Ellis Greensitt wrote:

Im considering a loft conversion.
Can anyone help me out with the following questions :-

1: What building regulations apply to this ?

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.

2: If Building Regs are not complied with, is this illegal ?

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.

3: What other regulations are in force.

None specifically. You may get extra complication if your house is in a
conservation area or is listed.

4: Will I struggle to sell the house if building regs are not complied with
?

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.

5: In general, do loft conversions provide full payback on house value ?

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 Classical wisdom (i.e. out of date and now usually wrong!)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!

6: Is planning permission required ?

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 ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

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