Buying a house without building regs for loft conversion pre 1985?

I had the same issue with a bathroom off the kitchen only having one door (no longer a problem in any case but was at the time). A wise surveyor said building regulations cannot be backdated or applied retrospectively otherwise they would not be building regulations but dwelling regulations. However that was a while ago. I think your solicitor is being overzealous but I would have thought your lender would be ok with it anyway. Otherwise anything built or extended prior to 1985 would be affected. The lender will have done a valuation - you could query with the valuer.

Hi Puzzler thanks for your advice. Good to hear its not so out of the ordinary.
We have spoken to the valuer who adivsed that he would not change his valuation given that a certificate wasn't required. He also said he would also still consider the new rooms as bedrooms. He said he would provide written confirmation of this to the lender if he was asked by them.

We also checked that our buildings and contents insurance provider would cover us, which they will. Myself and my partner are happy to exchange but the solicitors are insistent they need to check with the lender if there's no documentation available, which will be another delay. Its been a week and a half since they said they wanted to do the searches regarding building regulation and we had planned to complete this Friday so the delay is quite frustrating.

Any advice on how to persuade the solicitor to just let us exchange without the extra documentation? Would it help if I spoke to the lender myself for their opinion?

Hi. It is true that pre 1985 building control completion certificates were generally not issued. There is also a problem with many loft conversions not having sufficient structural support which could cause problems. Thus you are faced with an issue. For your own peace of mind you can safety assume if the conversion has been ok for last 30 years it will continue to be so. You could also phone building control. They will give no written evidence but will at least tell you over the phone if they over sore the works
Now to satisfy the lender is another issue. Puzzler is incorrect; building control can be backdated. It is called a regularization certificate. A fee, slightly higher than normal is payable and an inspector will come round. He will asses the works NOT based on current Regs but as they were in the 80's, which makes insulation and fire requirements vastly more simple. The problem is that with it being a loft conversion exploratory works to check steels and beam sizes would be quite disruptive.
Personally I would and often have, go down an indemnity insurance route. This is generally a matter of £100-£200 and the cost is usually bore by the vendor. It is also standard practice and, in my experience, always accepted by mortgage company for their piece of mind.
Hope this helps

Two points I would like to make:-
1. A Regularisation certificate cannot be issued in respect of unauthorised work carried out before 11th November 1985.
2. It is worth looking at the case of Cottingham, Cottingham v Attey Bower and Jones. In this case the argument put forward successfully by Mr and Mrs Cottingham to prove negligence on the part of their solicitors in failing to confirm building regulation approval for unauthorised work. As previously advised, the seller should be required to pay for a building regulation indemnity policy. However, such a policy will only be useful in the event that the local authority decides to take no action.