Think twice before viewing or buying 36 Cavendish Road Salford M7 4WW

“So fundamentally deficient in its compliance with the Building Regulations that it is as if no effective separation exists at all … for all practical purposes, 34 and 36 Cavendish Road remain a single dwelling.”

• Never signed off

  Removed in 2008 and rebuilt around 2009. Building Control confirms no completion certificate was issued, as the final inspection never took place, and there is no Building Control record of the wall being rebuilt.

• Breaches structure, fire and sound rules

  100mm blockwork built on the floorboards, with open voids between the houses. It fails Parts A (structure), B (fire) and E (sound); its failure is “absolute and indisputable”.

• Not fit for habitation

  The report states the defective wall “does not render either property fit for habitation in its current form”.

• Treated as one dwelling

  Until it is rectified, Nos. 34 and 36 “must be treated as a single unit in terms of Building Regulations compliance”. Re-separating them is a material change of use, so current standards apply and planning permission may be required.

• It straddles both houses

  Putting it right needs works inside both houses, access to No. 34, and the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 procedure.

• Fire separation fails

  Below the required 60 minutes’ fire resistance. Gaps and voids could let fire, smoke and hot gases pass directly between the houses; unprotected steels are a collapse risk in a fire; in the loft the separation stops short of the roof.

1. Strip out both houses along the wall; prop them on temporary structural supports.
2. Cut out the floor joists, floorboards and steel beams (RSJs) that run through both houses.
3. Dig below basement level to replace the foundations with new screw piles.
4. Fully rebuild the party wall, with fire separation up to the roof.

Several months of work, at a cost in the hundreds of thousands of pounds for the party wall alone, before the roof, stability, foundation and drainage works.

• Not stable

  Internal load-bearing walls were removed; in its current condition the building does not meet the Building Regulations requirement to be stable.

• Overloaded steels and foundations

  Beams, column and foundations likely carry more load than designed for, with no calculations; overstressing may crush joist ends and cause progressive failure.

• Walls too long and thin

  Flank and party walls run over 9m without buttressing, in breach of the regulations; a rear-extension pier is non-compliant.

• Loft conversion

  No drawings or calculations exist; the engineer recommends opening up to check the roof was strengthened for it.

• Floors and cracking

  Significant distortion to the reception-room floor; cracking likely from excessive beam deflection.

• Stability at risk

  “With the main structural elements … suffering from significant and multidirectional movement, the structural stability of the property is at risk.”

• Roof slide

  The roof is pushing the walls out at the top: dips, stepped cracking in the roof void, a poorly supported purlin, failed valleys.

• Walls moving

  Bay falling and twisted, walls bowing at first, second and roof level, rear extension twisting and falling, lintels dropping, possible wall-tie failure.

• Possible subsidence

  Movement may be due to inadequate foundations or defective, backed-up drains; the engineer recommends opening up to check for subsidence, and underpinning if needed.

• Fire doors

  Four storeys, but doors poorly fitted and missing fire strips and closers.

• Fire engineerKeep No. 36 unoccupied until remedial works are done.
• Structural engineerComplete reconstruction may be more cost-effective than repair.
• Chartered surveyorEven demolition needs major temporary works to support the party wall.

• Speak to us, the attached neighbour at No. 34.
• Get your own structural, fire-safety and drainage surveys, and consult Building Control.
• Establish the full scope and cost of works needed for the property to be compliant, mortgageable and habitable.

Prospective purchasers, solicitors and surveyors: copies of the reports are available on request.