Query about house on Rightmove (link included)

[funsymumsy]

Looking at this house, been looking for one similar in the area for a while but hadn't fallen in love with anything. We have both completely fallen in love with this house but have one question...

The house has a basement but only access is from outside as it is currently being rented out. If we were to buy we would want to put stairs in to have access from inside the house as we wouldn't rent it out. We would put in a home gym, spare bedroom and the rest as a place for the DC to have their friends over, maybe a bar?

Just wondering whether any property experts think this is possible without cutting off any room from the kitchen? Also what the cost of this would be?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86686551#/?channel=RES_BUY

Presumably you could access the basement from inside the house before? Where was the access then?

What a fabulous house with an even better location…… Brewski bar just down the road 😜

That was what DH said. On the floorplan the stairs look like they take up that entire small corridor but in one of the pictures you can see the edge of the bannister so possibly not. There is a strange corridor in the basement so presuming they were there.

They usually go under the ground to first floor stairs, sort of access where the cupboard under the stairs would normally be. My daughters house is similar to this one, and thats where her basement stairs are.

So they'd go down from the utility room in this house, I think.

The easiest place for a staircase down will be directly under the higher staircase, so that would be down from the Utility Room. You would either need to lose a slice from the basement bedroom to make a new parallel corridor or don't have any corridor in the basement, make the basement bathroom be an "ensuite" to that bedroom.

It's a lovely house. If it was in our city I would be desperately wanting it too.

Fab house - I remember when you couldn’t sell a house in Chorlton for love nor money 😂

That's a lovely house. I lived in south Manchester for years and been in loads of houses like this. The basement stairs will have been directly underneath the stairs from the ground floor. Access on the ground floor would be from the utility room and come out in the hallway in the basement. You'd lose access to the bathroom in the basement so would need to reconfigure but sounds like you'd be doing that anyway.

It's a different layout but this house in the same street shows how it would work.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/england-33569120-54683511?s=a61ebfbfe022b0ce580d63d637f02d98163e17cad9d6c302044741ab3ede125d#/floorplan

They probably went down under the current stairwell, either through the kitchen or utility room. There may have been another corridor at the back of the kitchen which was opened up.

It should be easy enough to open that up again, but you’d have to get quotes from a builder because prices have escalated so much recently.

Thanks everyone!

They would have been in place before - understairs cupboard on ground floor - there should be scope to reinstate them.
Depending on the extent of the work required, I’d say around £15k.

We had similar work done and it cost £150k, but we are just outside London and everything is bloody expensive here.

Jesus! I was hoping it would be more around £15k as a PP said. £150k is extortionate. We moved up North from London around 8 years ago as we were never going to be able to buy the house we wanted down there. Best decision!

I agree it would go from the utility room and fit below the other staircase so not take out any space on existing rooms.
I have to say given your intended use I would leave it as is and see how you get on. It would be great if children’s friends could come and go without disturbing people on the house. I doubt most guests would object especially as they would have tea/coffee making facilities.

I wonder how much to put in those small one person lifts? May be much cheaper!

I love that - a lot of house for the money too. I also think you would access via a 'cupboard' or utility area.

Oh home lift's approximately £16-£20k

www.stiltz.co.uk/home-lifts-prices-2023-how-much-does-a-home-lift-cost/#:~:text=Home%20lifts%20including%20manufacture%2C%20delivery,on%20the%20customer's%20specific%20requirements.

My friends viewed that house they said it was lovely other than hearing noise/smelling cooking from the restaurants backing onto the garden on Wilbraham road.
shouldn’t be too hard to put the stairs in! It’s a lovely house I love a double fronted home and a good spot in Chorlton!

In the gunchester days yup.

Now house prices there are insane.

My brother has a similar house in this area. The stairs to the cellar are underneath and parallel to the stairs to the first floor.

No idea how much it would cost, however, they've done all the expensive stuff with the cellar, making it habitable, my brother's is in a right state.

When was that??? We lived here for years and always seemed so desirable.

If the basement is currently rented out, what's the plan for the tenants leaving? I wouldn't offer until they were actually gone, in case evicting them becomes a drawn out process.

I don't remember Chorlton being a bad area but when I first moved to Manchester nearly 30 years ago I worked off Deansgate and lived in Withington so often used the Princess Parkway to get home. Numerous people told me to avoid stopping at red lights going through Hulme / Moss Side / Whalley Range and be prepared to run red lights if necessary.

Looks nice! Could you bring the outside stairs into the house ie build an extension around them, rather than building a new staircase inside? Might be easier and cheaper!

Very true. But it's ok to make an offer saying that you won't exchange contracts until the basement flat is vacant.

Eviction can take ages if the tenant decides not to cooperate, and in some cases non-cooperation can be the tenant's only option (if they will need council assistance they will not get it without the Eviction court order)