Can you do something to these steps?

[Margaritawithlime]

We are debating putting an offer in on this house. The downstairs works the upstairs doesn’t - for now. But sooo much potential.
The thing I HATE is that there’s a new bedroom on the left of the steps and you sort of just trickle into it. I want a landing. I have v small kids and know one will end up falling down the steps as they make their way to me in the middle of the night (room on left is where we would be)
Could you sort of level the steps out? The bathroom at the direct top of the steps needs ripping out and so does the en suite to the room on the left so my other plan is to knock down walls and remodel the whole thing but I want safety initially and right now it’s no good for us
Poor pics attached from Rightmove. Hopefully it explains what I mean better than my words

That's awkward. If future remodel is possible as you invisage then perhaps all you need is a stop-gap like a stairgate? Certainly that would be cheapest until you remodel.

Is there a floor plan?

I think it will push me into remodelling immediately. Will have a play around with the floor plan and see what crazy scheme I can concoct. Kirsty allsop I am not!

@MrsFin yep here you go.
The en-suite is essentially a GIGANTIC jacuzzi bath. No loo. No shower head. Pointless for us. Main family bathroom has no bath which we would like. And there’s a small closet style thingy next to the giant bath - room which can go aswell

Is there room to bring the staircase forward in the downstairs hall so that it starts earlier? This would then give room for a small, rectangular landing. You would then replace the curved steps up to the rest of the upstairs with straight ones.

Hmmmm yes maybe. There’s room I’d say but a toilet directly below the stairs so not sure if it would affect that. Will have a look

Building regulations state that there should be a landing.

Do you really need that fourth bedroom or could you take down the wall and have that be your landing, perhaps with a bench or a desk in the window facing out? And then the door to the master bedroom come in from what is now the landing? I've attached a pic of what I mean with the door to the right. In the one with the desk imagine a door in that wall on the right.

@Xiaoxiong no but I want to use the space to go into the loft for a larger 4th bedroom.
I LOVE that first picture. Wonder if we could do that in the meantime. If there’s a space for DH to stick his desk then that’s all we need for now.
@Daftasabroom gosh that’s worrying!

I would definitely look into if it passed building regs with a door opening right onto the stairs like that.

You could shave a bit off bed 2 to enlarge the landing.
You could use stair gate when you move while you're considering your options.

But I agree. Get rid of bed 4

I don't believe that set up is in line with current building regulations. There's a bit of a summary on this site www.pearstairs.co.uk/staircase-buillding-regulations/
"UK STAIRCASE LANDING REGULATIONS

1. Landings must be provided at the top and bottom of every flight of stairs.

1. The landing distance in front of the top and bottom step must be longer than the width of the staircase (see diagram).

1. No door should swing closer than 400mm onto the front of any step"

Presume this is an extension, have you enquired about building regs and sign offs? It'll get raised as part of the purchase process so might as well save yourself some bother trying to do some of the querying now.

@ohidoliketobe not yet but I will now!

God, I thought that was a mirror in your photograph at first, not a doorway!

I don't know what you can do but I would hate that. And as you say, it's very dangerous, particularly for small children

Planning permission and building regulations are two different things.

A new staircase would sort the issue out.

No building regulations - I would be looking for a hefty price reduction!

@Daftasabroom absolutely. Was just curious to see what was drawn up and there’s clearly a landing in the original plans. Will enquire!

Does it matter that the door swings in?…

Yep that’s not great. I think the only way to resolve it is to change the access to the master bedroom so either you shave a bit off bed 4 or the bathroom/ en suite and move the door to the master bedroom to the end. If you’re planning to go into the loft I’d use a bit of bed 4 and put the doorway that end, then just a flat wall where the current door is.

Is the bed 4 floor at a different height to rest of the house?

How old is the house? Because if old enough, building regs don’t really apply in the same way. For instance we have a very old cottage. Stairs in no way met building regs and physically can’t because of layout. I’m allowed to replace the staircase with a new staircase which still doesn’t meet building regs but I can’t make it worse. That layout though is off putting to say the least but just for info you may not need to extend the stairway into the hall to rectify it.

@Daftasabroom I don’t think so. The house is built into a sloping road though so it’s possible I suppose.
@LeroyJenkinssss I’d say it’s a 50s semi but again not 100%.

We have viewed it twice and just tossing around ideas to make it work so no offers on the table yet. Might ask a builder to come along on a viewing and see how much my mental list of things I’d like to change would cost us

it might fix the staircase issue if you make a small landing by chopping part off the bedroom, as shown in red. the blue blob bit then becomes a little landing (no doors) and the door is further in.