For the vendor to supply a ladder that she has in the shed, for a loft inspection?

[Chatelaine]

DC2 is considering a house purchase, we are involved, have had one viewing and would like another, We consider it to be entirely reasonalbe to ask if there is a ladder on said property, and if so, could we use it for second viewing, ie, look into loft areas? All we have been offered is a 3 ft ladder that would be useless. On our first viewing we saw a much longer ladder in the shed and i have mentioned this to the EA; they will get back to us. I ask this of you ladies, because when we have sold property in the past we have made a ladder whenever possible, available!! As in "being in sales" ifyswim.

S&M loft "dungeons"
3ft "ladders"

Is this oxymoron Saturday ?

cocoachannel - Thanks for that. Sums it up. We are only too pleased and willing to give advice to a younger generation that have the common sense/asked for the benefit of our experience.

My last house was a Victorian terrace and we bought it with out looking into the loft. when we moved in we found that there were no dividing walls between the houses in the attic, once in the attic we could walk into the loft spaces of all the houses in the row.

This was only apparent once you were entirely in the loft.

it was a major fire and safety hazard, as a condition of their mortage the next door neighbours had to put in a wall in the loft space. our surveyors just put their head through the loft so did'nt see the problem

I would never let you use my ladder to go in my loft - if it broke or you fell you could sue me... not a chance I'm afraid. If you're worried, have a full survey.

Take your own ladder.

Goodness, I get embarrassed asking to look in people's fitted wardrobes!

Using their ladder just makes it easy all round imo, there is no parking outside. We could get round that problem if we could be bothered ifyswim.

wheredidyoulastseeit - yes, saw that in some Victorian homes when I first moved here 20 years ago.

Even the home where I was brought up had no fire wall (for ~35 years our family were there) until such time as our neighbour died and new buyers were forced to have one - we went halves with them.

Thanks for the feedback so far, i will update in a week's time. Builder,ladder, vendor, et al.

"Using their ladder just makes it easy all round"

Maybe - until you fall off my ladder and sue me. Can you REALLY not see that your vendor has a completely legitimate point, and is not BU to be reluctant for you to use their ladder?

Sorry, but you sound either naive or selfish to me.

YANBU to look in the loft.
YABU to expect to use their ladder/inconvenience the vendors unduly.

I'm validating AlpinePony, I was thinking that too. My parents have never viewed any of the properties we have bought, far less got their knickers in a knot about which ladder to use to view the lot. I would feel utterly suffocated if they did.

If you like the house get a surveyor to have a look,because quite simply lofts are not usually fully boarded and people are renowned for falling through and suing for falling off ladders if you like the house just get it.worry about the loft later

if they say no ask politely are you really interested in selling your house because if you are and want £X then surely we can see all of house before making a decision and no we want to look ourselves before getting surveyor as bluff if necessary we do know something about houses and would like to look with torch ( arrive with really powerful torch

this is esp important if older property, I mean would you buy a kitchen if the vendor would not let you check if doors /drawers opened and a view from 2 metres away was sufficient.... a house is big big money and you hould spend way more than the average 16 minutes looking at it, take tape measure too;

obviously this is assuming you are serious about house not a tyre kicker

my DH looked in left of every house we looked at , he knows lots about old buildings but do not be fobbed off YANBU at all just sensible

It seems entirely reasonable to inspect the loft. Provided, of course, you have the faintest idea of what you are inspecting it for. But actually, YABU to expect ladders to be provided if the vendors don't have a suitable ladder - it might be that they don't go up in their loft. Also, surveyors pay considerable premiums for precisely the sort of indemnity insurance you appear to think they don't carry. Builders, on the other hand, often don't.

But ultimately, I second Madmartigan's comments about suffocation. My own grown up children would be mortified if I'd initiated this sort of detailed discussion about their house purchases.

I've never asked to look in the roof space nor had anyone ask for a ladder to look in mine. Never had my parents involved either (I'm sure that they would have had valuable input but finding a home is an emotional process and I wouldn't want my parents emotions mixed up with mine). I have had a builder go around with me and I've also watched a home inspection, and those were both good and useful things to do.

I think it is a slightly unusual request to ask to have a ladder up for a second viewing. Lots of viewings come to nothing and lugging a ladder from your shed up through your house isn't a simple request - I'd not be happy for someone to lug their own ladder through my house either - what if you caused damage or broke something? I think that this sort of inspection comes once you've demonstrated some commitment to purchase, and then I think a full structural survey is the way to go.

Does the house have very high ceilings? Otherwise I would have thought that a 3ft ladder would be sufficient to stick your head throguh the hatch with a torch and look around for obvious problems.

We are buying and selling a house and we have made the poll available for the people viewing but I wouldn't expect them to go beyond going up a ladder. When we sold this house last time ( our mortgage fell though)The surveyor asked my husband to take photos of the loft as we only had a step ladder at the time.

Another useful tool is google maps and street view as most of the photos are less than 2 years old so you can look at the roof and neighbouring ones.

Good luck very tricky time to buy a house

Take your own ladder and have a good poke about. The loft is not a sacrosanct "unspoken of" area of the house; you need to check it's properly insulated, any water tanks are properly covered, there's no vermin living there, and the roof tiles are sound. You don't have to be an expert to check this out. Other things we've learned by experience to check - flush the loos when you visit (overflow/noise problems will become immediately apparent); ask to hear the central heating running and WAIT til it kicks in and functions correctly - even if viewing in summer; open and close all the doors and windows - sellers tend to leave doors open, so you need to check they all close properly; check any built-in cookers to ensure they are working. Lift any rugs, bathroom mats etc to make sure they aren't covering damage. Be suspicious. And our own particular Rule Number One: Make sure the house is the right way round - that is, the back garden gets sun in the afternoon. We learned this lesson the hard way - by buying a midterrace house with a north facing garden - as the sun got higher in the afternoon, it blazed in the front windows as we sat shivering in the back garden, in the growing shadow of the house. Other no-nos are houses near a pub; near a school or cul de sacs with a cut-through at the end. Visit your potential new house first thing; at weekends; at school-end time. Blimey - it's a wonder anyone ever buys a house from anyone else . . . apologies for going on, but the lessons here have all been hard-learned by our family.