Owning your own home

bit of an odd one but seeking advice from strangers on the internet before calling on professionals (obviously). we moved into a maisonette which was built ~3-4 yrs ago, 4 flats and 1 other maisonette within the building. recently we got a chippy friend of ours to put a door in under our stairs for a bit of extra storage pictured below (we assume original developer didnt do this because we already have a very large "under stairs" storage a bit further along the hall and there is a metal support beam/cat scratch post in the way of getting in a proper big door)..... anyway with this installed we have started storing misc crap in there, but it just smells quite dusty/stale inside. sometimes when i walk past the closed door i get a bit of a whiff of this slightly odd smell... how can i remedy this? mrs swede says i am way overthinking it but it is getting on my nerves. it doesn't smell damp, nor do any of the walls inside look/feel damp. infact it is very warm in there. It is also right in the centre of the whole building so no real points of entry for water.... does it need a vent to be installed? does it need some of treating (plaster/paint) inside? could i just seal up the door a bit better and let the smell exist inside....? is the concrete still letting some moisture out and giving off a bit of a smell?

TL;DR have opened up a small area under our stairs in the centre of the building. a slight stale air/dusty building site smell emits from it... how do i stop it?

door opens up to extend to the right inside under the concrete stairs;

view from the front

directly to the right as you enter

further in (tallest part). the other side of this stud wall is our other under stairs storage

"ceiling" which are the concrete stairs

our other under stairs storage. the inside wall to the left backs on to this other new under stairs area/cave

thoughts?

I was looking into this recently but couldn't find anything definitive. My MIL is looking to gift a third of her house to her daughter. The daughter had actually been paying the mortgage for ten years but via the mother rather than directly. She also has two bedrooms exclusively for her use there.

If she's contributed towards the mortgage she may already own part of the property as a result of a common intention constructive trust.

I struggled to find anything definitive on whether this would be sufficient to classify it as a gift. Any pointers on where to look?

HMRC guidance is probably a good start.

What if you charge them rent?

I think that would still be a reservation, but it's not my area of expertise.

Hypothetically: if I owned a 2000 sq. ft. Detached house with a chunky garden what would I be looking at to have it demolished and a modern 3-4000 sq ft place designed and built? Outer north london area.

Have you asked the cat?
Might be his/her fault...

Does that ‘metal support beam’ house anything?

What's behind the barrier membrane? Those are normally there to cover up unwanted stuff, I believe.

Seal the floor with something and vent in the door to stop the air stagnating maybe?

Wouldn't have thought the floor is still drying after 3yrs.

Is it an external wall?

https://architectureforlondon.com/news/how-much-cost-to-build-a-house/ says £185/sq ft so £550k-750k?

Ta. That looks useful, thank you!

Lounge renovation probably happening next year. Quite fancy some nice inbuilt storage in the alcoves (standard Victorian terrace) and we'll probably get the plaster skimmed. Which should happen first?

Some of the cabinets would protrude from the wall a bit, something like the below. This looks like plaster first then cabinets built on top right? (Which would be more convenient tbh)

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lol. the cat isn't allowed in there normally but obviously enters when someone else is in there

nope

hat's behind the barrier membrane? Those are normally there to cover up unwanted stuff, I believe.

just more breezeblock. the other side of said breezeblock is my neighbour's understair storage (slightly different configuration in her maisonette)

Seal the floor with something and vent in the door to stop the air stagnating maybe?

what would sealing the floor achieve? i am genuinely clueless

Wouldn't have thought the floor is still drying after 3yrs.

agree but the space hasn't been "open" for that amount of time..

Is it an external wall?

no it is almost perfectly central to the whole construction. other side of the breeze blocks is my neighbour's under floor storage

Because there's some exposed insulation material, could it just be a kind of musty chemical smell from them?

Or - and this is not the answer you want - could it be rats coming through that hole?

We had rats under the kitchen and hall floor for a little bit, thanks to a strange pipe that led somewhere outside and then stopped under the kitchen.

The main clue to that was a strange smell that wasn't always there, but I think was made worse by the fact that their way up involved a sewer.

That could also explain the cat's interest.

I dunno tbh, but concrete floors are usually either covered with something or sealed with epoxy/paint. I guess it would probably stop it giving off dust every time you move something.

Because there's some exposed insulation material, could it just be a kind of musty chemical smell from them?

yes this certainly a possibility and what i initially thought could be the problem.. how should i go about remedying it though?

Or - and this is not the answer you want - could it be rats coming through that hole?

super unlikely imo. i lived in somewhere with rats (uni days) and smell is different. there also arent any droppings/food for them to seek

the cat is just curious about absolutely everything and follows me around all day haha

agree - could definitely be something to try. thanks for your help, i'll look into it

I’d probably board out the stud walls and seal the floor/breeze blocks with paint and you could maybe put a vent in the stud wall between the bigger storage unit for air flow

We have things like this and TBH I wish they were not there and I could just wall mount String or Vitsoe.

Yeah that's pretty standard as a 30cm (approx) cabinet is quite shallow, where it's a good depth for a bookshelf.

You don't have to plaster behind if you're leaving the back as wall rather than mdf (you lose space of you use MDF).

There is quite a lot to detail so it's probably more expensive than you're expecting even if it's only made of MDF, which is also a ballache to paint.

Yes quite ready for it to cost thousands. Tempted to have a go but no doubt I'd be sobbing after a day. I'll consult the carpenter around the corner on cost at the right time.

You don't have to plaster behind if you're leaving the back as wall rather than mdf (you lose space of you use MDF).

Not sure I follow, surely you do need to plaster if it's an 'open' back

wall mount String or Vitsoe.

I guess this means you can take it with you when you move too and all that expense/effort isn't down the pan.

Yeah sorry that's what I meant.

Fixed widths mean you have to be lucky to get a good fit.