Loft conversion..no planning or building regs!

A question about : Loft conversion..no planning or building regs!

Back in 2003 we did a stupid thing...i employed a long standing 'friend' to do our loft conversion! He WAS a qualified builder but for some reason he decided to let us down. He ensured me he was going to sort the planning and building regs but he left the job 3/4 the way through :-/ The structural work had been done leaving some wiring/ plastering and general tidying up before disappearing! so i am assuming the loft has no certificate for the building regs. 12 years on and we have had no problems with the loft room, it has served us well as a playroom and at times a bedroom. It has a dormer at the back, wired smoke alarms and a fire door/frames, and a velux with a chain ladder. We are hoping to move soon and i'm worried about the problems this might cause with buyers! Any advice...Thank you in advance!

Best answers:

• Sell it as a loft play room. It's not going to be ash getting it signed off, electrical cents etc retrospectively!
  What a bad friend!
• This is what i was thinking...Thank you!
• Without proof of planning permission or building regs approval, you may need to provide an indemnity policy for the potential buyers. And of course some will just walk away.
  You can't legally market it as a loft conversion, only as storage room. And marketing it as such won't stop the LA potentially wanting the dormers etc being removed if they breach planning guidelines.
  But you 'assume' the paperwork was not done-why not check first with the LA?
• Thank you for all your replies! very helpful Thank you
  If it means i would loose the option of indemnity insurance i will hang fire before contacting the LA. Does it make any difference that it was done so long ago? and that we have had no problems and the dorma is at the back ect?
• There are limitation periods beyond which the council can't enforce B Regs or PP, I think.
  Others will confirm them hopefully - I can't remember with enough certainty to have a go at stating them here.
  That being said, on the House buying board there are regular posts where the buyer's solicitor / lender has required retrospective permission or indemnity insurance, irrespective of whether the limitation period has expired. So you cannot assume that all would be well because of the passage of time.