From the reports
The house is only
part of the story.
Plans for an annex. An attractive asking price. A renovation project. Here’s what a closer look at the records revealed.
An annex on paper.
Nowhere to put it.
The local plan made provision for an annex, provided it sat close to the house. On its own, that sounded promising.
But another rule imposed a no-build strip beside the road. On the plot checked, that strip covered the usable ground within the required distance of the house.
Reading both rules together left no practical location. The owner needed the town hall to establish whether an exception applied. An attached extension was treated differently; the finding wasn’t a ban on all building work.
The question this raisedDoes the annex allowance actually work on this plot?
The bargain looked different on paper.
The house looked inexpensive per square metre. But the advertised total included garage and cellar space, while the energy certificate recorded a living-space figure around a quarter smaller.
The asking price hadn’t changed. The calculation had: divide it by the smaller figure and the price per square metre comes out about a third higher.
That didn’t establish that the advert was misleading. It meant the buyer needed a breakdown of the areas before comparing this house with others.
The question this raisedHow much of the advertised area is living space?
What if the work costs more than the house?
A village house needed repairs. The report explored two different possibilities: targeted work and a full contractor renovation.
Under the full-renovation assumptions, the estimated work alone exceeded the local finished-house values used in the comparison—before paying for the property.
Targeted repairs gave a different picture. The decisive unknown was how much work the house actually needed. The report’s scenario wasn’t a builder’s quote or a valuation; a visit and professional assessment were still needed.
The question this raisedIs this a manageable repair project—or a complete renovation?
What’s on your shortlist?
Send the listings and tell us what you hope to do with them. Get the public records explained in English.
Enquire about your properties