Shared loft space

Byatt

I rent and the cottage (over 200 yrs old) share a loft space, no dividing walls. Neighbour had a fire this year (own fault) and fire people said there should be walls in the loft, also I have planned to have loft insulation (free) but LL seems to think it's for the whole loft, including theirs and neighbour.

I wasn't aware of the shared space when moving in, found out much later.

So, my questions is, should there legally be walls or is it up to LL?

Byatt

4771_Miles_To_Caracas wrote: »

I would contact the planning department of your local council and ask them to advise on this, if there should be a dividing wall they have the power to force your landlord to put one up.

Thanks, good idea, I will.

G_M

Depends when the property was built.

Nowadays, and for some years, Building Regulations require the loft space to be divided. And yes, one reason is to contain a fire in one property rather than have it spread to the other.

However, if the property was built before the Regulations were introduced, then there is no legal requirement to 'upgrade' the construction.

Building Regs change/improve every year or so - if every property had to be upgraded each time this happens, we would be constantly changing the electrics, construction, boilers etc.

(would give the building industry a bit of a boost, but home-owners would be bankrupt!)

Richard_Webster

I would contact the planning department of your local council and ask them to advise on this, if there should be a dividing wall they have the power to force your landlord to put one up.

No, nothing to do with Planning.

Even with Building Regulations if it has been like that for years the regulations would only require work if some other change was taking place that required compliance with the regulations, e.g division of one house into flats.

Think about it - there are thousands (even millions?) of non-new build houses with features that do not comply with modern building regulations. Are they expected to bring them up to date?

Obviously not having a fire wall is a matter of serious concern and, e.g. could affect the ability to get buildings insurance, but I can't see how any official body can compel one to be installed.

V_Chic_Chick

I've got this problem - I'm in a rented house that was originally detached, but was later divided in two. If nothing else, it means that there's naff all to stop our neighbours wandering into our house (and vice versa), which would invalidate the contents insurance if they stole anything. Eek!

moneyistooshorttomention

Must admit to astonishment that there are still houses around without walls up between neighbours' lofts and I would have been caught out too - by "knowing" that, of course, there would be walls in place and not bothering to check that there actually were.

Quite apart from the security and fire issues - how on earth are people supposed to convert lofts into rooms or even use them as storage space if the dividing walls are missing?

I'm guessing there is no way to force the landlord to put up those missing walls. What I DO wonder is whether you can get him to provide some form of security across your loft hatch - in order to make sure that it wouldnt be possible for neighbours who were that way minded to clamber down into your house via that hatch.

Also - are there are any comparable properties nearby to rent? If so, do they have proper "private" lofts and how do their rent levels compare with yours? My assumption would be that they DO have the standard loft walls in place position and that, therefore, because your house is so much "worse" that it would have a correspondingly lower rent. You shouldnt be paying the same rent level as a normal house with loft walls up - because, at the very least, it is not possible for you to use that loft as storage space.

olias

What if your neighbour sneeked into your loft space and spied on you in the bath through a crack in the ceiling - not wanting to worry you or anything OP...:D

Olias

Fire_Fox

Speak to Environmental Health, they may be able to persuade/ encourage your landlord to resolve the fire issue. Do both houses have functioning fire alarms on each floor?

Byatt

Thanks for all your replies, no fire alarms, just 2 smoke alarms in my house.

The worst part is I can hear next door when they are in their bedroom/bathroom as if they were in the next room! Well maybe not the worst part, because if there was a fire I wouldn't stand a chance.

It's 200-300 yrs old and once was one farmhouse, then at some stage converted to 3 properties. I'm in the smallest. I didn't know about the loft when first moving in. I can't find anywhere cheaper, moneyistoshorttomention, but a good point and one I'll bear in mind if rent goes up.

I might try to put some sort of security on it from my end. When I lost my key the LL's plan was to climb through the loft space from next door and enter that way. :eek:

Olias, I have a downstairs bathroom so no worries...:rotfl::p

edit, my DD lives in social housing, which seems to have shared lofts as the loft entrance has 4 hooks and clasps to prevent opening. I might give that a try. As a child we lived in terraces with shared loft space and definitely some people used it to go into the houses of their neighbours.