Possible floor joist problem - what to do?

Hi all, long time lurker hoping for some advice and hopefully some reassurance too.


We've got a patch of floorboards outside our kitchen which have steadily become wonkier and more uneven over time. It's a high traffic area and the carpet is pretty worn but it seemed odd, and our neighbours downstairs mentioned their light fitting moves when we walk in that area, so we've just taken the carpet and a couple of floorboards up to have a look and now I'm worried.


The background is the house was built around 1905 and was split in the 1950s into two flats, and we're in the upper part. There's a shared hall on the ground floor and we have our own entrance from that up a flight of stairs to our part on the 1st and 2nd floors. The kitchen is on the 1st floor off an L-shaped landing which runs between the main stairs and the staircase up to the 2nd floor. There will have been lots of work done under the floorboards at different times - separating out the gas/water/electricity when the house was split, central heating going in later, you get the idea.



It looks like there are 3 joists running along the length of that bit of the landing, and the floorboards have all been cut at the middle joist line. Under the floorboards we lifted we could see the joists have been notched to allow pipes to be fitted - approx. 2cm notches in joists which are about 8cm deep which from online research I think is deeper than is safe?



The question is, what do we do about it and who should we approach? - a builder, a joiner...? I don't want us to suddenly fall through the floor into the downstairs neighbours' house but I'm a bit scared by the thought of needing to have structural work done.



Any suggestions very gratefully welcomed!

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