Stair Railings - Safety Concern?

[Alpenglow]

I have an an appraisal with a few questionable staircases. The first is a staircase with no railing leading to an unfinished attic. I almost never see attics and want to hear other opinions on what needs to be fixed and is considered a health and safety concern. Should this attic staircase be required to have a railing?

The second problem is a staircase leading to a storage / bonus room above a detached garage. The staircase has some rotting boards and the railing is also a problem. Should I make this garage staircase subject to repair too? Since neither of these staircases lead to GLA I wonder how other appraisers this.

 

[sputnam]

Depends on the Lender and the type of appraisal. Is it HUD or VA appraisal? Then yep, safety issues need to be repaired as a condition of the appraisal. Conventional? Ask your client. They may want you to appraise the property 'as is'. In that case you will report the issues.. but not require correction as a condition of the appriasal. They might request cost to cure.

 

[ucbruin]

"The staircase has some rotting boards and the railing is also a problem. Should I make this garage staircase subject to repair too?"


I would....
And I have....

 

[Zoe]

You have to know how wide the railing can be spaced also unless they put like solid piece of wood or some covering on the side. It is because a baby could get their head stuck between the spindles. I think it is 4 inches max gap between the spindles wide on local code. A babies head won't fit 4 inches or narrower. It may be 3 inches but I think it is 4 inches.

No covers on risers would be safety issue too.

One of those pictures has no covers on the risers between steps.

Some have a locked entrance on some stairs where you need like a key to get entry to the staircase.

 

[Zoe]

This is good source to reference:

Residential Stair Codes: Rise, Run, Handrails Explained

Discover the code standards for residential stairs, including dimensions and safety regulations according to the 2021 International Residential Code.

buildingcodetrainer.com

 

[bnmappraisal]

Ask your client

I definitely agree

 

[Mark K]

About 10 yrs ago I appraised an 8-unit apartment bldg. 4-up, 4 ground floor, approx. 40' wide and 80' deep. Upstairs access was one staircase in the front of the building, no other exits. I said in the report that it did not meet current code and that it was a safety hazard in big bold letters. Sure enough, 6 mo. later a fire blocked the staircase and several tenants were injured jumping out of 2nd story windows. Luckily none were serious injuries; building was gutted.

I guess my point is that I wish I'd made the report subject-to installation of emergency ladders or something similar. I look at your first photo and wonder how I'd sleep at night if a toddler (or anyone) was killed falling from the top of the stairs down to the concrete.

Even if the client said to make it 'as-is' I'd still make it subject-to handrails and let the lender waive the requirement if they wanted. Lenders don't care about health/safety, they only care about closing loans and their profit. As-is shouldn't mean ignoring obviously dangerous conditions. To me, as-is includes bad roofs, needs paint, broken windows, etc. It doesn't include large holes in the floor open to the basement, missing basement stairs (open basement door and there's no stairs, just a ladder; I've seen that), live elec. wires hanging from walls or ceilings, etc.

Do whatever allows you to sleep at night.

 

[J Grant]

Even for conventional lending where the client wants it " as is", the appraiser still has an obligation to report health and safety issues and make those and only those issues subject to repair or inspection.

 

[Zoe]

This is good reference source also:

How to Keep Your Stairs Up to Code

Stairs that are poorly designed or too dimly lit pose a safety hazard, while stairs that are uniform in their dimensions and built according to code are comfortable and safe to ascend and descend. Luckily for all concerned, modern building codes for stairs are very straightforward, and the...

www.thisoldhouse.com

It is easier to understand.

 

[Zoe]

We were redoing railing on our wrap around porch and were going to replace the railing on it but local code said no you don't need to pull a permit as long as the porch is no more than 30 inches off the ground and you don't need to replace the railing. So we just replaced the posts and didn't replace the railing. But stairs are different. We didn't have to pull permit to replace the posts. We would not have had to pull a permit replacing the railing but it would have still needed to be safe if we had to replace the railing.