No Loft Access -suspicious or normal?

MattinLondon

Hi,

We're in the middle of buying a house and are just awaiting the valuation + homebuyers survey.

It's a terraced house in east london and has recently had a new roof as there were some issues.

On the second viewing of the house we quizzed the owner about loft access. Although he's had the house for 7 years (it's been rented out) he wasn't sure - he called his builder who said there was access somewhere (the ceiling is wallpapered making it hard to see where the access could be).

Now the seller is saying there's no loft access at all. Is this suspicious - i.e. did the leaking roof cause some damage and now they're trying to cover it up, or is it just that no one that's ever lived in the house has wanted access to the loft?

As it's our first house purchase I don't want it to fall through. However, I also don't want to buy a house that could have a major fault.

Any advice? Should we push for him to create access?? Is it not likely there's a problem and it's common for houses to not have loft access?

moneyistooshorttomention

So there's no visible loft hatch anywhere then?

Does this maybe mean you wouldn't legally own the loft space? My first thought would be re the legal ownership and then go on to the second thought as to what state its in.

My last house had a very obvious loft hatch and I made a point of saying that access to the loft as part of the viewing would be understood. I recall only one viewer wanting this, and I duly got rung up by the EA as to where the loft ladder pole was and told them.

Having said that, there was a real advantage to that loft and I felt it was a selling point, ie because it provided so much storage space.

duchy

My victorian terrace has loft access in the (original I think) built in a recess cupboard -the identical house next door has no access at all. As it's so difficult to get to we assumed it was just blocked off during renovations ...or mine was added later and there was originally no access. Another house a few doors down has access on the landing lending weight to the idea originally there was no access as the houses were all built at the same time( or access would be in the same spot ) by the same builder according to the deeds.

MattinLondon

It's a terraced house we're trying to buy, so we would own the whole lot.

When we looked I couldn't see any visible signs of a loft hatch - but the ceiling is covered in wallpaper so there's a chance that it's covered over. There was also a cupboard upstairs that we couldn't get access to so there's also a chance it could be in that.

So maybe it's just never had access then...?

PasturesNew

As has been mentioned - some loft hatches are inside a cupboard.... so unless you opened the cupboard and looked up it's possible you could own it and have never given it a thought.

I'd suggest this to the seller and get him to ask his neighbours.... where's theirs? Chances are most of them still have the original one.

Tell him you need it as the insurers are asking about the dividing wall and you might need to get a builder in to check it out if they insist.....

pmlindyloo

How old is the house?

Houses pre 1900/20 often had no access.

Nowadays loft access is needed to be able to insulate/install water tanks/for storage etc.

Personally I wouldn't be going ahead with a sale unless I could get access (if there is access).

What does your surveyor say?

If there isn't access then you could always do one but you would be taking a risk as to what possible damage there might be in the rook space due to the damage to the roof.

elsien

Or if they've had a new ceiling it could have been plaster boarded over - I've seen that happen with access to roof spaces when the old ceiling has been brought down and replaced and the builder has just whacked up the new ceiling and forgotten about the access.

MattinLondon

I'm not entirely sure about the age of the house - it's 'Victorian Style' but newer than that...

We know the house is a bit rough around the edges - it's been rented out for 7 years. However, after offering and being outbid on several houses we thought we were lucky to have our offer accepted on this one. There's not much else around in the area in this price bracket so don't want to lose it.

Have pushed to get loft access created so we'll see what happens. Knowing our luck it's stuffed with dead bodies or something!

PasturesNew

MattinLondon wrote: »

Have pushed to get loft access created so we'll see what happens. Knowing our luck it's stuffed with dead bodies or something!

You hear these stories from people that are untraceable, but I heard this story from my builder who it actually happened to .... he was doing some work at somebody's house and they said they couldn't get into their loft; it was an old lady .... so it was added to his jobs list and up he went - he also couldn't get the hatch open.

Long and short of it was: neighbour had taken down the dividing wall in the loft, laid down a floor and rented it out.....

lincroft1710

My parents' first house built 1910 had no loft access

tanith

Isn't access needed for any water tanks that might be up there? I wouldn't go ahead until you have an answer.