Loft conversions - did you ask/notify your Building Society?

[Tom-C]

Im thinking of having a loft conversion in East Dulwich - I have a mortgage. I would rather not involve my building society if I didnt have to. Assuming I get all the relevant permissions do they need to know? Did you tell yours? Did you have to get consent?

My understanding is that in East Dulwich so long as you keep within permitted development of 40cubic meters, obtain a certificate of lawfulness and a building completion certificate. In anyone has experience to the contrary I would be very interested to hear about it.

Tom

[Lowlander]

Theoretically, yes; read the terms and conditions, it should say that you notify them of structural changes.

This is to stop people doing substandard work and reducing the value of the property (in which they hold an interest).

As long as you have the permissions and funding in place you should have no problem getting permission.

[mrsilencio]

As lowlander says, the answer is yes - you need to inform them for the reasons described (presuming they are your mortgage lender?). I went through this for my own building work with my bank. They basically just needed a letter on file describing the work and plans etc. There is no reason they should refuse permission, its really just a formality.

[KidKruger]

Another reason is that during the time of the works the value of the property could be significantly reduced (say, in for example, a rear extension being demolished then rebuilt), therefore risk exposure for the lender increases regardless of the outstanding loan amount. Remember if you have a mortgage, the property belongs to the bank in reality, not you, so you're altering their property. If YOU'd lent money against a property and for several weeks that property would have no roof so you'd potentially be under-secured against that loan, you'd probably be interested and most likely would ensure there's a clause relating to that in your lending terms.

Given that you'd not have the property without a lender's financing, it's surely reasonable to oblige and let them know your plans.

To not do so is unreasonable.

As mentioned already it's usually a formality - what's best is when you've set the timeline, costs and plans, all PP received and you're ready to go. That way you can answer questions from the lender with confidence and minimum disruption to your proposed works. With a solid plan any changes/negotiations with the lender are easier to settle.

People frequently criticise banks for under-capitalising against debt they issue, but will intentionally mislead a bank in this way, helping to create a situation (albeit for only a few weeks) where the banks may be exposed over their regulatory entitlement.

[red devil]

It's worth noting that the mortgage company might want to see details of the builder's Public Liability insurance, incase something should go amiss during the works. Regardless, it's worth asking any builder about their PLI, a good way to sift out the cowboys...

[Lowlander]

Plenty of examples out there of houses being badly damaged by dodgy builders, with the householder ending up heavily in debt as they shell out even more money trying to fix the problem.

In worse case scenarios the house is reposessed and the owners liable for the shortfall.

Meanwhile, insurance won't pay out because you didn't comply with the T&Cs of your mortgage lender...

All this risk is mitigated by simply sending a copy of all the plans to the mortgage company with a covering letter - 20 minutes work?

[James Barber]

You'll also need to involve your building insurance supplier so that the rebuild value is amended to take account of this. I'd do this in advance as well.

Building works place extra risk of disaster and being under insured might invalidate your policy if you, heaven forbid, needed to claim on it.

Also, for your neighbours make sure you have a Party Wall Agreement with them.

[KidKruger]

Good advice from RD, LL and JB.

[Dopamine1979]

Threads like this remind me why this forum is great.

That's such helpful advice from several people all within 24 hours of posting.