[mark212]

Maybe it's because I'm American, but my first thought was ... there's a separate building and it's just the stairs? So if they sold it, how would the people in the building next door get up and down?

How does a structure that's just stairs have a separate title that can be sold? The entire premise of this is so incomprehensible to me.

Brits -- is this a common thing?

[zarzavat]

> How does a structure that's just stairs have a separate title that can be sold?

You can sell any subdivision of land. Happens all the time, e.g. a house on a large plot of land is demolished and the land divided into land for multiple new houses. Or two neighbours might exchange some land if the border is not convenient. Is this not a thing in the US?

[ksenzee]

In the US, at least in most places, you can’t subdivide your land at will. When you buy a piece of land, it’s worth more if it’s zoned such that it can legally be subdivided.

[Dalewyn]

It certainly is.

What parent is asking is whether selling just the stairs in a building, or happenstances to that effect, are common in Britain.

[account-5]

> Brits -- is this a common thing?

No this is a London thing because London property prices are ridiculous. For the price of a London bedsite you'd be able to buy a detached house in most other places in the UK.

[lexandstuff]

It's a "disused stairwell," so presumably, the building it serviced has a different stairwell now.

More about it here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/30/step-to-rich...

[camkego]

Agreed, it seems like the article is missing some background that most people won't have.