Rushie

I think you will find that you are paying these 'numptys' to spot problems like this, which may materially affect the later resale value. Well worth the £1,000 spent I would say.

It sounds to me that the issue is the area over a passage way? If so, I believe the CML (Lenders handbook which sets out the rules on what lenders will and will not lend on) states that where the area is less than 10% of the total floor space - the vast majority of lenders will still lend, although it may be that this has to be backed up by indemnity insurance. The sellers can usually be persuaded to pay the cost of this and it won't be a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. Don't quote me on this, as I am recalling this from memory and have not checked CML, but this figure should be right or thereabouts. This is a common issue and is not something which will cause too much alarm for your solicitor, so don't worry too much about it.

Deborah Thomson at Taylor & Emmet is very good at this kind of work 290 2200

The other option is to talk to your solicitor re offering an indemnity policy to the buyers, which often works out far cheaper and is far easier than getting retrospective consent. If the work has been done for longer than 12 months, an insurance policy is an option which will protect the buyer should the local authority wish to take enforcement action against them for the work having been carried out without building regs approval. However, to provide a policy, you must not have alerted the local authority to the fact that this work has been carried out so discuss it with your solicitor prior to contacting the council. This is very common practice so your solicitor may alert you to the possibility of going down this route in any event, and in most cases, the buyers will accept this.

Thanks, that's helpful. I was thinking of the groups of friends as renters myself. It's a nice place, so I am sure it will be wanted. cheers

I am in the process of buying a large 3 bed flat in the hillsborough area to rent out. Although I currently rent out a few one bed flats, renting out 'shared flats' is new to me, so I'd be interested to hear of any advice and tips from people out there who may have rented similar places themselves and from those of have rented out shared living accomodation. Do people tend to look for a room only or should I let it as a whole? What and how many communal areas would you be looking for in a 3 bed flat? What kind of rent would you pay for a shared flat? etc etc any thoughts would be appreciated. thanks

try Burton Street's new gym, Fit4All, I think it's only about £16 a month and all the equipment is brand new, http://www.burtonstreet.org.uk/sport/fitness_suite.htm