ATTIC CONVERSIONS – Planning permission

Only in Ireland, of course, would there be such confusion and ambiguity over what is legal, and what is not in the area of attic conversions.

There are various interpretations of both the planning permission laws and the Building Regulations under the Building Control Act (1990) by eminent practitioners in both architecture and legal circles. If they cannot agree what hope has the ordinary citizen?

The critical task in this instance is to employ a professional architect or engineer to design the job. In this way, if something goes wrong structurally, or considered invalid from a planning point of view, then you have recourse to the Professional Indemnity Insurance that these providers must have. Getting your attic conversion right from the start is so important and the fees charged for these professional services are miniscule compared to the costs involved if it goes wrong and you have no protection.

At the end of the day, some of these will have to sign off and certify that the work conforms to planning and building regulations and that lifts the responsibility from you.

The nightmare scenario is to go about in an amateur way and end up with structurally faulty house that you cannot sell or insure.

The planning regulations regarding attic conversion are somewhat vague under Irish planning law. The biggest variable is the use to which you plan to put the room when finished. That use will also bring into play the Building Regulations Act as to the structural form it must take.

An attic conversion obviously has to have windows, with Velux windows being the obvious choice. If the windows are to the rear of the house, or to the sides, if not overlooking neighbours, then planning permission is not needed from your local authority. However, if they are to the front of the house then planning permission is required as you may be invading the privacy of your neighbours by having a view from the additional height. Any material changes to the front of a house require planning permission.

Generally, if you have headroom of 2.4 metres (8 feet) over 50% of the floor area that is above 1.5 metres in height and the total area is less than 40 square metres, you comply with the planning and building regulations. This however is not easy as you might think.

If you live in a listed, or protected building, then forget about doing anything to your attic as it simply will not be worth the trouble to attempt to get an exemption because if you so many regulatory authorities to get by in addition to the planning authorities. You will undoubtedly also have an objection to planning permission from the environmental watchdog, An Taisce

You must have a standard staircase to access the attic to be exempt from planning permission requirements and meet building regulations. Otherwise, it is not considered habitable accommodation because of fire risk amongst other things.

A Stira–type stairs or an attic ladder is not permissible for habitable accommodation and if installed will only provide you with storage space.

This cannot be termed living space if, for example, you were advertising your house for sale.

By creating space in the attic meeting the above parameters, you are okay so far in terms of planning exemption. In order, to stay within the exemption limits, only Velux windows may be fitted – and only to the rear of the house.

The last main point to avail of planning exemption is that the room must not be sub-divided. It must remain as one open space and even placing a toilet in the area renders it illegal from a planning point of view. This is a contentious issue with many people. Assuming planning permission is not necessary, they go ahead and convert the attic into a number of bedrooms, only to find if they go to sell or re-mortgage the house that an architect will not issue a planning compliance certificate.

The best advice http://www.atticconversionsireland.com can offer is get the necessary planning for the conversion at the outset and have peace of mind that your project is legal thereafter. It is worth the cost and you will end up with a house worth substantially more than it was.