We have just purchased to let a 3 bedroom, 2 storey (ground and first) mid terrace house built in 1974 by a district council for their own housing stock, but which have been RTB'd over time and traded on, with resulting degrees of conversion by both builders and DIYers.
From the artexing on the kitchen / dining room ceiling we can see that the kitchen was originally an internal room, running off the dining room, but has been made into a kitchen / diner. The door from the front hall accessing all the ground floor has been removed but the frame remains. For some totally inexplicable reason the recent owners also removed the whole bannister rail / baluster set from the stairs, claiming that the panelling in blocked light fall on the stairs.
In the hall toilet closet there is no extractor fan and combined with the dining room door being removed we seem not to comply with the rule (I always grew up with) of needing 2 doors between a toilet and a kitchen. There is potential to install an extractor relatively easily.
All of the windows upstairs are modern uPVC with minimum 450mm squared apertures facing out onto the front and back gardens.
There are battery powered smoke detectors in the downstairs hall and at the top of the stairwell, all of which we can upgrade, increase numbers and relocate as needed.
The consequence of all this "improvement" for us, as caring landlords seeking to make a safe and compliant family home, is what is actually needed by way of works to fix this. So my specific questions are:
Do we need to fully enclose the stairwell and reinstate the door to 30 minutes retardant standard?
Can we just install a new bannister set with balusters?
If the second do we need to install an extractor fan in the hall closet?
Regrettably we live in a DC where the building control inspectors always over-specify (source - our own experience with our own kitchen extension foundations) and we would prefer to have ammunition to overcome their demands, if excessive. I have just read Building Regulations 1B from the government portal and my head is spinning from the vagaries.
I much appreciate any guidance on this.
Stephen Wright
From the artexing on the kitchen / dining room ceiling we can see that the kitchen was originally an internal room, running off the dining room, but has been made into a kitchen / diner. The door from the front hall accessing all the ground floor has been removed but the frame remains. For some totally inexplicable reason the recent owners also removed the whole bannister rail / baluster set from the stairs, claiming that the panelling in blocked light fall on the stairs.
In the hall toilet closet there is no extractor fan and combined with the dining room door being removed we seem not to comply with the rule (I always grew up with) of needing 2 doors between a toilet and a kitchen. There is potential to install an extractor relatively easily.
All of the windows upstairs are modern uPVC with minimum 450mm squared apertures facing out onto the front and back gardens.
There are battery powered smoke detectors in the downstairs hall and at the top of the stairwell, all of which we can upgrade, increase numbers and relocate as needed.
The consequence of all this "improvement" for us, as caring landlords seeking to make a safe and compliant family home, is what is actually needed by way of works to fix this. So my specific questions are:
Do we need to fully enclose the stairwell and reinstate the door to 30 minutes retardant standard?
Can we just install a new bannister set with balusters?
If the second do we need to install an extractor fan in the hall closet?
Regrettably we live in a DC where the building control inspectors always over-specify (source - our own experience with our own kitchen extension foundations) and we would prefer to have ammunition to overcome their demands, if excessive. I have just read Building Regulations 1B from the government portal and my head is spinning from the vagaries.
I much appreciate any guidance on this.
Stephen Wright
