Probably a stupid question re: cellars

[katzensocken]

I've been casually looking at houses - not seriously looking right now but maybe by the end of the year. In the area I'm looking there are a lot of Victorian or older homes, either terraces or cottages. Some have cellars. One I came across has a cellar with access only via a door on the outside: the agent description said it needs full renovation, tanking etc to be a liveable extra room. It also says 'there appears to be what remains of a former staircase up to the kitchen.'

Could anyone suggest a reason why someone might block up the staircase to the cellar, rather than blocking full access to the cellar or filling it in? Mainly I'm just curious! Or if anyone has bought a house with a similar situation, was it expensive to regain access through the upper floor?

Thanks :)

Just a guess, maybe they were renting the cellar to someone for storage, though why the owner would block the staircase, rather than just locking the door, is a mystery.

Maybe the staircase was so unsafe they didn't want to risk anyone trying to use it.

Much cheaper to block access to cellar than fill it in. Also gains space in kitchen - space doesn't need to be clear to access the door to the cellar.

If it's a period property, it may be that the cellar became used for coal, in which case street access is required, for delivery?

Maybe they thought it was not very secure seeing as it had a door leading outside as well but they wanted to use if for storing tools or something so they blocked it off?

Probably to gain extra living space on the ground floor. Often the cellar access is directly below the staircase to the first floor so if it is blocked off you can put a storage cupboard in. Having lived in two houses with cellars, one of which had a very small kitchen, I can say it did become a pain having to go up and down from the cellar to get things - especially as the freezer was in the cellar.

Ahh yes! That makes complete sense, thank you :)

Posted too soon! Meant to say @wowfudge. That makes sense!

The other explanations could also be correct, I also wondered if there was ever a pest issue and blocking it up prevented any nasties from coming up into the house. All things to consider anyway. I would probably re-install the staircase (if possible and safe) and keeping the external door would be dependent on how secure it seemed.