Have recently discovered that my ground floor cloaks/WC on my late 2004 built 4 bed det. house, which has no mechanical means of ventilation, i.e. an extractor fan, poses a security risk - as far as my home insurance is concerned.
The only means of purging, that is, changing the air quickly, is by opening the window. It is fitted with a trickle vent, but the room is small and this is ineffective in more demanding circumstances!
The cloakroom is at the front of the house, which is on the 'public' side in an open plan development - no fences or other "deterrents" are present to prevent 'anyone' trespassing, except common courtesy. This means if the window is opened to vent the room and subsequently left open, (say), overnight, this provides the opportunity for the property to be burglarized - in the eyes of the insurers. I believe mechanical extraction should have been fitted at point of build as regs introduced the mechanical venting "requirement", I understand, prior to 2004. If not, I see a quite expensive solution facing me as the house is out of warranty and my local planning dept are not replying to my queries on this issue.Is there any other course I can take to avoid compromising my insurance cover which is the fault of the buildings regs and not really down to me?
