Is it a house or a maisonette...?

m_curiousity

Hi,

We've had an offer accepted on a property, but are a bit unsure as to whether it is officially a house or a maisonette. It is a victorian terrace set over 3 floors. The basement is owned by someone else, and we are buying the other two floors. There are seperate front doors to the basement and the other 2 floors, and it is being sold to us with the freehold for the whole building. As there are no other flats etc within the building, Im not sure whether this would make it a house where we just dont own the basement, or a maisonette.

Can anyone say with certainty either way??

Help much appreciated, thanks!!:D

Little_Vics

I would imagine that the surveyor might know? Or are there any other similar buildings in the area you can find out about? Up north there are many properties called up-and-overs so it might be one of those?

googler

Definitions of maisonette on the Web:

a self-contained apartment (usually on two floors) in a larger house and with its own entrance from the outside
a small house
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Residential dwellings can be built in a large variety of configurations. A basic division is between free-standing or detached dwellings and ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maisonette

A small house or a set of rooms for living in, typically located on two storeys of a larger building and has a separate entrance.
www.engagingplaces.org.uk/resources/art64210

A flat that has more than one storey.
www.berassessments.com/glossary.htm

A self-contained unit with 2 or more floors, which only occupies a part of the building.
www.worldofmortgages.co.uk/jargon_explained.php

a property that is arranged over more than one floor, but forming part of a shared property.
www.pinkertonmurray.com/page.php

A Maisonette is a portion of a house that covers more than one floor and is accessible by private entrance.
www.jonathanberney.co.uk/index.cfm

This is a kind of flat. Most people think of them as typically single storey flats with a separate outside door and garden so that a building with say four maisonettes in it would typically look at first glance like a pair of semi-detached houses. ...
www.rwco.co.uk/Jargon_Buster.htm

an apartment / flat on two levels with internal stairs, or which has its own entrance at street level.
www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-house-types

m_curiousity

Thanks guys, I did look up the definition on the web but didnt see some of these. I think I can safely say it is a maisonette then!

Problem is some mortgage companies are restricted to us now, as if they re-possessed they'd officially be the freeholder for the basement flat owners and they dont want to deal with that. However saying that, we're pretty sure we're happy with the Nationwide 2 year tracker deal for 2.74%