Victorian house with certificate of completion - fire safety concerns

[Jasper Teddington]

We are in the process of buying a three story Victorian townhouse that has had an infill extension of the old kitchen in 2013. This kitchen is open plan with a dining room, but the main staircase of the house enters directly into this dining room (no separation from kitchen). None of the bedrooms have fire doors and it was always three stories, it has not been loft converted. The extension has a certificate of completion stating that it conforms with building regulations, but we are concerned this is because the work didn’t make the fire safety any worse than the original layout and so it passed on a technicality because B regs aren’t retrospective. As far as we know there are no further mitigations presently (sprinklers etc.) but would definitely add wired alarms. We don’t think it’s practical to seal off the kitchen from the staircase/diner. How concerned should we be about both fire safety and resale, given the work appears to have been completed correctly but the set up is far below modern regulations? Should this be a deal breaker? Thank you!

[JohnMo]

If you aren't really that happy move on to the next house, no point buying a house then fretting over it's safety. You obviously have concerns, enough to for you write about them. Plenty of other houses out there.

[DevilDamo]

If you’re concerned about “older” houses not meeting current or modern standards, then you shouldn’t really be viewing older houses.

[kandgmitchell]

Quite, so forget about thatched houses that don't meet the "Dorset Model" or houses with basements that have no alternative escape ..... the list goes on. As to the house you're looking at that'll be a risk assessment for you as a family. You can mitigate that risk by a good detection system and a proper fire drill for children to follow, decent escape from the first floor windows etc but ultimately it's down to how much you want "that" house.

[Mr Punter]

I am not keen on staircase open to kitchen on escape route but decent mains interlinked alarms (I like the Aico ones) will mean that you are alerted very early.