Loft Fire Wall & Access Issue

jonmill · 31 January 2010 at 8:31AM

Hi,
I am in the process of selling my house, but the buyer's survey has thrown up a number of things that require attention. One of these is the lack of fire wall in the loft space.
Our house is the end of terrace, and the loft space is open just to the property next door, there is then a wall separating the loft from rest of the terrace anyway.
I've no problem with erecting a suitable wall in accordance with fire regs & party wall act etc, but my query is that next door have no access to the loft space. So by erecting a party wall how does that affect them if they need to access the loft space for roof repairs or chimney repairs etc on their side?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I really want my sale to go through!!

flea72 · 31 January 2010 at 9:02AM

easily option is for your neighbour to create their own loft access on their property

as for firewall, i would say most people wouldnt view it as a deal breaker, if you dont put one in before sale. however, you will find if its detailed on the survey, then a mortgage company will request the installation of one, within a certain timeframe of completion

I wouldnt be surprised that if you have bought your property within the last 20yrs, that its actually detailed on your own mortgage terms, but its usually so lost in amongst other stuff, that most people dont realise

F

ormus · 31 January 2010 at 10:25AM

next doors loft access is no concern of yours. thats their problem.
on older terraced properties, a joint roof void was common. also on some flats.
ive seen a complete row of houses with no fire walls. also seen council flats like it too.
even the ones that had a "fire" wall, they were often incomplete.
a waste of time in a fire.

jonmill · 31 January 2010 at 11:07AM

Thanks, appreciate the responses.
I'm inclined to agree that next door's access is up to them. Knowing them like I do, they probably don't even know what's up there anyway and have just always assumed they've got no loft of their own and left it at that!
The only problem is if I do erect a wall I've got all this 'Party Wall Act' business so have got to broach the subject with them anyway I suppose.
Anyway I think my 1st course of action will be to go back to the buyer and say sorry pal but it's perfectly normal in a house of this age and style.
You're right Flea it is on the original survey from our mortgage on the house (5 yrs ago) but they didn't put a retention on the mortgage or anything, it was just an advisory thing. I've actually seen a copy of our buyer's survey, and again it doesn't give any indication that the mortgage company have got any problem with it.
Sorry people I'm waffling on a bit now, thanks for your comments!

keystone · 31 January 2010 at 11:11AM

Two issues here:

1. Surveyor applying CYA principle and recording "issues" that are so minor as not to warrrant any real attention. (almost certainly)

2. Buyer looking for any opportunity to knock something off the price. (possibly/probably)

Does buyer want house or not? If he [STRIKE]!!!!!es[/STRIKE] b i t c h e s say house was priced taking this into consideration in first instance.

Cheers

27col · 31 January 2010 at 8:00PM

A boss of mine many years ago lived in one house of a terrace. One day his wife was in the bath and spotted an eye looking at her through a small hole in the ceiling. It turns out that there were no fire walls in the whole block. One of the neighbours had got into the habit of crawling along the roof space and having a perv in all the bathrooms.