LOFT CONVERSIONS

Planning Permission

Planning permission is not normally required. However, permission is required where you extend or alter the roof space and it exceeds specified limits and conditions.

TIPS FOR LOFT CONVERSION

If your home’s loft is more useful to you as living space than storage, converting it is the obvious thing to do. A loft conversion should make your home more valuable and sellable and if you can fit a bathroom or shower room up there as well as a bedroom and built-in storage, you have the perfect master or guest suite.

For a loft to be suitable for conversion, the main space should be at least 2.3 metres high – the steeper the pitch of the roof, the better it will be for conversion. Standing up in the loft and walking around (if it’s safe to do so) will give you an idea of how much usable space there is. If there isn’t enough head height, even by building out the roof, you may be able to lower the ceilings in the rooms below, but this will be expensive and disruptive and isn’t practical if they’re already quite low. Another option may be rebuilding the roof to make it higher, but this is a radical and expensive step.