Estate Agent Lied

I have put a deposit on a house, it's sale agreed and the contracts have gone to my solicitor. I got a surveyor out and he told me the attic conversion is not compliant with safety standards and can only be used for light storage. However the brochure clearly said it could be used as a bedroom or office. We were purchasing based on false advertising. Has anyone had this happen to them?

Did the brochure say the attic "could" be used as a bedroom or office, not that it was actually being used as such? If so, the brochure is not lying as it's indicating that the attic could be converted.

I suppose they skirted around the issue but were clearly not going to say anything had we not got a surveyor in. It was obvious that it had been used as a bedroom. I just feel cheated. It would cost thousands to get it up to the level of habitable and the structure has been compromised stability wise.

Most attic conversions are not compliant with planning legislation as the requirements are extremely onerous. What it usually means is that you cannot advertise it as a bedroom/office etc, but that you can actually use it as such.

The only thing that would concern me is if your engineer told you that it would not be structurally sound to be used as an office/bedroom, if that is the case I would stay well away from it.

You might be worrying too much about this.

Many converted attics are perfectly serviceable as bedrooms or offices but cannot be legally described as such as they may not have the required minimum ceiling height for "habitable accommodation" (which I believe is either 7'6" or 8 feet).

That said, it is wrong for the estate agent to call it a bedroom under these circumstances (agents are usually careful about this). But if the agent suggested it "might" be used as a bedroom, or if it was perfectly obvious to you from your house visits that it is currently used as a bedroom, you don't really have a case. Does the brochure call the house a 4-bedroom house, for example, or does it say 3-bed with attic?

Whatever you do though, if you buy the house and want to use the attic as a room, be aware that it might be difficult to escape in a fire.

[Post crossed with above]

Extopia/Christy,

Would using the attic as a bedroom, when it's not compliant with planning and building regulations, not affect the house insurance?

extopia said:

You might be worrying too much about this.

Many converted attics are perfectly serviceable as bedrooms or offices but cannot be legally described as such as they may not have the required minimum ceiling height for "habitable accommodation" (which I believe is either 7'6" or 8 feet).

That said, it is wrong for the estate agent to call it a bedroom under these circumstances (agents are usually careful about this). But if the agent suggested it "might" be used as a bedroom, or if it was perfectly obvious to you from your house visits that it is currently used as a bedroom, you don't really have a case. Does the brochure call the house a 4-bedroom house, for example, or does it say 3-bed with attic?

Whatever you do though, if you buy the house and want to use the attic as a room, be aware that it might be difficult to escape in a fire.

[Post crossed with above]

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This is true. Hence most houses advertised do not include attic conversions in the bedroom count.

However the OP said that theire suveyor has come back to them and said the attic is only suitable for light storage. This suggests to me that the conversion was done on the cheap. In other words the flooring was layed directly onto the ceiling beams. Ceiling beams in attics are generally not designed to take the weight of a floor. This is the most common difference between a full price attic conversion and a cheap knock it together job. In a proper conversion, the beams are strengthened or new stronger beams are layed alongside the current ones.

To fix a bad job like this would require the floor to be ripped up and, new beams to be laid and a new floor laid on top. You should get an estimate from the surveyor to do this job.

There are a few things you can do then.

Seek a discount (aka gazundering) based on the estimate to fix conversion. The survey is designed to tell you these things. It's unlikely the EA new the attic conversion was a bad job so acted in good faith. You should definately seek a discount if you still want to continue with purchase.

Pull out of sale if you're not happy (do not sign contracts or pay contract deposit unless you really wish to go though with sale). You can pull out for any reason before contracts are signed and are entitled to full deposit back. After signing you can't. You certainly have a very valid reason for not proceeding.

You could put a complaint in to Advertising Standards about this at http://www.asai.ie/ It's online and takes only a few minutes. It doesn't do much for you but they can make sure the house is no longer advertised with attic suitable for bedroom or office.

Thanks to everyone for replying. I'm going to get a friend to quote for what needs to be done. The surveyor did say "light storage". If we can get some sort of discount on the price, we might consider it. Cheers.