with however, so you may as well.
Most of them are intended to ensure the building remains structurally sound, is pleasant enough to live in, and you can still get out of in the case of a fire. Each of these I would expect most people would rate as "worth having" anyway if they are going to be using the space themselves.
None specifically. You may get extra complication if your house is in a conservation area or is listed.
Depends on how well it was done and how long ago. Well done, a long time ago and you may be able to apply to have it "regularised". A botched job done recently however will make the place impossible to sell.
It may depend on where you live. Check out the local paper for house prices and see how much extra similar houses with extra rooms in the roof fetch. Classical wisdom (i.e. out of date and now usually wrong!) said you will not recoup the cost. In this area however (SE Essex), you would at least recoup the cost and possibly make a small profit if you have the conversion done by a builder. If you DIY then you will probably double your money. You also need to compare the cost not only against what you recover on sale of the place, but against what it would cost to move to a new place with the required amount of space.
I did my own conversion last year, and based on what I have spent and the hike in prices of houses with extra rooms I would expect that I have at worst added more than double the cost to the value of the property. Note however that is valuing my time for building it at zero. If you are going to do it "full time" you may wish to factor that in. To have moved to a suitable property would have cost me four to five times the cost of the conversion, and I would not have had the fun of doing it either!
Not usually (although may in conservation areas etc) unless you want to stick a dormer out of the front of the property.
The simplest way to do it is a "full plans submission" to the local council. You draw these up (or have them drawn up for you) and submit them with a set of structural calcs that proves the design "works" along with your fee (about 268 quid round these parts). They then look at them, and possibly pass comment on them. If there are areas that need changing you resubmit them. Go round this loop as many times as required. (not as onerous as it sounds if the person doing the plans has a clue).
You are then ready to start work. Give the BCO a call when you want to get going, he will visit and offer advice etc. He will then want to come back and look once the floor structure is done, then again the superstructure, possibly the stairs and access, and then finally at completion to sign it all off.
You can also ring them as often as you want if you need advice as you go along. In reality I found it is easy enough to get all you need from the internet and the good folks on this group ;-)
er ... ?
Mary
Not so - I think you are confusing planning permission (which has a time window) with building regulations which don't.
I meant 'on sweet' just didnt type it right. Typically means icing sugar, cream, fruit sauce, stuff like that
NT
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