PROPERTY CLINIC: Q I am a first-time buyer, buying an apartment, and have been approved for a mortgage by AIB. I have signed the contract, but the property is currently rented until 31st December 2012, which means I will not get possession until January 2013. Will I be able to claim the 25 per cent relief given to first- time buyers who purchased property in 2012?
AThe Government has stated on a number of occasions that there will be no extension on Mortgage Interest Relief, so in order to qualify for the tax relief the sale of a property has to be completed before 31st December 2012. This is also the date when the existing tenancy expires. However, this is in the middle of the Christmas holiday period and most solicitors offices are likely be closed.
It is my experience of seeking to get sales concluded prior to the Christmas Holiday period that one needs to have all paperwork in order well ahead of the holiday period which typically begins on December 22nd or 23rd. You say that you have signed the contracts so you have obviously consulted with a solicitor. They are in the best position to advise you of the likely timing of completion and what specifically you have to do in order to avail of mortgage interest relief.
In this instance, the sale is complicated by an existing tenancy but there may still be the potential to purchase the property and avail of the relief. There are perhaps two options. Firstly I would suggest that the sale could be completed subject to the existing tenancy and vacant possession being achieved in January 2013. The trigger for the relief is the final draw-down of a mortgage which is undertaken by the buyer’s solicitor and will only be carried out when contracts have been signed, due diligence has been carried out and completion is imminent. However, in this unusual situation where there is a sitting tenant, the vendor would have to provide assurances that vacant possession will be provided on the expiry of the lease.
Secondly, in the event that no such assurances can or will be provided, I would suggest that you request that the vendor gets vacant possession prior to December 31st. They will have to negotiate directly with their tenants and may well have to offer them some form of compensation in order for them to vacate before the lease expiry. Your negotiation position may be slightly compromised if you have already exchanged the contracts. It is worth noting that tenants have rights under the Residential Tenancies Acts which your solicitor or the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) can advise you on.
This is an unusual situation as most purchasers of a property will get vacant possession of the property on completion. I can fully understand your desire to buy now and avail of the valuable tax savings but you need to tread carefully with this purchase and I would strongly advise that you consult with a solicitor before proceeding further.
Gerard O'Toole is vice chair of the western region of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, scsi.ie
We want to convert our attic into a bedroom
Q We are having another child and will need some extra room. We currently have a three-bed semi-detached house. However, as we are steeped in negative equity it is unlikely we will be moving anywhere for a very long time. An option that has been suggested to us is to convert our attic into a fourth bedroom. Other similar-sized houses on our road have done it and have put skylights in the roof, etc. Do you know what is involved in this? Would we need planning permission or are there other regulations and have you any idea what it could cost?
AVery often converting the attic is an economical way of providing additional accommodation in a house. However the usefulness of this will largely be dependant on the size of the house and in particular the pitch of the roof and to some extent the nature of the roof construction.
Unfortunately, in typical estate-type houses the attic is often a relatively small space which inevitably means you end up with a reduced floor-to- ceiling height and thus it is not practical to achieve the building regulation required height of 2.4m over a minimum of two thirds the floor area of a room.
This has not stopped the Irish public from converting their attics, but it must be remembered that the converted space is technically a non-habitable room, ie not a bedroom or livingroom, but is simply a storage room. This effectively allows one to ignore all the normal building regulations that are applicable to habitable rooms.
You need to be aware of this storage-only limitation when converting the attic. Apart from the head height issue, there are also issues relating to the “safety” of the room. Means of escape in a fire situation need to be considered. With three-storey (or more) houses, there are a whole host of additional fire regulations that apply. In particular, the staircase should be enclosed with fire-resisting walls, including fire-resisting doors all with self-closing devices to the various rooms off the staircase, in order to ensure adequate fire protection to the escape route from the third (and upper) floors.
Furthermore, there are accessibility regulations relating to the staircase in terms of the width and required pitch which are very difficult to achieve when converting the attic without taking up too much space. Of course all of the above regulations can be avoided if we simply treat the new converted room as a store as opposed to a habitable room.
If the owners/occupants then choose to occupy the new additional room as a bedroom, then they do so at their own risk. There are simple measures which could be taken to improve the fire safety such as installing a comprehensive fire alarm in order to ensure maximum notice in the event of a fire, and fitting a large velux roof light to facilitate an alternative means of escape, and whilst these would not comply fully, they do improve the fire safety provisions.
The other main technical issue to consider is the roof type. Basically roofs are either of traditional timber construction or of prefabricated timber-trussed construction. The majority of estate house roofs are the latter and this is largely to suit developers in that they are quicker and cheaper to build.
They are also, however, very effective roof structures and comprise the minimal amount of timber. Therefore one needs to be careful about the implications of converting such a roof. An analogy could be drawn with trying to remove some spokes from an umbrella to create more space and yet expect an umbrella to perform well in high wind. One must ensure that proper compensation is made for any timbers removed, and this will more often than not require the installation of steel and a considerable amount of additional timbers. Work of this nature should only be carried out under the guidance of a suitably qualified professional.
Unfortunately there are many “dodgy” attic conversions and very often this does not come to light until someone is trying to sell their house and it proves difficult to get a certificate of compliance with building regulations.
In this respect I would point out that if the attic room is being treated as a store, then most of the building regulations don’t apply, however the original roof must still meet the building regulation structural requirements following the conversion and thus the need for a certificate of compliance.
Finally there is the issue of planning permission. Provided the works are confined to the attic and don’t actually increase the roof or change the overall external appearance, then they are normally considered as exempted development.
Normally it is also possible to incorporate roof lights in a rear roof slope without planning permission, though a roof light in the front roof slope would require planning permission as it changes the overall appearance of the front of the property. It is worth seeking professional advice upfront to get the necessary certificates of exemption/compliance at the time of construction, as these can be more difficult to obtain at a later stage.
The costs will vary, but typically we would expect the costs to be in the order of €20,000 to €25,000 to include Vat and fees. We are aware that many attics are being converted for considerably less than this and we would question how the converted roof measures up to current building regulation requirements.
Val O'Brien is a chartered building surveyor, scsi.ie
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