Shared loft spaces in terrace

[1foot2feet]

Posting for traffic.
Turns out my loft space is shared with every other house on the terrace, there's no wall at all between the lofts. There's now a mouse infestation in our loft spaces.
Anyway, is this legal/against regulations?Can't find anything definitive online. I rent, so can't do anything about it myself so would need to go through my landlord but don't want to bring it up if there's nothing saying you can't have shared loft spaces, also I'm pretty sure it invalidates my house insurance!

[1foot2feet]

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor my mum jokingly suggested sending all our cats (as in mine and the neighbours as we all have one or two) up there to catch them

[AnchorDownDeepBreath]

I rented a house like this - it was a pretty new build, and nobody ever mentioned it being illegal! House insurance weren't bothered, either.

[Northernsoullover]

I can't find anything about this other than dated landlord forums

[1foot2feet]

I've never even heard of the magicians nephew until now!

@Tessabelle74 I only thought it may be illegal due to that being sort of the case in London after fires spreading, I don't mean illegal as in criminally illegal but against possible statutory fire safety regulations, but have looked on Westlaw and its not been too enlightening. I understand old houses were built like this, but these are new builds.

I also vividly remember a story of a missing child or maybe it was a body being hid in a neighbouring loft space so when the loft space was searched nothing was found, because the body or child was in next door's loft, but I can't find what I'm thinking of when I Google it. Not that I'm at all concerned about that happening, but I had a feeling that it had caused new regulations but perhaps I imagined it!

[1foot2feet]

@AnchorDownDeepBreath my home insurance is up for renewal on the 1st of Jan so will check the fine print when I compare prices just in case

[AnchorDownDeepBreath]

@1foot2feet I hope it's not a problem for you either I'll be honest and say I was creeped out when I found out it was all connected - I had no idea until a man fell out of the loft hatch when I'd been living there a month or so. He was from a maintenance company, and had got permission from my landlord; but they hadn't mentioned it to me. Scared the life out of me.

Nothing happened for the whole rest of the time I was there; and nobody mentioned any serious security or fire concerns... I got used to it!

[frillyfarmer]

It's common in older properties but I'm fairly sure it's against building regs in modern properties - there should be adequate fire breaks on all storeys of the building.

You might be best contacting your local authority's building control department and discussing it with them if your landlord is being fairly abrasive about it?

I also think you need to secure the loft hatch for your contents insurance - Id actually email your landlord and state you will be installing a bolt on the loft hatch to comply with your insurance and for your personal safety.

[1foot2feet]

@frillyfarmer I will do both those things, thank you!

[mumwon]

so presumably the houses are leasehold as you have house insurance rather than contents? or are they housing association - you mentioned them being only 8 years old. I am intrigued by this - I remember some new house builders have been prosecuted (?) for not putting in proper fire barriers between joined houses recently. I do remember my dd bought Victorian house with normal single story kitchen extension that they have & it being raised that her kitchen might not have separated roof space but not the main roof space

[Charlottejbt]

@AnchorDownDeepBreath This happened to me at university. I lived in an actual cupboard temporarily converted into a room (or a room which had previously been used as a cupboard, not sure which) and the electrician for the building had to get access to the loft space via the hatch in my "room". He was a nice polite older guy and we got along fine, but it was unsettling to open my door and walk in only to be faced with this guy's butt as he stood on a stepladder, doing something in the attic! Obviously I didn't know about this issue when I got allocated the room.

In the first house I rented (end of terrace, c. 1850) I was warned about the attic space not being divided. By the time I moved in, the neighbours had built a wall on their side. Over the road the loft space was still open, and a lady who was an antique dealer was said to be storing her unsold furniture in the other houses' attics, apparently without permission! No idea what happened to it all when she died.

[Groovinpeanut]

The first house I brought had shared lofts, all the way along.
The guy next door was forever locking himself out, he used to climb through out loft to get back in.
Never really gave it a second thought at the time.

[MitziK]

@1foot2feet Yup. Body of a 'missing' child. Tia.

I'd ignore the landlord and put a bolt up there.

[WeeDangerousSpike]

The rules are different (much stricter) for renting than they are for living in a property you own yourself, so even if the house met building regs when it was built - although surely it was longer than 10yrs ago that fire walls in lofts were compulsory?! I'm not that old am I?! - it may not meet the requirements to be rented out.

Make sure you tell the building control people you rent not own, and also contact the council housing dept too - not the council house people, the ones that check private landlords are abiding by the safety standards needed. They'll be able to tell you if it's allowed or not. And what to do if it's not allowed.

Tbh, even if it's allowed, it's not very safe, and the advantage of renting is you can move easily. I'd probably take advantage of that! The lls attitude when you've raised some perfectly reasonable concerns would worry me.

[1foot2feet]

@mumwon no, I'm obviously a bit dim and didn't realise house and contents insurance were different things it's contents insurance that I have

[1foot2feet]

Didn't need to email as the landlord has called back and said he will install the lock, I'm not to do it myself but he will bolt it. Which I'm happy with as I'm crap with a drill
As for mice, that's up to us to sort out but will speak to neighbours as I'm sure we all don't want the little visitors nibbling our things!

[MintyMabel]

There won't be any thing illegal about it. Houses are built to the regulations at the time of planning. I'm assuming that the house is an old house and met the standards at the time it was put into planning.

That’s not the case. It used to be that houses could be built without plumbing. You couldn’t rent that to someone today, that would be illegal. Homes have to be fit for habitation. I have no idea if shared loft spaces are covered by the legislation for letting, but it is worth checking.

[MintyMabel]

but these are new builds

That does surprise me. There has been legislation in place for a long time that lofts need to be separated by a fire rated partition.

[MintyMabel]

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

That was my first thought too. Excellent movie!

[BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou]

I live in a terraced house built in the early 1930s. There were single skin brick walls between the loft spaces (and always were as we have the original plans). When the previous owner and the neighbour had the roof replaced they had to bring the dividing walls up to the building regs if the time so double thickness and fire resistant - this was around 40 years ago so find it hard to believe that shared loft space in a new build would be compliant.

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

Loved Shooting Fish - didn't they leave the insulation in the loft of the one neighbour who said she couldn't afford it?

Yes, you're right - I'd misremembered it, but thinking about it, they were 'crooks with a heart'. They wanted the money for an orphanage in the first place, didn't they?

I can't recall the exact dialogue, but I remember a comment about the fibres from the insulation getting into your bum crack and making it itch like crazy I want to see it again now, too - fantastic film.

[Topsyturvy1]

My parents house was like this until the boy next door fell through my brother's bedroom ceiling then my father bricked it up

[MrsPelligrinoPetrichor]

[merline]

Can any one recommend a good company for loft insulation please.

[Skigal86]

Our old house was like this, the seller had to have it bricked up before the bank would lend on it as it’s a fire risk.

[Skigal86]

Bloody zombie thread got me!