Eeeek my shared loft space

I-Want-To-Move

Am finally putting my house on the market (brilliant) but when painting etc to tidy the place up for the estate agent photos I discovered our loft is not separated from the neighbours. I've never used the loft and this wasn't mentioned on the survey when I bought the house (too many years have passed to complain so i've no choice but to put it down to experience) so its come as a surprise to me. Now wondering what to do about it and if it will cause me a problem selling. I know the obvious issues are fire and security but in old houses surely it crops up all the time.

Bit of background info, house is an old terraced that I paid too much for when I bought it (another thing to put down to experience). A realistic sale price is around £70k so any money I spend eats into the deposit for a new house. I've had problems with the neighbours in the past so if I was to brick up partition walls in the loft I would have to pay for it myself, there is no way they would pay half. I'm pretty much the only owner occupier on my street now so I'm expecting my buyer to be a landlord.

What is the most cost efficient way of dealing with this?

glasgowdan

A timber and plasterboard stud wall? You could DIY if you're semi competent with joinery.

I-Want-To-Move

I'm totally incompetent at diy sadly. Roughly how much would be a reasonable price for paying someone to do this for me?

silvercar

Would a BTL landlord find out? Only if they had a full survey.

If they did find out, would they care? Possibly not, you have lived in the property for years without it bothering you.

AnotherJoe

I-Want-To-Move wrote: »

Am finally putting my house on the market (brilliant) but when painting etc to tidy the place up for the estate agent photos I discovered our loft is not separated from the neighbours. I've never used the loft and this wasn't mentioned on the survey when I bought the house (too many years have passed to complain so i've no choice but to put it down to experience) so its come as a surprise to me. Now wondering what to do about it and if it will cause me a problem selling. I know the obvious issues are fire and security but in old houses surely it crops up all the time.

Bit of background info, house is an old terraced that I paid too much for when I bought it (another thing to put down to experience). A realistic sale price is around £70k so any money I spend eats into the deposit for a new house. I've had problems with the neighbours in the past so if I was to brick up partition walls in the loft I would have to pay for it myself, there is no way they would pay half. I'm pretty much the only owner occupier on my street now so I'm expecting my buyer to be a landlord.

What is the most cost efficient way of dealing with this?

Wait until a buyer says "I'll offer £5k less because the loft isn't separated, only then spend £1k (or whatever) to pay for someone to put one in, and if they don't ask, well no problem.

They may well not notuce or care it's probably common with that sort of house

p00hsticks

I-Want-To-Move wrote: »

I know the obvious issues are fire and security but in old houses surely it crops up all the time.

What is the most cost efficient way of dealing with this?

The simplest way to address the security aspect would be fit a bolt / padlock or similar to the loft hatch to ensure it cannot be opened from above - although I guess this could draw attention to the issue from propsective buyers viewing the property.

I-Want-To-Move

Thanks for the replies. Seems like most people would just leave it and deal with it only if causes a problem during the sale process - think this would be my prefered option.

I-Want-To-Move

silvercar wrote: »

Would a BTL landlord find out? Only if they had a full survey.

If they did find out, would they care? Possibly not, you have lived in the property for years without it bothering you.

All the houses round me have been bought by landlords and my house can't be the only one like this so maybe they don't care.

moneyistooshorttomention

Admits to surprise you didnt find out sooner - but the thought never crossed my mind that houses like that existed until I read it on here.

In your position right now - I'd just leave it and reckon that your buyer will probably assume exactly the same as you did, ie "Of course there will be a wall up in between the lofts". I would say the same whether it turns out to be a landlord or a home-owner.

In fact - as you reckon it will almost certainly be a landlord - then most definitely leave it be - as there's such a high chance a landlord buyer will try to underpay you for the house anyway.

bouicca21

That set up is very common in old terraces. As suggested I'd leave it until your buyer starts moaning.

westv

I didn't think lenders liked shared lots due to the fire risk.