Loft Space mine?

the_gardener

I am within a week of purchasing 35% of a new build shared ownership purchase.I went last week to have another look around before i told my solicitor to complete.I met the housing agent there who gave me the keys and I went and done a bit of measuring up.
Whilst there i noticed the loft hatch in the bedroom.When i met up with the agent after I told her I had not noticed the loft space before.She then instructed me that the loft space was not mine and I would not be able to put as much as a sock up there as it belonged to the housing association?

Anyway had this trouble before and would it be worth telling the solicitor to clear it up before i complete.I did not even look up there as no way of getting up there but it could be only one foot high .There again it could be four foot high.if it was a communal loft area that run the length of the building then I could understand.

Incisor

Flat or house?

Barneysmom

Clear it up now, as soon as possible. Is there another access to the loft apart from yours?
You don't want to come home from work and find your house has been broken into. Also could you stipulate that you want the loft as part of the deal?
It sounds wrong to me.

the_gardener

It is a flat.

On another point, do the housing association have any rights to access your home? The agent also pointed out the you get two sets of keys with the property.She asked if I would like them to hang onto one set of keys for safekeeping?

jamroll

You also need to check who is responsible if any repairs are needed to the roof or loft area. You must get a solicitor to confirm exactly whose space this is.

Incisor

the_gardener wrote: »

It is a flat. ...

OK, probably reasonable that it is not yours, but you do need to clear up whether it gives indirect access to what will be yours from other flats. Also you need to sort out rights of access for both the freeholder and your co-owner, with their respective hats on, if they are one and the same.

KennyVader

Could be a right pain, the flat above mine has the hatches giving access to the overall flat roof from one bedroom and the access in to the loft (in the peaked bit of the roof) in the other bedroom. The loft contains the large water tanks and pipework that services all the flats in this "column" of flats. In the case of our flats because they date from between the wars stuff was built to last so nothing much ever needs fixing so its very rare indeed that anyone ever needs access to either. But in theory workmen could need access through that flat to fix stuff that applies to other flats at any time. In a new build I'd expect a massive price reduction to compensate for this.

PasturesNew

One of the issues would be whether you'd want to extend into the roof space in the future. It's quite common now for people in top floor flats to get planning permission and expand into the loft. But if it's not yours you couldn't even consider it without managing to separately buy it (if possible).

Richard_Webster

It would be pretty normal for there to be rights of access on reasonable notice (except in emergencies) for the Landlord and may be other flat owners both to OP's flat and to the loft space for maintenance and repair of the service connections and other parts of the building.