Survey- firewall (party wall) required in loft

nick12

Our survey was done yesterday (Victorian mid terrace). I spoke to the surveyor in advance of the report being generated. There are lots of bits and bobs (loft needs insulating, electric consumer unit could do with updating, one of the double glazed windows has failed etc etc). It’s a 100+ year old house and my view on these things is that they are part and parcel of owning a property (particularly of that age) and so wouldn’t look to re-negotiate price on this sort of stuff.

A bigger issue though is the fact that there is a large gap (i.e. you can walk through it) in one of the party walls in the loft which is both a fire safety and a security issue. I understand this is not uncommon in older terraces so hopefully there are people with experience of this. Would it be reasonable to expect the vendor to cover or contribute towards the cost of doing this? (We will talk to the neighbours as well as it’s a party wall). We are going to have a look with a builder to get an idea of costs.

I also wonder if this will effect insurance? Obviously now the surveyor has told us this we are obliged to let the insurance company know and we need to get insurance before completion as a condition of the mortgage. Will this prevent us getting insurance or significantly effect premiums?

Thanks for any insights anyone can offer.

mart.vader

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5010614

DRP

Yes, it is fairly common to have this in a terraced Victorian house.

Have a search there was another thread almost exactly like this recently (written from the viewpoint of the vendor's neighbour who had been asked to contribute to the cost).


The consensus in the other thread was that it is may well affect an insurance claim if there was access via the loft and it is up to the buyer to sort this out after they move in (if they wish) and at their own expense - or with the help of the neighbour if they wish to cooperate/contribute.

nick12

Thanks. As I said we would declare this when organising the building insurance so presumably the insurance company wouldn't later be able to refuse a claim on this basis?

In reality it would be sorted pretty soon after moving in so low risk but wouldn't want to be effectively uninsured for any period of time.