I am just in the process of acquiring a house with the thought of doing some DIY on it. However, it has a loft conversion without planning permission that was done in 1995 - going by the date written on the plaster board. It even looks as if it was used as a bedroom and the general workmanship looks poor. So can the council legally force the current owner to revert the loft to what it once was?
Thanks for your time.
Yes, it does have a dormer facing the road.
It doesn't have building regs certification either.
Firstly, why do you believe that it requires planning permission anyway? Generally loft conversions don't unless you are changing the road facing aspect of the roof (addition of a front dormer for example).
It would have required building regs certification. Do you know if it has that? (note that this can't retrospectively be enforced).
If you are 'in the process' of acquiring this property, and haven't yet acquired it, you should insist that planning permission and building regs approval are both obtained retrospectively by the current owner *before* you acquire it. Your solicitor should be insisting on this, anyway.
This is more worrying, as one aspect of Building Regulations is means of escape from fire.
Owain
Unless it's made the structure unsafe.
Yes. I've rung up the council and they have told me that I can convert it for storage only by removng the staircase to it so that it is no longer a liability.
On Wed, 07 Feb 2007 22:47:19 +0000, a particular chimpanzee named Owain randomly hit the keyboard and produced:
Yes, but that's fairly obvious on a completed project if one knows what to look for. What's not so obvious when things are boarded over are any structural alterations.
On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 19:12:39 -0000, a particular chimpanzee named "Jason Hallway" randomly hit the keyboard and produced:
Is it as simple as that?
What structural alterations have they carried out? I have seen roofs where purlin props, lateral restraint, etc have been removed, causing the roof to be less stable than before the work commenced. Turning the roof space back to storage wouldn't alleviate that kind of damage.
YMMV, but some Council's take the fixed stair vs. ladder as only one indicator of whether it's habitable or not. Personally, I would regard any boarding to the walls and floors, natural light, fixed heat, light and/or power as more indicative of whether it's habitable or not than the access to it.
Is there insulation between or under the rafters, and/or boarding (plasterboard/timber) to the underside of the rafters? Is there proper ventilation to the roof void above the insulation? If not, then you could be building up trouble WRT condensation in future.
If I were you, unless I was very sure that there wasn't a _real_ problem with the loft conversion (as opposed to a legal problem of not having the required permission & approvals), then I would be walking away from the deal. Sharpish!
I proposed most of the above changes to my loft as a home for a model railway with access by a loft ladder. The BCO (Aylesbury Vale) was adamant that it was a loft conversion and that I MUST fit a staircase along with other alterations to the rest of the house (e.g., self closers on all doors off the stairs). So, just having a loft ladder instead of stairs doesn't excuse you from getting BR approval.
MBQ
It depends on the council doesn't it?
It might in practice but Building Regs are national so, no, it shouldn't.
MBQ
On 20 Feb 2007 04:34:17 -0800, a particular chimpanzee named " snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com" randomly hit the keyboard and produced:
It shouldn't, but because there's no definition in the Building Regs as to what constitutes a habitable room, it's left to each Council to interpret the rules in their own way.
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