[Closed] Do loft conversions add their value to a large house?

Do you need the space? It depends where you live. In Merthyr or Harlepool, probably not. In central London, you could rent the extra room for £15k a year and get your money back after a couple of years.

could a family of 5-6 live comfortably in the rest of the house (storage, general space)?

Worked at a bungalow as described, the staircase took up a chunk of the g/f as did the fire door, a requirement of the building regs, they had to have a landing and a partition wall built at top of staircase, as no room on ground floor, they also needed a velux window at a set height, for fire escape, and a side window had to have obscure glass to block view of neighbours.

Depending on area and neighbour objections, it will employ tradesmen for a few months.

scaredypants - Member
could a family of 5-6 live comfortably in the rest of the house (storage, general space)?

Yes, definitely enough space. I appreciate adding a 3rd bed to a 2 bed house has clear benefits. It's a big chunk extra on the mortgage for us to borrow. New rooms upstairs will be a good size.

project - Member
Worked at a bungalow as described, the staircase took up a chunk of the g/f as did the fire door, a requirement of the building regs, they had to have a landing and a partition wall built at top of staircase, as no room on ground floor, they also needed a velux window at a set height, for fire escape, and a side window had to have obscure glass to block view of neighbours.
Depending on area and neighbour objections, it will employ tradesmen for a few months.

There are no views of neighbours. Just wondering if a bigger 5bed family home is really worth a good chunk more than a 4.

are you buying it as a home or as a financial stepping stone to your home?

There's a lot more to it than simply adding a bedroom. A well designed loft conversion on a bungalow can transform it from an awkward layout to something that works well. It could also do the opposite. It would also need to be nice area most likely with other large houses in.

the percieved value of a attic conversion is in the eyes of the owner and whoever wants to buy the house in future, if you want a bigger house and dont want to leave the area and can afford to remortgage then go ahead, have a look on zoopla for houses of a similar design locally.

also remember the span of the roof and the slope will influence the space you have, which will be smaller than the ground floor plan.But you knew that already

What Bruneep said Dan.

Do you need 5 bedrooms.

If not why not leave it a nice desirable bungalow( they cant build enough of em quick enough round here) - but with permission for the upstairs conversion and price accordingly.....when you come to sell.

If you need 5 bedrooms then the percieved value goes out the window and the question becomes - can i buy a 5 bedroom house for equal or less than ill spend making this 5 bedroom.

Talk to an estate agent and ask what their estimate of current value and future value with conversion done is.

I don't think permission is needed anymore for a loft conversion. Building regs still apply tho.
And £30k is a lot for 1 extra bedroom/bathroom.

I don't think permission is needed anymore for a loft conversion. Building regs still apply tho.

Depends on how big it is -
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/loftconversion/

And £30k is a lot for 1 extra bedroom/bathroom.

Not in London and the South East. A decent extra bedroom and bathroom would add over 100k in most of London.

As has been pointed out already though, the most important criteria is whether you need the space. £30k is likely to be a lot less than the cost of moving to a larger house in the same area (estate agents costs, removals, stamp duty, furniture and decoration changes, time and hassle)

It isn't just the matter of adding an extra bedroom but it can free up one of the original bedrooms to use as something else. Extend living room, kitchen etc and make the living space a lot more useful.

@glasgowdan - Given that I was following your previous post quite closely and that I know exactly which house it is, here's my tuppence worth......

It doesn't matter what it's worth in terms of increasing property value - It's all about its' perceived value to you as the person living in the house.

I would also offer this warning based on my own experience of buying a house that was waaaaayy bigger than I actually needed.....the more space you have, the more stuff you acquire to fill it (including in my case a third child)

Having said that...

What I would be doing , if it was me*, would be buying the house and moving in.
Shortly thereafter, I would be getting plans drawn up for the loft conversion and getting them approved by Planning and Building Control.

I'd then be getting a quote to put in a permanent stair to the loft and getting that installed with a temporary partition and door at the top. Total Outlay at this point circa £3 - 4k-ish. A small percentage of the purchase price.

Then, I'd stop.....and live in the house for a while. You've already had all the disruption to the main body of the house that the loft conversion would entail and you can now close a door on it and forget it for a while.
The loft space in the house as it currently stands would be an eminently usable space for storage if it had permanent stair access.
If you've been granted your building warrant and commenced the works it's valid from that point on and won't expire or require updating / renewal. If you decide to sell then you'll be selling with option of the conversion secured.

A lot of the loft conversion would be DIY-able from this point forward and you could take your time and do it as and when expenses allowed. I'd make it a long term project rather than spunking big money up front.
I'd also be looking to spend a lot less than £30K on the conversion.

The expensive bits are the stair, some Velux windows and the bathroom.

I'm genuinely excited for you. It's gonna be an adventure.

* other opinions are available. As are snooker tables, juke boxes, home gym equipment and mahoosive televisions for your "media room".

That sounds like a great idea. We're completely clueless about all of this and I feel way out of my depth.

I'll need to buy you a pint once we're locals!

In our estate the smaller 2-bed bungalows are going for more money than the 3-bed houses.

Take a frank look at the design - is it really a convenient design to get the additional bedroom? If not then I think you'd put people off. Easy to convince yourself that you'd be, say, happy walking through someones bedroom to access the stairs (or something daft like that).

Has the house got a pitched roof on all four sides? If so, then the useable area that you can stand up will be less than half the downstairs area; this is why bungalows usually have dormers installed (lot of extra structural work and expense there).

[URL= http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/glasgowdan/Mobile%20Uploads/DSC_0468_zpsejtnuyc7.jp g" target="_blank">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/glasgowdan/Mobile%20Uploads/DSC_0468_zpsejtnuyc7.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

You might not need extra bedrooms, but it would be shame not use that space for something. 🙂

I could be wrong here and correct me if I am, but won't your council tax increase once you add the permanent staircase?

My grandparents converted the loft into two big bedrooms but didn't add the staircase for that reason.

Not sure that's true as when I bought my house the council tax went up due to extensions the previous owners had done which pushed it up a band. Was told they only make adjustments when the house has a new owner - which seems odd to really and annoying as I wasn't expecting that.

Something to maybe consider though a jump in council tax.

It would be a shame not to use the space, a big master bedroom with an en-suite would suite the space well.

perchypanther - Member

You might not need extra bedrooms, but it would be shame not use that space for something.

Scalextric, surely?

As your asking value are you planning on moving? If not and you plan to stay there what will it do to your quality of life? If you are there for 10 years it's 3k/year plus interest.
So really a home or an investment.

If you've been granted your building warrant and commenced the works it's valid from that point on and won't expire or require updating / renewal. If you decide to sell then you'll be selling with option of the conversion secured.

Don't think thats right, here in North Ayrshire at least. We were given 3 years to complete works on our extension or our building warrant would expire, presumably under whatever new regs are in force at the time.

Council tax increases only apply when you buy the house and is only calculated from the price paid for the house based on an inflation adjustment from 1991 prices. We successfully appealed and moved down a band based on this calculation.

Oh and perchy - you forgot the beams and joists if they need strengthening and modifying, thats the expensive bit, velux* windows cost a couple of hundred to get installed if that.

* cheaper brands are available

Well, anything fancy in a house adds value. So, yes the loft conversions do add great essence and value to a home. If you are thinking of making one, then study the prices in the market and see what suits your budget.

Planning dept have confirmed that a building warrant lasts 3 years in fact.

I've had another evil idea though - convert the garage into a nice bedroom with ensuite, turn an existing bedroom into the big bathroom, and build a separate garage. Shame none of this is cheap!

Well, anything fancy in a house adds value.

Only so much though, usually restricted by property around you.

That loft looks worth doing though, even if it was only as a pseudo room (which is legit, you just can't sell it as a room).