No downstairs toilet. Will it devalue a property?

[wearyourpinkglove]

I own have a four bedroom house which is perfect upstairs. However, the downstairs is badly configured. I would like to make downstairs open plan and I am considering getting rid of the downstairs toilet to do so. I have two bathrooms upstairs, one is an en-suite. My question is, would this devalue the property? My husband thinks we need a downstairs toilet but I don't think it's necessary. Currently the downstairs toilet has no window and is right next to the lounge which is very off putting for visitors anyway.

Honestly I don't think this is correct. Building regulations are the law, you can't just do anything you like to a house, it has to meet standards.

OP all you need to do is email an enquiry to your local council planning/ building control dept to check. If you are knocking out walls and putting in steels, you will need building control approval anyway.

I think there are two issues here. Open plan won’t suit everyone but a large kitchen diner will. Maybe keep the lounge separate?

Secondly, think about where the downstairs cloakroom could go. You are spending money so get the plan right. Lots of people have cloakrooms with no windows but you need a good fan and maybe exciting decor. Adjacent to the lounge with a door off the hall doesn’t matter. We have ours near our family room but the door goes off the hall. A door from the lounge doesn’t work. Regarding keeping a cloakroom, yes you must. Most people will see this as a family house. It’s not likely to appeal to downsizes either with no cloakroom.

It’s vital you keep it somewhere in the plan. So think about water and drainage and whether it could be moved in a cost efficient way. Or if the access can be altered.

We have a friend who can barely get up the stairs now. No downstairs cloakroom. It’s very difficult! Don’t get rid of it.

Anyone buying a 4 bed house is going to expect a downstairs loo. Removing it will certainly de value the house and make it harder to sell.

However you need to weigh that up against what works for you, and how long you intend to stay there. If you were going to move next year then leave the downstairs loo. If you plan to stay in the house long term then make the house how you want it.

i would absolutely look to keeping a downstairs toilet. Not so much for prospective buyers but for guests, people with limited mobility, small children etc. plus your own mobility may well change making it an absolute necessity. If the floor plan of your house is big enough for 4 bedrooms then I presume he downstairs is more than adequate enough to fit one in. Also worth bearing in mind that if your downstairs is of a reasonable size, the having it all open plan could be a nights for heating as well as keeping cooking smells out of living spaces.

But the standards don’t prevent you from removing a downstairs loo if it isn’t the only loo.

My parents had a loo that opened into the main open plan living area in a bungalow. Everybody apart from young children felt very self-conscious using it. They had an en-suite and didn’t see the problem.

I'd never had a downstairs loo till I bought my current house. It wasn't on my "must have" list then, but it definitely would be now.

Plus point for me is visitors don't need to go upstairs. My house is never in show house condition up there, so it's such a relief not to have to run up there shutting doors and checking my 2 young boys haven't left dirty pants in the bathroom and that they've remembered to flush 😳

Madness to remove a downstairs loo, in a family house. Most buyers would expect a downstairs loo.

They do if it's the only loo on the entrance floor. https://www.labc.co.uk/news/can-downstairs-toilet-be-removed-home
Or that's how I interpret this, perhaps I'm wrong but I would suggest the OP takes advice.

I think those laws depend on what is there anyway, our downstairs toilet is at the back of the house (1930s) and not visitor accessible, the door is much too narrow and it's too small but some new houses are built with accessible toilets so you can't remove them so I think we could remove ours but some houses can't

Thank you for all your responses. It seems like the majority of people would be put off by no downstairs loo (including my husband)!

In answer to some of the questions:
The reason that space is limited is because the forth bedroom and en-suite is on the third floor (loft extension) so the actual space in the downstairs remains quite small as it was originally a three bed.

Toilet door opens into the hallway, not into the lounge but it is right between the lounge and the kitchen and you can hear people use the loo in both rooms which can be off putting to guests. I hate not having a window as any unpleasant smells can linger and so I have to open the front door.

I probably wouldn't make it fully open plan, but I would like the layout to be more streamlined that it currently is (toilet sandwiched between the kitchen and the lounge)!

Interesting points about building regs, I'm not mainland UK but our laws are similar so I will have to check this. Presumably a person in a wheelchair would need to be able to access the toilet in some way.

Sorry I just assumed you were in UK . Check your local standards, but in the UK the requirement in a typical house is for a "visitable toilet" which just needs to have a normal size door and space in front of the loo, not a full-size adapted toilet.

Could you move the toilet to the back of the house, ours is right at the back, through the utility, through a cupboard room into the toilet so very handy for the garden and out of the way of any people and smells are not floating round the house, I try to encourage DH to use it😂

I think open planning will also devalue your property... it is dated and quickly going out of style. People are putting walls back up and doors in to create separate cozy sung rooms now.

Open plan will date a house to the 2010s period and will die with other historic 'opening' concepts like riserless stairs, archways and serving hatches.

Semi open plan is popular. Fully open plan, not so much. There’s a need to ventilate with good fans. I’m surprised anyone can hear a loo in the kitchen. You cannot have the loo door in the kitchen but I’d maybe soundproof the loo! Much cheaper. Look at wall linings.

I wouldn’t even consider a house without a downstairs loo. I have a relative with mobility issues who simply can’t climb stairs, young kids only recently out of nappies, elderly relatives who can climb stairs at the moment but may not be able to do so longer term. I have also had surgery on my back which meant I had to sleep downstairs for a couple of weeks, I slept in the dining room and used the downstairs loo.

Plus I hate visitors having to go upstairs to use a loo, you need to make sure the upstairs is tidy, they might not take their shoes off, the kids might have left the bathroom in a right state and I don’t want people walking through my bedroom to use an en suite.

Regarding lingering smells (🤢), we don’t have a window in our downstairs loo so the rule is no poo in downstairs loo!

Why is this?

Could you share a floor plan of downstairs? We might have ideas on how to reconfigure it and suggest a new place for the loo.
To echo others, I wouldn't buy a house without a downstairs toilet. I hate people traipsing upstairs, plus its a PITA for me going up and down.

you ideally need a toilet on each floor of a house so yes, keep the loo. Really off putting not having a downstairs toilet

I think all new builds (in England) have to have a downstairs loo and they have an accessible door too (so wider than average) Our lounge also has a wider door.

Not sure what happens if you are reconfiguring an older house.

I assumed you were UK too the disability access laws came in around 2001. Which insisted on a toilet on every floor.

Part of what pushed that through wasn't just permanently disabled wheelchair users but people with walking sticks and temporary disabled people with injuries, broken legs using crutches etc.

But for kids do you really want them running upstairs with dirty feet?

I'm 100% with your DH, make sure the fan is working properly. Redo the sound insulation if you need too but don't get rid.

I’d be looking to put one back in if there wasn’t one and figuring the cost to do that! Firnstaors toilet is essential in a family home, in a shared home, in a home for older people! Get an interior architect to reconfigure your house for your needs but keeping the loo.

@Karen4President 😂 a "no poo" rule is a great idea but I don't know if I will be able to enforce it with my four year old. She runs in after school and is straight in there 😂

I think a clever architect should be able to reconfigure it for us so the loo is elsewhere! Either the front or back of the house would be nice, I just hate it between the kitchen and lounge.

Semi open plan is definitely what I'm after. Ideally the lounge and the kitchen separated maybe with some kind of glass partition. Or double glass doors..hard to explain in writing! Currently the toilet is in the way. It's very annoying both with the kids and when entertaining as I spend a lot of time in the kitchen and it feels very far from the lounge at the moment. I quite miss those old fashioned serving hatches maybe I will try to resurrect that as a trend 😂

That's an old wives tail, toilets CAN open into kitchens and always could it was just less popular/common. The only rule is that the toilet must have a hand washing facility.