Taking 15 minutes to do a walkaround a new property is often not enough, how can you decide if this is the one for you? Your forever home?
You go to see a tired terraced house or a modern apartment with the wrong layout and then you have to instantly map out your future: a sprawling open-plan kitchen, a seamless indoor-outdoor transition, a loft conversion that finally gives you that master suite you’ve been wanting for so long.
In a competitive property market, assuming a house can meet your wants is a high-stakes gamble.
Discovering that planning constraints, structural realities, or legal boundaries prevent your vision after you’ve exchanged contracts is a costly mistake (and a disheartening one). To protect your investment, you need to think like an architect before you make an offer.
A circulation maze
Does the layout feel awkward? Do you feel like you are navigating a labyrinth or an inspiring architectural journey?
London property, especially Victorian and Georgian, are notorious for awkward narrow corridors and hallways. Some interior design can help here, new openings or visually tricking the eye? Can kitchens or bathrooms be placed differently to open up the space?
Solid walls
If you instantly feel a wall is in the way (in front of a view or where natural light enters) and you want to remove it, give it a little rap with your knuckles. If it feels solid it is most likely holding up the house or flat above. Only steel beams can hold up such weight, but these alterations can be expensive.
Ceiling heights
Find the smallest room and look up. Do you feel elevated or squashed? if the latter then you have to consider quite a large undertaking to change the room height, such as lowering the floor or raising the ceiling. Removing a false ceiling would be the easiest way.
Step outside, have your neighbours enlarged their property?
Look for precedents set by your neighbours where extensions have been built. Remember this is a general guidance, you also have to carry out point 5.
Check the local council’s website
Are you in a Conservation Area? Is the property listed? Is there an Article 4 in place? These all restrict what you can do and in some cases means that you cannot do the works under permitted development or at all.
Right to light
If you considering to ask for permission to build an extension, would the extension plunge your neighbours into darkness? Tall garden boundaries help in this matter, low boundaries do not. Check where your neighbour’s windows are located and take some photos from the back garden.
Access
Is there access directly into the garden? If not it makes it an expensive venture to carry materials, soil, concrete and equipment through the property. Think carefully - do you really need an extension or you can reconfigure the existing layout to give you what you want?
Roof space
Make sure you visit the attic or look at it. Measure the highest point. You will need at least 2.2m of height to fit in a new loft space. If it is lower it can still be done but with a lot of work to the existing structural elements and this will increase the budget.
Party wall
If you have shared boundaries or walls, then any opening up and steelwork which sits in the neighbouring walls triggers the Party Wall Act. It is a legal dance that requires tact, diplomacy, and excellent surveyors. Ensuring your layout changes respect these boundaries early saves months of administrative delays.
Don’t Leave the First Act to Chance
Buying a property with the intent to remodel or extend is an adventure, but it shouldn't be a game of chance. Our architect services can help you make that decision clear.
Studio 29 Architects - after a property visit together we can help you to untangle the possibilities and ensure your project has a triumphant ending, somewhere you can call home.