Property with no partition wall in roof void space with the property next door - buy or avoid?

iampetesmith

This isn't something I considered as a buyer, I didn't even look in the loft space on the viewing so other buyers might not think about it. Ours is also an old terrace, but it was built in the 1930s so a bit newer than some. The seller just said there were some boards, a couple of lights on an extension lead and 18 years worth of his crap up there. I didn't even stick my head up there until a few weeks after we had the keys, but it had everything he said minus the 18 years worth of his crap (bar an old CRT TV that must have been too much effort to remove).

It was still pretty dark even with the lights on, so when I fitted a proper pulldown ladder, changed the lights to nice bright LED ones and boarded it out properly, I could actually see everything clearly. Ours has double skin walls between the neighbours but the odd thing is, as I started to put the boards down and make my way over to the end I noticed that a single brick was missing in the middle of either side of one of the neighbours and not sure why. We do have a massive storage space now I've put the proper boards down though, and because the house sticks out more where the bedroom and dining rooms are, the loft is like an L shape where stuff can be stored all over.

Anyway, if I found that there were no walls I'd have probably just seen how much it was to brick it up and weighed up whether or not it was worth the cost and effort. I'm guessing if someone was hiding up there, you'd find out when they wave at you as you stick your head through. 

Slithery

iampetesmith said:

This isn't something I considered as a buyer, I didn't even look in the loft space on the viewing

Why on earth not? It's standard procedure for me before even entertaining an offer.

jimbog

Friend of mine was a builder who went up into a loft to do some work on a partition, became disorientated and went down the wrong hatch. The next door neighbour nearly had a heart attack

Skiddaw1

jimbog said:

Friend of mine was a builder who went up into a loft to do some work on a partition, became disorientated and went down the wrong hatch. The next door neighbour nearly had a heart attack

D_M_E

Had one of these years ago - was a mid terrace with access to loft space of houses either side.

At the time it was a condidtion of the mortgage that the loft spaces be partitioned off to prevent access to neighbouring properties.

iampetesmith

Slithery said:

iampetesmith said:

This isn't something I considered as a buyer, I didn't even look in the loft space on the viewing

Why on earth not? It's standard procedure for me before even entertaining an offer.

We had already seen the rest of the house and knew it was the one for us, so the space in the loft didn't really make much difference as all the other boxes were ticked.

It was quite a nice little project fitting the ladder, boarding it out and changing the lights to make it into a decent storage space. Got all the stuff from Wickes and did it myself for a lot cheaper than having someone in to do it.